PRIORITIZE YOUR TIMEcomplex to tackle all at once, give some thought
to how you can break it down into “action
items”—items that can usually be completed
within hours or a day.
Don’t ignore or minimize the importance of
tasks just because they’re small. If you make a
point of accomplishing each day’s tasks, the big
picture will take care of itself. If you tell yourself
that you’ll get a task or a certain number of tasks
done by 10:00 a.m. and then succeed, the feeling
of accomplishment is gratifying. You feel that
much closer to achieving your objectives and
reaching your ultimate goal, which is an encour-
aging feeling on its own.
Prioritizing
In our complex business world, you can’t wait
until you have reached one long-term goal before
neatly moving on to the next. On any given
day, you will be working on short-term tasks
associated with multiple long-term goals and
objectives. So how do you decide which to do
fi rst? You prioritize them.
But how do you decide which tasks take
priority over others? Which tasks should be
completed fi rst, second, third, and so forth?
The fi rst step is to have a clear understanding
of what’s involved in each task by asking the
following questions—who, what, when, where,
why, and how.
Who? Who needs this to be done—your boss,
a customer, a coworker, or a subordinate? Who
will be performing the task? Who will benefi t
from this? Does the person asking you to do this