Prioritisation Skills

Some ideas for tonight’s meeting A discussion about how to prioritise different areas of your life – home, work and job seeking/study A chance for us to share our own experiences A chance for us to talk through those experiences And come up with some solutions! I am not a professional expert in prioritisation skills, but I do hope to share some of my own experiences with you and talk about yours, so you can take some relevant hints and tips away with you tonight…….

So does anyone here make a list of what they need to do? On a daily/weekly/monthly basis……………..

We all have lots of things we KNOW have to do on a daily/weekly basis; do the washing, mow the lawn, pick up our prescription, pay a cheque in the bank, call our mother, buy food for dinner, feed the dog, check our , post a letter, pay bill, apply for a job, meet a friend for coffee, update our CV, have a bath, buy washing-up liquid, arrange to meet someone, go to the post office etc. BUT, the problem is, we usually do not prioritise these tasks. Most of us have a vague notion of what our priorities are – what is important… but usually what drives us is something else: urgency.

Lets talk about the tasks we have in different areas of our lives At home At work Job seeking/ studying Using the flipchart lets come up with some ideas to discuss (you can prepare these in advance if you like)

What is prioritisation? prioritize, prioritise [praɪˈɒrɪˌtaɪz]vb (tr) 1. to arrange (items to be attended to) in order of their relative importance 2. to give priority to or establish as a priority prioritization, prioritisation n?

And what about everything else……. What are the things that we know we need to do – at some point – but are neither urgent or important. How do we work out what are the things we need to do NOW and what the things we can actually do tomorrow, next week, or never?

Urgent vs. Important using The Eisenhower Matrix

Some of my suggestions - Every Sunday night, using a pen and paper, I make a list of things I need to in the coming week. You can use your computer, your phone, an internet tool or whatever is easiest for you. Pen and paper works best for me. I then copy the list for each day into my diary to tick off as the days go by. What do I need to do this week? This is my TO DO list. I then put these things in order of priority, by putting a star by important and urgent. Let’s try it now. This really helps for these reasons – It focuses your mind on important objectives You are less likely to forget to do tasks Writing a list helps order your thoughts It helps show the bigger picture You don't need to hold everything in your head It saves time It helps you decide on priorities: the most important and the most urgent You are less likely to become side tracked You get the reward of ticking off your achievements You feel more in control You have a record of what you've done You always have something to work on

Some more suggestions - Avoiding Procrast ination Procrastination gets in the way of action planning! It's important that you manage your ‘fear of doing things' you don't want to do and realise that the fear is often far worse than any possible negative results. Try to take decisions immediately whenever possible (and when you don't need to gather more information to make the decision). The best time to do something is usually NOW. And remember - taking action generates the impetus for further action. & Persevering Inevitably, things will not always run smoothly. When things are not working out, you need to persevere and learn how to take a positive attitude towards frustration and failure. Mistakes are a crucial part of any process and each is a lesson leading you towards the right solution. Fear of making mistakes is a major obstacle to effective action. It is said that the people who have achieved the most have often made the most mistakes!

What can we take away from this evening? Making a daily or weekly to do list does not cost any money Prioritising the things on that list just takes practice And the courage to try a new approach Once you get in the habit of putting these things in order it will get easier And you will see the benefit of getting the urgent and important things out of the way first Leaving more time to spend on the things you enjoy!

all for listening Now its time for any questions and comments….