Habit 3: Put First Things First®-part 2 of 2

In Habit 3, we saw that often it is a challenge to distinguish between what is important (to achieving our goals) and what is urgent (must be done now.) To be effective, we want to spend more of our time doing those things that are important but not urgent. These include planning, preparation, prevention, relaxation, and relationship building. We want to spend less time dominated by urgency (crises and deadlines) and the unimportant (activities which do not really move us in the direction of our most significant goals.)

In order to execute on this, there are three things we need to do:

• Plan Weekly
• Plan Daily
• Have an Effective Planning System

With Weekly Planning, we plan out the week before it begins. At the end of each week, we look at our most important roles (i.e. spouse, manager, coach, volunteer) and ask "What is the most important thing I can do in this role this coming week?" Then, we put that into our schedule before it fills up with meetings, crises, emails, and interruptions, etc. If we don't get it in there before the week begins, what happens? We sit down at our desk on Monday morning, a dump truck backs up to it and, before we know it, our week is full. But, is it full of the important? Or, is it full of urgencies, often someone else's? With Weekly Planning, we make sure we schedule the most important things we can do in our most important roles, before the week begins.

Now that we have our week planned, the next thing to do is to Plan Daily. At the end of each day, we take a few minutes to plan out the next. If we do not, what happens? We might spend our day in our Inbox, reacting to everyone's else's demands on our time. We might spend the day checking items off our To Do list, getting lots of stuff done, but are we getting the most important things accomplished? And, swearing that tomorrow will be different; "I will finally get to those important activities tomorrow." But, without getting them into your daily calendar before your day starts, without a prioritized task list, will tomorrow be any different?

Finally, in order for any of this to work, we must have a Planning System that incorporates our Calendar, our Tasks, our Contacts and our Documents. Whether we use paper, electronics or a combination, it is essential to have an integrated system and one that we can have wherever we are.

What does an ineffective system look like? A to-do scribbled on Post-its or scraps of paper or carried around in your head, a calendar on your desk when you are at a meeting across town, an address book in your car when you are at the soccer game and need a phone number, a document you need which is in a pile on your desk.

This is an effective system: Wherever you are, you can schedule an appointment, find an email address, or record a task to be done sometime later.

In triathlon, what do you think happens if an athlete begins the week with no plan? Do you think she will get in all the necessary training? Do you think there might be all sorts of last minute cramming and jamming to find time to do the workouts? Might that cause stress as well as conflicts with family and training partners? Is it possible the athlete would show up at the wrong place or at the wrong time or discover a last minute conflict if none of this is in writing?

On the other hand, what if the triathlete looked at her schedule for the following week on Sunday night. In the Calendar would already be recurring workouts: every Tuesday and Thursday from 5:30-8:00 pm the training group meets. Massage and a visit to the physical therapist is also in the calendar. Then, she adds other important entries to her calendar (dinner with spouse, the keiki's basketball game.) Her Task List has everything that needs to be done, with a due date and a priority. Now that all the important items are in her Calendar or Task List, she can add other, less important ones. This is the way to be sure that the week is full of the most important things she can do, not only as a triathlete, but also in her other important roles. This is not designed to get everything done, just the right things.

My planning system: My iPhone contains my Calendar, Contacts, Task List and some important Documents I may need. It is synced to my iPad and desktop computer. If I schedule a meeting, the change automatically appears on all my devices. I don't have to tell someone that I will check my calendar and get back to them later. Everything I need is with me, all the time. This works for me, but each person needs to find a system that works for them.

There may be some effort involved to set all this up. But, the payoff can be tremendous. Instead of being at the mercy of all the stuff coming at you, you have planning habits and a system that support the attainment of your most important goals.

If you think that you and those around you could be more effective if you were more proactive in the choices you make (Habit 1,) did a better job beginning with the end in mind (Habit 2,) and getting the most important things done (Habit 3,) contact me about bringing The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People to your company or organization.

Next time: Habit 4: Think Win-Win

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