1-10 Simplify
The greatest journey may begin with a single step, but before you put your shoes on, you need to know where you're headed. If you're too busy, it can be hard to choose that path--or to figure out that you've already set yourself on the wrong road. Cut back. You'll be amazed at what you learn.
1. Set your priorities
A new year, a clean slate, and so many ways to build a better life. But for people riddled with imperfections--which is to say people in general--sometimes that's exactly the problem. Should you spend more time snuggling with your sweetie or sweeping out the junk in the basement? Pitching in at the local food bank or organizing your digital photographs? Consolidating your credit card debt or eating more lycopene? The list of things we could do to improve our lives is so darned long that we often end up doing nothing at all.
Call it a to-do list; call it a battle plan if that makes you feel better. Somehow or other, you have to figure out where to start. "Almost all of my work involves setting priorities," says executive coach Linda Finkle of Potomac, Md. "The vast masses of us are trying to do more things in less time, and there's this belief that we can create a 26-hour day somehow." Finkle has developed many strategies for increasing efficiency--whether at home or in the workplace. "But there really are only 24 hours in the day," she says, "and sooner or later you have to realize that you can't do everything."
Sometimes separating the important stuff from the expendable is straightforward. But where do you go once you're ready to move beyond deciding whether you get that snazzy new leather jacket or buy lunch for the kids? Finkle suggests the good old-fashioned to-do list--with a twist. "We spend a lot of time on things that are important but not urgent," she says, "so we end up running out of time to do everything we want." She recommends starting each morning with a list of the day's tasks--from watching a child's softball game to preparing for a meeting at work--and then ranking them according to what can wait and what can't. "Mark them A, B, or C," she says, "and then tear up the B's and C's. If you get the all the A's done, you'll feel great and have a successful day."
Do or don't. In a way, Finkle is actually encouraging procrastination: Why waste time today on things that really can be put off until tomorrow? "The B's and C's either move up the list as they become more urgent, or they drop off" as conditions--or priorities--change, she says. "Your life might be 80 percent work one week, because you've got a big project that is a priority. And it might be all family time after that," she says. "What most of us do is not make the choice. We just plug along, and then we get frustrated when we run out of time."
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