How to have time to do all the most important and not waste time

Most of us, every day is filled with urgent but empty affairs. At the end of the week we feel exhausted, but nothing of importance or not.

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Things to do - this is our long-term projects and goals. For example, a book that we want to write, or the company, which wanted to establish. From this we are constantly distracted urgent cases: calls, meetings, meetings, e-mail - all you need to react immediately. How can stop wasting all their time only on such matters?

Decide what is important to you

Important is seldom urgent and urgent is seldom important.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th US President

To determine the most important things for yourself, use a matrix Eisenhower. This method divides your tasks into four categories.

• The upper left quadrant - important and urgent. Here come the different challenges, contingencies and deadlines.
• The upper right quadrant - important, but non-urgent. These may include relationships, planning long-term projects and recreation.
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• The lower left quadrant - unimportant but urgent. This meeting, phone calls and other such activities.
• Lower Right - unimportant and non-urgent. This category may include cases useless, time-consuming, entertainment and other small things.

It is clear that you must first understand the important urgent matters. Then - to reduce the number of unimportant and non-urgent cases. Difficulties arise when we try to spread the case of the other two categories.

Most people are always trying to get rid of the first urgent. But if we are constantly engaged in them only, we did not get to really important.

Lao Tzu once said: "To say," I have no time "- the same thing as saying" I do not want to do it. ' " A Picasso advised to "put off until tomorrow just what you do not want to complete before the end of life."

Turn things to do in the immediate

Set a deadline

They make urgent urgent business. If there is important work deadlines, you will always put it off until later. So try to break their important work on small steps and set for each deadline.

Determine the consequences

But a deadline is not enough. After all, if you promise to myself this week, I am sure to go to the gym, but did not keep the promise, nothing bad will happen, and you just will transfer deadline next week. Delays should be some serious consequences that you really appeared motivation.

Here are some ways to help you take deadlines more seriously.

1. Announced his intention

So you will not be able to simply shrug off his promise. But really put a realistic time frame.

2. Enter reward and punishment

Plan the system of rewards and punishments. Just keep in mind that the reward or punish ourselves at the end of the term you should not do, better ask someone from friends.

3. Give yourself reminders

On the timing, you can easily forget about them if anything does not look like. So take care of it in advance. Record the date in your calendar, affix stickers to the desktop, you can even hang one in the bathroom or in the kitchen.

Urgent cases there will always be, they will last for a day, a week, a year or even a lifetime. But much more important than spending time and effort to really important things, so you do not regret that you did not have time to do.