Home > Articles

Setting Priorities to Get More Done with Less Stress

Have you ever wondered how some people are able to do so much? If you take a closer look, you might find that they actually turn down a lot of opportunities and focus only on a few things—those they view as most important. Solutions-business manager Patrick Brans reveals how some of the most successful people in the world set priorities, and he explains how IT professionals can use these same techniques to get more done with less stress.
Like this article? We recommend

If you are like most IT professionals, time is your tightest resource. Granted, money sometimes seems to be in limited supply. But while you can usually improve your finances by working harder, taking on more responsibility, and getting a raise, it’s impossible to create more hours in the day, or more days in the week. To get the best from this most precious commodity, one must set priorities and stick to them—ruthlessly.

The first thing to do is to start out with a clear idea of what you want to accomplish. To do this, you might borrow from the discipline of project management, where many supervisors classify projects into one of three categories: compliance, operational, and strategic. Decision-makers select compliance and operational projects to conform to regulation or improve business processes, but to move their company into new markets they need to put most of their effort into strategic projects. [1]

Think of your personal goals the same way. What you do out of necessity falls into either compliance or operational categories; whereas, what you do to advance in your career or make a better life for yourself is strategic. You want to spend most of your time working towards these strategic goals.

But while you should spend most of your time working towards your goals, you should spend very little time thinking about the goals themselves. Spend only about an hour or so every month thinking about all your different kinds of pursuits and what you need to do to accomplish them.

During this monthly session, consider all types of goals—those imposed by necessity, and those that promise to advance your career or make a better life for you and those around you. So, take all categories together, and break each of the goals into projects with outcomes that will take you a little closer to achievement. Now break each project into a set of tasks. [2]

Once you are sure about what projects you need to work on and the tasks that make up each project, making a daily choice of which activities to focus on becomes much easier. All you have to do is think about the next work items from each of your important projects, and carry them out one at a time.

Selecting Priorities

To illustrate the process of dividing goals into projects and projects into tasks, and then selecting one of the next tasks to work on, I left out urgent and unexpected matters that spring up out of nowhere and demand your attention. By definition, you won’t know about these matters during your monthly session to think about goals. But as soon as they come up, you do have to include them in the set of things you might do.

Taking together all the planned tasks and the ones that crop up unexpectedly, several techniques can help you pick what to do and when to do it. One is to work on the most daunting tasks first, because those are the ones you tend to put off. If you get those scary jobs out of the way at the beginning of the day, everything else will seem easy. [3]

Another strategy, which is in stark contrast to the first one, is to start by knocking off the small stuff. Getting the little tasks out of the way makes it easier to turn your attention to the bigger things.

Both of these approaches have merit, and both get the job done for some group of people. But the most famous method for setting priorities is generally attributed to Dwight D. Eisenhower, who is said to have taken all the things he had the opportunity to work on and arranged them along two separate dimensions: urgency and importance. As Eisenhower is quoted saying, “What is important is seldom urgent; and what is urgent is seldom important.”

Let’s illustrate with a few examples. Checking for breaking news on the Internet is by definition urgent, but unless it affects you, it’s not important. Doing Google searches to win an argument you had with your best buddy the night before is neither urgent nor important. Brushing up on programming skills is not urgent, but it’s important; while it’s one of the best things you can do, it’s never a pressing matter. Finally, responding to a report from your company’s best client about a show-stopping bug that most likely originated in code you wrote is both urgent and important.

One way to make the distinction between urgent and important is to plot opportunities in a matrix, with two rows and two columns. The two rows represent urgent and non-urgent; and the two columns represent important and non-important.

The resulting diagram allows you to immediately spot what you need to do first. These are the tasks in the “urgent” and “important” box. Also at a glance, you can see what to drop: anything in the two unimportant squares, whether it’s urgent or non-urgent. As for the important but not urgent tasks, either work on them immediately (if nothing is left to do from the important and urgent box) or plan time to work on them.

You don’t need to use this tool every day. Working through it from time to time is enough to remind yourself that urgency and importance are orthogonal. In other words, movement along the urgency dimension is independent of movement along the importance dimension.

Once this kind of thinking becomes part of your DNA, you’ll find it easier to select priorities. And remember that it’s all very relative. While you may have a thousand important things in front of you, one or two of them are more important than the rest.

Refusing the Rest

Setting priorities is only the beginning. To accomplish strategic goals, you have to stay focused on those things you consider most important, which means refusing all the other opportunities that threaten to divert your attention. But that’s not easy. Rejecting something requires you first to accept that you won’t do it, then you have to tell one or more other people, possibly letting them down hard.

As a reminder of how difficult it is for us to decide we won’t do something, consider just three of the cognitive forces working against you:

1.    The Shiny Object Syndrome: What you don’t have seems better than what you do have, and what you’re doing now seems more boring than something else you could be doing. [4]

2.    The Missed Opportunity Syndrome: We are more motivated by fear of loss than by the prospect of gain. [5] When you decide not to do something, you are losing an opportunity, quite possibly forever.

3.    The Avoidance Principle: People will do anything to avoid working on a task they have an unconscious need to put off. If you feel you haven’t chosen an activity, or if you are afraid of the outcome, you’ll tend to procrastinate—and the best way of doing so is by accepting the first alternative that comes your way. [6]

Once you make up your mind to turn something down, you still have to tell the other person. Few of us find it easy to say no, because we don’t like to disappoint. Some of the most powerful CEOs in the world say they have had trouble in the past refusing things, but knowing their weaknesses, they found workarounds. They also say that with practice, saying no gets easier. [7]

Here are three things you might try at three different points in the request life cycle (before, during, and after):

1.    Before people come to you with a request, let people know what your priorities are. Then all you have to do is explain why what they’re asking doesn’t fit in with what you consider important. This technique minimizes the feeling of rejection by making it clear that your refusal is not personal.

2.    When you do turn somebody down, explain the reasons behind your refusal, and be clear about whether you can reverse your decision. If there is some specific change that would cause you to overturn your refusal, let the other person know. If there is nothing that will change your mind, make that clear, so you—and the other person—can drop the subject and move on to other pursuits.

3.    After you’ve decided not to accept an opportunity, detach yourself emotionally. There’s no bigger time waster than agonizing about decisions you’ve already made.

Fancy techniques and theories aside, a simple exercise to do a couple of times a day is to write down the two or three things you need to focus on. Work on those tasks until either you complete them or your priorities change. Filter all distractions.

References

[1] Project Management: The Managerial Process, 4th Edition, Clifford F. Gray, Erik W. Larson, McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2008

[2] Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, David Allen, Penguin Books, 2002

[3] Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time, Brian Tracy, Berret-Koehler Publishers, 2007

[4] Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Robert B. Cialdini Ph.D., HarperBusiness, 2006

[5] Choices, Values, and France, Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, Cambridge University Press, 2000

[6] Still Procrastinating: The No Regrets Guide to Getting It Done, Joseph R. Ferrari, Wiley, 2012

[7] Master the Moment: Fifty CEOs Teach You the Secrets of Time Management, Pat Brans, BCS Press, 2010

InformIT Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from InformIT and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites, develop new products and services, conduct educational research and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@informit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by InformIT. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.informit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020