Priority setting is something that takes a short amount of time, yet allows you to focus more clearly on the prime objectives, and ignore the noise. By noise I mean the mental chatter caused by not knowing exactly what you should be doing. As well as the distraction of the other items you could be working on.

Clarify Your Focus

The ABC method will allow you to clarify your focus, and direct your enthusiasm towards the place its needed most – your top priority. Your motivation will go into hyperdrive once it knows where it’s needed!

The ABC method will take you just five minutes to put into place. In those five minutes you will identify which are the most important tasks you need to complete and in what order they need to be done.

I know a few people who use this method for a while getting very successful results, but then they give up on it. Why? Because it’s too simple. One of the plus points is that it’s a very simple method, and using it feels almost childlike. However this can also be a negative point because those same people don’t like to feel that they are relying on such a simple device, and so after a while they stop using it. Guess what happens? They begin to lose control over their priorities.

In Association With . . .

I use the ABC method alongside Stephen Covey’s Time Management Matrix that I’ve discussed before now here. I usually divide my tasks up into Q1s and Q2s first, which simply means that if it’s pressing then it’s a Q1. If it’s not so urgent then I’ll label it Q2. This takes a flash and most times I don’t even need to write it down, it just happens automatically and mentally – it’s that quick.

Examples of Q1 items are things like prepping for a client meeting – an event that has a rapidly approaching, time-specific deadline. A Q2 task however is something that could wait for a while. It will be important, like planning and writing the Priority Principle eCourse to accompany the book, but the deadline for it is quite far off.

(If you’re not au fait with the Quadrant system right now don’t worry, because for this example we’ll assume that all your tasks are Q1s – important and urgent. Doesn’t that always seem the way?!)

So you’ve got a list as long as your arm and everything on it is a Q1 – urgent and important. Very simply take a look at your list and make a note of any that are defined by a time, like an appointment. Let’s say I’ve got just one of those so I label it Q1A. Then I move onto the rest of the tasks and give them a letter of the alphabet according to how important they are. Q1B, Q1C and so on. This now gives me an order in which I will complete the tasks. (I ignore the slightly out of order appointment times until they arrive with a calendar ping but that’s just my take on the system.)

Decide

The important thing here is to simply make a decision. You see that’s what holds most people back – the lack of a clear and committed decision about what they should be doing. Decide which is the most important task you need to do. Which single task must you get completed first of all at any cost? Decide which it is and then label it. Then onto the next one, and the next and the next, until you have labelled all them.

Doing this simple, and some might say simplistic action, will put you ahead of 80% of the pack, simply because you have decided on an order to your work. Most people simply reach around for whatever seems the most appealing task – or more truthfully they reach for the least worrying, least difficult, least time consuming task. Mostly though they will not be looking at their tasks with an eye for importance. That’s what will make you stand out and you can do this by using the ABC method.

Don’t worry so much about scheduling finer details of time at this point. By labelling with ABC, the layout of your day and the actual length of the tasks will decide much of the scheduling for you. After that you simply start, working on one task at a time until it is completed.

Help Is On Its Way

Don’t worry if you’re agonising over which of your tasks is the most important. There are times when it’s difficult to work out which job should come next. Over the coming weeks I’ll be showing you a veritable shedload of different ways to prioritise further. Just click on the Priorities tab in the Categories section near the bottom of the homepage.

Changed Priorities Ahead - http://www.flickr.com/photos/redvers/

So Much To Do, So Little Time.

We all know that in order to get ahead we need to do the right things. And in order to do the right things we need to prioritise. We need to get our priorities in order.

It’s easy enough to say and a simple enough concept to understand. Everyone knows that prioritising is a key element of success. So in that case why do so few people actively prioritise effectively on a continued basis?

Digging Deep

Acting like the investigative lovechild of Bill Bryson and Channel 4’s The Time Team I’m going to look briefly at how the word originated, to see what clues this might offer. Exciting eh? Get your trowel ready.

It turns out that the word priority first entered the English language in the 14th century, squeezing itself politely through the Medieval French door dressed as priorite. So far so good, but no clues there.

This priorite itself came from Medieval Latin prioritatem or prioritas, which unsurprisingly came from the Latin prior ‘first.’

That prior meant first is understandable, our priorities are the things that are first in order of importance to us and the things that we should do first. But this still doesn’t say anything about why so many people would struggle to put the first thing first does it?

But here comes a clue. It’s a big fat one too.

Go On Then, Just The One

From the hundreds of years it took to get from the Latin prior to our bastardised priority, one thing about the word remained unchanged. It stayed alone. On its own. All on its tod. As an etymological Billy No Mates the word priority remained unpluralised for centuries.

This is not that surprising when you stop to think about it because there was no need for a plural form. By its very definition a priority could only be one thing. If there was another important thing that took its place, then automatically the priority would stop being a priority and give way to its replacement. Makes sense.

