{"id":4558,"date":"2020-01-15T18:32:39","date_gmt":"2020-01-15T10:32:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/people.utm.my\/zakiyamani\/?p=4558"},"modified":"2020-01-16T22:36:07","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T14:36:07","slug":"prioritizing-tool-you-didnt-know-you-needed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/zakiyamani\/2020\/01\/15\/prioritizing-tool-you-didnt-know-you-needed\/","title":{"rendered":"Prioritizing tool you didn\u2019t know you needed"},"content":{"rendered":"
Preface: This is an interesting article that I receive in my inbox email. I strongly it is good for me and for others, hence I copy the email and re-published it here. The article was written by Alex Mehr, PhD.<\/div>\n
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How do you prioritize your days?<\/div>\n
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I\u2019m willing to bet you don\u2019t always get exactly what you wanted done every single day. Distractions happen\u2014new tasks come up, plans change, and fires need to be put out.<\/div>\n
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But what if I told you there was a simple way to\u00a0establish your priorities<\/a><\/p>\n

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in the face of any series of tasks?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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This revolutionary idea is based on former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower\u2019s quote: \u201cI have two kinds of problems: the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.\u201d<\/div>\n
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So, with any task you have to do, ask yourself:\u00a0Is this urgent? And is this important?<\/b><\/div>\n
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Important<\/i>\u00a0tasks contribute to achieving your professional or personal goals. The\u00a0urgent<\/i>\u00a0tasks are the ones that need to get done right away, and usually contribute to someone else\u2019s goals.<\/div>\n
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Think of it like a matrix\u2014you have four quadrants: important and urgent, important but not urgent, urgent but not important, and neither. Here\u2019s how you\u2019ll prioritize once everything is assigned to one of these quadrants:<\/div>\n
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1. Important and urgent<\/b><\/div>\n
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You\u2019d think this is the type of task that you should be spending the most time on. Nope. After all, if everything you\u2019re doing is urgent, you\u2019re probably always late, or something about your system needs to be fixed.<\/div>\n
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These are things you\u2019ve left until last minute, or tasks that popped up unpredictably. The former can be avoided by working proactively. For the latter, always allocate time in your schedule for unpredictable tasks. An open half hour gives you enough space to make an urgent call your boss assigns to you, or to solve most small problems.<\/div>\n
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2. Important but not urgent<\/b><\/div>\n
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This is where most of your time should be allocated. Stay on track by scheduling a lot of time for these tasks. They\u2019re the least stressful because time constraints aren\u2019t pressing, and they\u2019re dedicated to moving you forward.<\/div>\n
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3. Not important but urgent<\/b><\/div>\n
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These are the necessary tasks that are responsible for keeping you from reaching your goals. They include things like meetings where you may not have much to contribute. Delegate where you can and reschedule to a more sensible time if possible.<\/div>\n
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Also, learn when to say \u201cNo.\u201d These are usually the tasks that are dropped in your lap by others, who also feel that they\u2019re unimportant. Do them only if you have ample time and energy.<\/div>\n
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4. Not important and not urgent<\/b><\/div>\n
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In other words:\u00a0distractions<\/i>. Avoid this kind of task at all costs. This includes all kinds of \u2018dilly-dallying\u2019 while on the clock, but also may include practices that have become commonplace in your work routine. Take the time to assess your own tasks and determine if any are simply wasteful.<\/div>\n
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But remember: downtime and relaxation do not fall into this category. It\u2019s important to rest and recharge, as well as take time for recreation and socialization to balance your active professional life.<\/div>\n
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Cheers,
\nAlex Mehr, PhD<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Preface: This is an interesting article that I receive in my inbox email. I strongly it is good for me and for others, hence I copy the email and re-published it here. The article was written by Alex Mehr, PhD. …………………………………………. How do you prioritize your days? I\u2019m willing to bet you don\u2019t always get […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13504,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[758,282,283],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1-new-knowledge-per-day","category-personal","category-motivational-quotes","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/zakiyamani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/zakiyamani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/zakiyamani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/zakiyamani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13504"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/zakiyamani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4558"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/zakiyamani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4560,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/zakiyamani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4558\/revisions\/4560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/zakiyamani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/zakiyamani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/zakiyamani\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}