You probably often feel overwhelmed by all the stuff you need to do. How does one decide where to start, what to do today, what can wait until tomorrow? Let’s give you some pointers.
First make a list of everything you need to do. Don’t worry about putting them in any order, just write them all down. Once you have a list, you can start sifting and ordering, using a very handy tool from a book Stephen Covey wrote in 1989, called The seven habits of highly effective people. He developed what he called a “time management matrix”. Click here for a great video that explains it.
To turn the idea into practice, divide a piece of paper into four quarters or quadrants. Write at the top left “Urgent”, and top right “Not Urgent”. Down the side you write “Important” and “Not Important”. Now you have four quadrants: Urgent and Important in the top left (quadrant A), Not Urgent and Important in the top right (quadrant B), Not Important and Urgent in the bottom left (quadrant C) and Not Urgent and Not Important in the bottom right (quadrant D).
Look at your list of things to do. Consider each one: is it important? Is it urgent? Which quadrant does it belong in? Find a place for everything on your list. Now ask yourself: where do you spend most of your time?
If you’re mostly doing things in quadrant A (urgent and important), you are in crisis mode, sure to burn out. If you’re constantly in quadrant C (urgent but not important), you’re just reacting to whatever life throws at you, with no plan or control. That’s NOT a good idea. Quadrant D (not urgent and not important) has fun stuff which should have a place in your life, but you have to limit it in the same way you limit how much sweets you eat. (This is the home of social media – keep a close watch on that.)
Your focus should be in quadrant B: things that are important, but not urgent. Things like planning, setting goals, regular study, building relationships, and exercise. You will have time for that if you make a schedule and stick to it . A schedule is a fantastic tool to combat stress – if you use your study hours today to study for a test next week, you won’t be stressed out the evening before!
So, finally, go back to your list of things to do. Put stuff that is urgent and important at the top of the list, then those items not urgent but important, and push everything else to the very bottom. You will see: the more time you give to things that are not urgent but important, the fewer emergencies you will have with things that are dreadfully important and must be done immediately.
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