I am on my way home from Kenya after a great visit, this time with my wife accompanying me. I will have some updates on my blog in the next few days, but for now, let me say it was a special time.
Last week I urged you to find a time management system and get one? Did you follow up on my suggestion? If you did, you are ready for the next step to help you increase your Purpose Challenge score from the assessment on my website. If not, you can still proceed with this simple process of ordering your day for maximum effectiveness. So ready or not, let’s move on.
WRITE IT DOWN
Last week, I urged you to spend 15 minutes or 1% of your day planning the other 99%. I advised that you be proactive, holistic and realistic as you plan. Once you apply those principles, here is a simple procedure I have used for the last 25 years.
When you plan, write down everything you would like to do, need to do or would hope to do in the coming day or week. Don’t evaluate what you think of yet, just write it down. In fact, get out your planner or a plain sheet of paper and do that for one day this week, preferably today or tomorrow.
Do you have your list? Good! The next step is to assign a letter value to each activity. The three letters you will use are A, B, and C. If the activity is critical and of highest value for the day, assign it an A on your list so that it looks like this: “A – Prayer, A – Bible Reading, A – Monthly report.” Once you have identified all the A’s, then go through the list again and tag some of the remaining activities with the letter B. Anything that is left after A and B gets a C.
You are making a simple and quick clarification that all the things you thought of doing are not of equal value. Therefore you are making an attempt to sort them out by importance.
ONE MORE THING
Once you have the events on your list evaluated, now it is time to prioritize. Go back to your As and give them a number to identify the order in which you will attempt to perform the events. Your list will now look like this: “A3 – Prayer, A1 – Monthly report, A2 – Bible reading.” Once you have done this wit you’re A activities, then do the same for your Bs and Cs.
Once you have your list prioritized, follow it as best you can. Start with your A1 activity until you are finished or until you must move on to the next event (A2). If you run out of time or unexpected things happen, as they always do, then you may have to adjust your list as the day goes on. The good news is that once something is written down, it isn’t going anywhere. If you can’t do something today as planned, move it to another day of the week and start over. While something may be a B2 on Tuesday, it may become an A2 on Friday. That is how event or time management goes.
This isn’t rocket science nor is it a science at all. It is art form, something you creatively do every day as you manage your time. It may be a bit cumbersome at first, but once you get used to it, you will be hooked for life! (ask me how I know!).
So enjoy your new techniques and use them to become more purposeful and productive. Once you have mastered these simple steps, feel free to adapt them as you see fit. For now, however, discipline yourself to follow my plan and you will become more productive and peaceful almost overnight! Have a great week!
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THE BIG GOAL! I have set a goal for December to raise $10,000 for my work in Kenya, and you can read more about it here. After my most recent visit, the Big Goal is more necessary than ever. Help me reach this Big Goal. If you can give $35 or more, I will send you a copy of my book A Daily Dose of Proverbs for your reading enjoyment in the coming year. Thank you for your help. About $500 came in during the first week.
A DAILY DOSE OF PROVERBS: If you are looking for a Christmas gift that keeps on giving, consider my daily devotional based on Proverbs. You can order though me or through Amazon.
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