Time Management Problems With Prioritizing By Importance

Does your time get trapped by following these 3 old-fashioned time management techniques?

Time management trainers still pull the wool over your eyes with the old-fashioned technique of prioritizing by importance. Another problem area is scheduling activities to time. And a third problem is using weekly to-do lists.

In this article I will explain the problem of prioritizing by importance. Having just gone against the grain of traditional time management, you will have a glimmer of hope, and a dashing of skepticism. Hope because you know normal time management systems are a pain. And Skepticism because what I'm going to show you is not common.

Time flies so fast doesn't it? Deadlines. Scarce resources. Overwhelming chores. And other people who take up way too much of your precious time.

Today's time management system must incorporate your working life with your personal life. Your hobbies and social activities must be tied in with your career development. This is the modern era of efficient organized lifestyles after all.

How can you get your hair cut, mow the lawn, take the dog to the vet, fill in those blasted document forms, make dinner, AND drop Sally off at her tutor?! Weekends seem to be used more and more just for catching up on life's basic necessities. Clearly, developing your time management skill is more than just a good idea.

Here's a question for you: Have you prioritized a list of things to do by degree of importance? If you only have a few things to do, then it works a charm. But if life was so smooth you wouldn't be reading an article on time management would you?! So you end up neglecting certain areas of life because prioritizing only works so far. One major question is making the choice between multiple options.

You would never get round to the less important things until they are overwhelming. Like the big pile of dishes to wash up when you've run out of plates. Or organizing the files on your computer when you finally accept that you lose more hours per day looking for things than working.

So can you combine importance with urgency? Say it's Saturday afternoon. Laura has a time with her piano tutor at 3.30pm. So that's an urgent priority. You plan to read your office work after taking her. But what about the haircut you wanted? At what point is the hair 'urgent' enough to be a priority? When it's long? How long? When the wife nags right?

Prioritizing by urgency, what would you do? Take your daughter. Get your hair cut. Read the office paper work. More and more of life gets neglected and messy.

Taking your daughter to her lesson is not as important as reading the office information. So the office work is more important (you'll be fired if you don't keep up). But the lesson for your daughter is in an hour, so that's urgent. You could try doing them both at the same time couldn't you?

Now that your wife has made fun of your long hair it gets adjusted from priority C to priority A. The office memo can be done Sunday evening so that's actually priority B. But taking the wife shopping is a priority A as she's nagging that you didn't have time to go food shopping last week and she can't carry it all her self.

Along comes Saturday afternoon, and Sally's tutorship now gets crossed off the B list and put on the A list because it's Saturday, and you've got Memo and Sally's Tutorship on the A list.

That scenario does work, but it's not exactly smooth sailing is it? The ABCDE Method of prioritization is difficult to imagine working even with only 3 tasks... But what when you try to mix in the rest of your responsibilities and life? ...And there are changes in what's urgent all too often... so trying to prioritize like that soon gets you in a jam.

Modern time management needs something far better than the old fashioned method of prioritizing. Such a limiting time management technique creates big problems.

You need to find an alternative to the normal same old same old time management techniques that they're trying to force feed you with today. Your time is the most precious commodity you have got. Mind how you use it and which time management systems you live by.