How to Achieve Priorities Management

I touched on this subject in one of my blogs last week, described what life is like somewhat, as a priorities manager. I never quite made it as a time manager because I'm too much of a free spirit & too responsive to needs as they arise. I once had a job where I had to be a very effective priorities manager & I think of that often. I was Director of Education for a national educational association, a position I earned & excelled at without a college degree. As such I supervised employees, managed both the home study & the lecture divisions. The true priorities management came from the lecture division because seminars had to be scheduled in advance & I was responsible for every single thing that had to be done, & getting it done on time. I also had to manage the work of the home study division, work that into the flow. 

One of the biggest ways to achieve priorities management is to quit thinking in terms of time management & instead think of how to manage daily happenings. One of the best tools is a good & fully usable day planner, which I've mentioned before. Plannerpads.com puts out the best one I've ever used, & I've used so many! This planner allows me to truly prioritize without missing anything. I put everything in my planner, including future plans & dates. It allows me to keep track of things that are eventually important but not today or this week, or even this month. Although honestly, if it's not important this month, how important can it really be? Having a great planner has helped me determine that too. I used to drive myself nuts with lists of things I thought were important & never got to them. Eventually I realized I wasn't getting to them because they didn't really matter. Putting everything in a planner & assigning it a week or day by priority helps make you aware of what is & isn't important.

The other key to priorities management is know thyself. You need to learn how you work best, your personal work & priorities & management styles, then live it. Most of us don't need to change the way we do things or at least not drastically. Most of us can be trusted to meet deadlines & act responsibly. One of the things I had to learn about myself in the early 90s was my style & that I can trust myself. I thought I was a procrastinator & was afraid of myself. I was afraid to let myself rest when I needed to for fear I'd miss a deadline like the cut off notice on a past due bill (lots of them back then). I was afraid if I gave myself any kind of break I'd take too much of one & not get vital things done. A wise & wonderful counselor taught me about me, that I can absolutely trust myself. She helped me see the truth rather than what I'd been taught about myself. Some people thrive on deadline stress & create chaos so the adrenalin kicks in & they function best. Some have to have calm & quiet. That's part of what I mean by style. Most of us have a time of day when our energy is higher & lower, that old "morning person" vs. "night person" thing. Also, what you eat for your meals & caffeine & such can contribute to low or high energy periods. The better you figure yourself out & how & when you work best, the better you function.

I'm not a morning person (ha, just ask anyone who knows me - I dare you!). I'm a night person, as are a lot of fully creative spirits. But I also get tired at night since I work during the day. I've learned not to wait until the end of my day to do Reiki because by then I just don't have the right energy or mind set. I don't want to be doing it when I feel it's another chore to be gotten through, like litter boxes. I've found the way I work best & handle most days is to start with coffee & computer time after I set my intent & protections for the day, as posted yesterday. By then I've fed & talked with the cats & been outside to greet God & the day. I have quiet, contemplative time & social time. Then I do anything I have to regarding personal business & phone calls, which is what I like doing least. So I start with quiet time the way I want it, with my coffee, then move to getting the nasties out of the way so they're over for the day. I only assign a certain amount of them to any one day - no more than 3, usually 1 or less. That way I'm never overwhelmed & don't just put them off. Then I get into the physical part of the day - chores, then dinner, then Reiki. In the evenings I'm available to talk to whoever wants to touch base or needs me. It's the building or feeding relationships & service time. If I've done all that in my day, I need the last 1-3 hours to be uninterrupted me time. Notice I said need. I've learned over the years that it's a need, not a desire. I can go without it even 1-2 nights a week if necessary, but not regularly. Sometimes I read a novel. More often, I watch TV & knit. Some of the time I'm really watching TV, depending on what's on. Other times I just have it on for the company & distraction. This allows my mind time to dump thoughts & emotions while I work out my nervous energy by knitting. No, I'm not nervous - I just don't know another term for it. Some of us swing our feet & wiggle our legs & do other things because of excess, unharnessed energy, & I'm one. It doesn't seem to be usable energy for getting any more done in the day & I truly don't understand it. If someone else does, please clue me in. But knitting helps me work it out along with any troubling thoughts or emotions. It calms & relaxes me, prepares me for bed. The TV allows the thoughts & feelings to come out gradually, from my subconscious. When my days aren't going according to formula, I have to work extra hard with the tricks I've learned to keep myself on track. If I know ahead of time, I preplan. If I'm going out all day, I have everything I can ready & in or at my purse & tote the night before. If needed, it includes a note of whatever else I need before I leave. That's staging, & I also use it all the time to make sure things get to where they need to go. I have specific places I put things so I'll see them & remember. Again, it's knowing how you need to work with yourself to achieve what you want & need.