You don't need me to tell you that our lives are becoming busier and busier and that time pressures are one of the biggest stressors we have. Often the biggest challenge is not how much time we actually have but how effectively we are using it. Our modern lives are so full of distractions and time wasters that we often spend all our time and energy doing stuff that doesn't really matter.
Your daily tasks can be broken down into four categories: important stuff that is urgent, important stuff that is not urgent, unimportant stuff that is urgent, and unimportant stuff that is not urgent.
Usually the important, urgent stuff is the first thing that gets ticked off from our list. It is a no brainer, it needs to be done and it needs to be done NOW so we do it, no questions asked. So far, so good.
Unfortunately for most people, the second item on their list is the urgent unimportant stuff. It is easy to push those long-term important tasks into the background because there are emails in your Inbox, a great show on TV right now, or a great piece of gossip to share. The problem with this is that the non-urgent important stuff gets shoved out the way and often, in fact, never gets done. These are also the things that stress us out. Hour after hour, day after day, we keep saying to ourselves ‘gee, I really need to get that done', or ‘when am I ever going to find time to live that dream?'
The key to getting these big long-term goals achieved is to prioritise your actions. Take a look at your vision board (chapter 81) and analyse your daily activities with that vision in mind. Which of these tasks are really helping you achieve what you want to achieve in life, and which are just wasting your time? In fact the best way to do this is to number them in order, from most important to least. Then when you sit down to plan your day, or are trying to figure out what to do next, have a look at your priorities list. Prioritise those important ones first and you will find you are not only getting more done with your time, but you will be less stressed as well.
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