The Urgent/Important Matrix - Time Management Skills from MindTools

Using Time Effectively, Not Just Efficiently © iStockphotoblackred Focus on your most important work. Imagine that your boss has asked you to prepare an important presentation for the next board meeting. You only have a few days to put it together, your workload is already high, and you have many other urgent tasks on your To-Do List. Time stressors are some of the most pervasive sources of pressure in the workplace, and they happen as a result of having too much to do, in too little time. Eisenhower's Urgent/Important Principle helps you think about your priorities, and determine which of your activities are important and which are, essentially, distractions. What Are "Urgent" and "Important" Activities? In a 1954 speech to the Second Assembly of the World Council of Churches, former U.S. He recognized that great time management means being effective as well as efficient. Important activities have an outcome that leads to us achieving our goals, whether these are professional or personal.

The Mistake Smart People Make: Being In Motion vs. Taking Action 4.4K Flares Filament.io 4.4K Flares × There is a common mistake that often happens to smart people — in many cases, without you ever realizing it. The mistake has to do with the difference between being in motion and taking action. They sound similar, but they’re not the same. Here’s the deal… Motion vs Action Motion is when you’re busy doing something, but that task will never produce an outcome by itself. If I outline 20 ideas for articles I want to write, that’s motion. Sometimes motion is good because it allows you to prepare and strategize and learn. It doesn’t matter how many times you go talk to the personal trainer, that motion will never get you in shape. Why Smart People Find Themselves in Motion If motion doesn’t lead to results, why do we do it? Sometimes we do it because we actually need to plan or learn more. And that’s the biggest reason why you slip into motion rather than taking action: you want to delay failure. Yes, I’d like to get in shape. Yes, I’d like to lose weight. 1.

The Guide to Strong Boundaries This post is long overdue. Since I wrote Models: Attract Women Through Honesty and mentioned the importance of maintaining strong personal boundaries, people have been asking me what boundaries actually are, what they look like, how to build them and maintain them, do they help that much, are they that important, do they stop your girlfriend from farting too much in her sleep, where are my keys, have you seen my keys, where are my damn keys? PSA: Setting strong personal boundaries are not a cure-all for your relationship woes (or your lost keys). In fact, they’re more of a side effect of having a healthy self-esteem and a general low level of neediness with people around you. Boundaries work both ways: they create emotional health and are created by people with emotional health. They are something you can start working on today with the people close to you and you’ll begin to notice a difference in your self-esteem, confidence, emotional stability, and so on. What are Personal Boundaries?

Mind Tools - Management Training, Leadership Training and Career Training How Turning My To-Dos into a Story Boosted My Memory and Solved My Procrastination Problem Very interesting, Thorin. I've been playing with the idea of transforming todos into stories, to give them some meaning and context, but I write notes about each todo. Sometimes I've tried to write stories about the todos, but it usually derives to the form of a diary, which is mostly boring, and not very useful, since it happens afterwards. Your approach has interesting differences: - third person point of view (you write as though you are not you) - you write before the day (and not after, as a log or diary) - you emphasize the fictional storytelling (it's a fun reading) - it's ONE note for ALL todos, not one for each. I do believe in deliberately creating (or reminding one of) context and meaning, in a sometimes dull everyday life. I admit it can be time-consuming, but I just need this kind of help, to remind me of the projects I'm already working on (I tend to keep starting new ones).