Improved time management includes setting three priorities

Everyone is looking for ways to improve time management. Whether you are managing an organization seeking business improvement or an individual seeking ways to better use their time, time management is important to both. Better time management can be achieved by setting goals and then prioritizing all future work based on how it moves the individual or organization toward meeting the goals.

There are many priority time management methods. The most popular are method A, B, C and numerical ranking according to the order in which the tasks should be performed. Both methods encourage considering the things that bring us closer to achieving important goals as the top priority to set. Things that are not related to goals would be of lower priority. Here is a description of the three priorities and how they relate to general time management practices.

• High Priority items (rank A or 1) are those tasks, projects, and appointments that produce the best results in achieving individual or organizational goals. For individuals, this could be related to small business growth or career advancement goals and directly linked to promises made to clients or coworkers, or it could be non-work related, such as more goals and family or free time promises. For organizations, this would likely be related to higher profits, new business, key projects, and other strategic business elements. High priority items should be the first scheduled job for each day and locked to a time that is within the individual’s peak performance period.
• Half Priority items (rank B or 2) are those tasks, projects, and standard daily, weekly, or monthly appointments that are part of the work that must be done to maintain the status quo. For people, this would relate to doing their standard job and could mean going to scheduled outside family or group activities as expected. For organizations, these are everyday business items like project meetings, cost reduction, as well as regular administrative, sales, and manufacturing jobs. Medium priority work is scheduled after or between high priority functions, because this work does not require high levels of concentration, it can be performed during off-peak periods as long as it is completed on schedule.
• Low Priority items (Rank C or 3) are those potential tasks, projects, and appointments that are enjoyable, can be postponed to another time, and will not directly affect goals or standard work practices. For people, this could mean learning a new skill or starting a new hobby that may seem like good ideas but are not directly related to the most desirable personal goals. For organizations, this could consist of purging old files or evaluating existing work processes that are currently running smoothly.

It doesn’t matter whether the priority time management methods like A, B, C, numbering, or just marking high, medium, low using a custom coloring or coding method. The only important thing is that the practice has no more than three priorities used to get closer to achieving important goals. More than three levels of priority can bog down the time manager in the process of prioritizing instead of doing valuable work.

Whether it’s managing an organization or an individual looking for ways to better use their time, time management is important to both. Anyone looking for ways to improve time management will benefit from establishing and following a priority setting method to complete the work toward achieving goals.