Prioritizing for Maxiumim Productivity

In his book, Eat That Frog, 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time, Brian Tracy says “The mark of a superior thinker is his or her ability to accurately predict the consequences of doing or not doing something. The potential consequences of any task or activity are the key determinants of how important a task really is to you or your company. “(p.25)

As a small business owner, you can use this concept to make decisions about daily activities that will ultimately take your business to the end point (long term goal) you have determined. If you don’t know what your end point is, then this is the perfect place to begin. You must be clear about your long term goals, because this knowledge will directly influence the most productive course of action you can take in every hour of your business day. Having a clear picture of your long term goals will help you prioritize daily activities. The top priorities will always be those tasks which lead your business to the attainment of a long term goal in the most direct and timely fashion. Those top priorities must always be your main focus. These are the items on your flow sheet that get done first. If you don’t do these things first, the consequence is that you will not achieve the success you would like to have with your business, and it will certainly not happen in the time frame you desire.

Determining tasks and activities that are of lesser importance happens by examining the effect they will have over the long haul. We live in a society that likes instant gratification, where short-term pleasure often overrides a long-term future. Denis Waitley said, “Losers try to escape from their fears and drudgery with activities that are tension-relieving. Winners are motivated by their desires toward activities that are goal-achieving.” Take a good look at everything you are spending time doing in your business. Are those activities contributing to the end point or are they giving you present satisfaction only? Any activity that is not contributing to the overall success of your company should be dropped from your flow sheet immediately. These things are getting you nowhere fast!

If you are living and breathing, there will always be more to do than you can accomplish in a day. Your work will never be done. It is simply the nature of human experience. Inevitably there will be items that fall off your flow sheet at the end of the day. Let these be the items that hold the least importance to you and your business. Once you have spent your time, you can never get it back. You can spend money and get more money to spend, but when you use your time, it’s gone forever. So, using the time you have for maximum productivity means you are not wasting time.

Ask yourself what the activities are in your business days that are of the greatest value because they contribute the most to the overall success of your company. What is the “ace card” you are holding that will bring the greatest results? In what tasks do you really excel? You must constantly evaluate the consequence of how you are using your time. For every hour of the day, choose the most important task on your flow sheet, and let that be where you focus your attention. Doing those items first is the assurance that you will achieve your long term goals.