Be Selective

By Bill Kerzman, Director, PATH Family Institute

            Choose carefully where you focus your energies and priorities.  What we do often and regularly becomes a habit.  If we spend too much time jumping from one task to another and getting distracted by social media, interruptions, small timewasters and other activities, it is easy to develop a habit of being incomplete and feel like you’re in a whirl.  It is hard to do the difficult things we have to do first, but this is an important skill to cultivate.  We must develop and maintain a habit of setting clear priorities and getting important tasks completed early on the list.  Do not delay the tough or unpleasant tasks until later.  These delays weigh on your mind and take more energy from you as you ponder them coming up.  By the time you get to it, the energy spent may exceed that which is really required to just do it.  This is why procrastination is such a drain on people’s energies and organization.

            If you have two important tasks before you, start with the bigger, more difficult or most important one first.  If you ignore the temptation to do the easier one first,   you will start to cultivate a habit of tackling tough projects head on.  Here are a couple other ideas to support this habit:

·        Decide exactly what you want to accomplish today.  Clarity in this decision is important and can be supported by writing down your daily goals either the night before or right away in the morning.  Write out your goals and objectives before you begin your day.  Carry this list with you!

·        Plan every day in advance.  Do not be afraid to think things through on paper.  Time spent planning and writing things out will save you a great amount of time in the end.  Research shows that every minute spent in planning will save five to ten minutes in execution of tasks.