Is there a worse word in life? Prioritise.
If it doesn’t come naturally to you, the need to prioritise (and even the mere thought of it) is the stuff of nightmares. So much so, that many of us just add it to that list of things we were going to prioritise in the first place and leave it there to haunt us.
Meanwhile, the day disappears. You hop between five half-finished tasks, lose twenty minutes to a pointless email, and then wonder where the time went. Parkinson’s law says “work expands to fill the time allocated to it’. Every task will take up whatever time you give it, which is exactly why you need to give it less.
Trust us, we get it! Even the most organised of us end up with to-do lists that get the better of us sometimes. And once it starts getting away from you, it can be a challenge to get things back on track. Honestly, some days are just a write off. That is okay. No one can be on top of everything all the time, despite our loved ones perhaps occasionally suggesting that we have inhuman superpowers for ‘getting sh*t done’.
Even the most “high-functioning” of us are secretly duct-taping the day together between caffeine hits and panic.
Why the old-school tactics still work
I feel dirty even having to admit that. In all seriousness though, there is a reason time management tactics like Eat the Frog (tackle your hardest or most important task first), The 2-Minute Rule (if it takes less than two minutes, just do it), and The ABCDE Method (grade tasks from A to E by impact) still exist.
For an elder millennial like myself, they sound like productivity porn, so it is super annoying that they really do work best as frameworks for when your brain is absolutely fried.
So, gimmicky names aside, if they do the job, we’re here for it. It’s giving “Action!”
Action over admin
All the prep in the world isn’t the end game. Diving into these strategies really puts a spotlight on the whole circus of figuring out what’s desperately screaming for your attention versus what genuinely deserves your time and energy. And let’s be real, sorting that mess is crucial.
Sure, plotting, planning, jotting down to-dos, and pumping yourself up with all those “go get ’em” talks feels like you’re getting somewhere. But let’s not kid ourselves, that’s just the warm-up act. The real magic happens when you roll up your sleeves and stop orbiting the task and just do it. Especially when you run a small business and ever action, or inaction, has a ripple effect.
It takes practice to get good at spotting real priorities from fake ones. As Stephen Covey said, “The key is not to prioritise what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” And if you go to list those To Do’s out, and find yourself genuinely needing to write A, A, A, A, A next to each one..that is your cue. You need help.
Outsource, delegate, or delete until what’s left is genuinely yours to do.
We will leave you with a piece of writing that really hits home. (Not because we think you’re avoiding doing the thing, just because sometimes we need that little reminder too.)
“Preparing to do the thing isn’t doing the thing.
Scheduling time to do the thing isn’t doing the thing.
Making a to-do list for the thing isn’t doing the thing.
Telling people you’re going to do the thing isn’t doing the thing.
Writing a banger tweet about how you’re going to do the thing isn’t doing the thing.
Hating on yourself for not doing the thing isn’t doing the thing. Hating on other people who have done the thing isn’t doing the thing. Hating on the obstacles in the way of doing the thing isn’t doing the thing.
Reading about how to do the thing isn’t doing the thing. Reading about how other people did the thing isn’t doing the thing. Reading this essay isn’t doing the thing.
The only thing that is doing the thing is doing the thing.”
Credit: The Strangest Loop, Strangest Loop