In fact until the 20th century there aren’t any references to more than one priority at a time. But now there are and it’s expected that we have many priorities. You didn’t even blink when, at the beginning of this post, I used the phrase ‘We need to get our priorities in order’. But in the true meaning of the word it doesn’t make sense. And this is where the confusion comes in.

Nowadays we do have many different priorities. Many different firsts. And when you’ve got lots of things claiming to be the most important suitor for your precious time, then you’ve got issues. Prioritisation issues.

It’s All About Context

In my upcoming book the Priority Principle I look at how the change of context dictates how our priorities alter, and offer suggestions about how to cope with the changing landscape. Different contexts allow different priorities, so recognising which context you’re in is a good first step.

I’ll also be blogging on a regular basis about priorities in particular, sharing concepts tips and strategies that will help you, as Stephen Covey says, to put First Things First. Let me know what you’d like to read about, what experiences you’ve had and how you manage to prioritise effectively.

What was I waiting for? It’s been a writing revelation. Maybe even a revolution.

Within three minutes of using it I could see how my spectacularly brilliant, yet rather disjointed, ideas can now easily become beautifully streamlined and organised. Coherence here I come!

Before Scrivener my approach to blogging was to plan a series of posts over various themes. And then write them. So far so good, yet there was a problem.

Scattered Like Seeds

These post ideas would either be logged on paper, dumped in a Google docs folder, floated in a mindmap or popped into an Evernote notebook. Now all of these are great ways of getting the idea down, especially if the idea comes to me on the move, yet I struggled to find one single place to then migrate them to later. One single place that would hold the ideas in an orderly fashion, yet also allow them to be accessible enough to work on in a useful and practical manner.

As a result the ideas for my blog posts would inevitably find themselves lost in transit and the overall view became rather incoherent. I recognised that the flow of posts themselves had no clear, discernible theme running through.

Scrivener is going to put a stop to that.

Early Days

It’s very early on in our relationship but I think I’m in love with Scrivener. We’re not even at the holding hands stage, and I may be jumping the gun, but I really do feel that we’re just made for each other.

One thing that Scrivener allows you to do is put all your ideas in one single place, a cork board, and plan how you will write. This is a screen shot of the main themes that I blog about.

For each of my main themes like Prioritising I can have a separate folder with its own index card that summarises what the folder is about. Inside that particular folder I can create as many topic post ideas as I like and they are all accessible at a glance.

The folder that contains this very post you’re reading is Technology. In this folder I will store sub folders about the various time saving gizmos and software like Evernote and Scrivener. In the screenshot you can see I’ve taken the Evernote folder out and put it next to Technology on the cork board, to show you how it works. In this place I can store the ideas, and then write about them, all the time being able to view how they fit in with the rest of the posts and themes. From there it’s just a click to writing mode.

No more opening, closing, cutting, pasting, moving text around, getting confused with different drafts etc, etc, etc.

I can still record ideas as they arrive on the move, in Evernote, Docs, as a mindmap or simply with or good old fashioned pen and paper, but now I have a place where, once a week, I can move everything over and, hey presto there it is, ready for me to use. A quick look at the index card to refresh my mind about the content and it’s time to darken out the rest of the screen (which Scrivener does) and scribble away.

The Future’s Bright

The possibilities are very exciting. I’m going to use it to complete the Priority Principle. I’m at that stage now where so much has been written yet keeping track of the flow, editing and redrafting is becoming difficult. Difficult the way I was doing it anyway, using files and folders and dear old Windows Explorer. Scrivener will let me organise all the related text, making it clear what’s done, what’s yet to be written and connecting it all together without messing things up. Hurrah!

Scrivener is fluttering her delicate eyes at me so suggestively that I may even be tempted to resurrect my long forgotten novel (but that’s definitely not a priority for the moment).

The definition of a scrivener (according to the online free dictionary) is ‘a person who writes a document for another, usually for a fee.‘

(Actually, having just searched Google for that definition I’ve just found out that I didn’t have to. I don’t need to go elsewhere for dictionary definitions because Scrivener can do that for me! I think we’ve got to holding hands already! My heart is racing.)

Although the software doesn’t quite write your words for you it does just about everything else. Did I mention that I’m in love?

And you’ll also know that it’s not yet finished. But already it’s yielding marvellous results.

How can that be? Click here to find out.

Oh, and then come back to listen to one of the Fab Four’s most underrated songs. It’ll get you going for the weekend!

I’ve heard all the reasons why we should all, as one thronged mass, rush towards him brandishing a noose. Strangely enough most of these same friends encouraging the lynch mob worship at the altar of St Steve of Jobs.

I’m probably defined as a fence sitting heretic because I like both guys, (not that they’ve ever been round to my place for tea), or more precisely, I like what they’ve brought to the world.

Saint and Sinner

What does confuse me however is they way they’re both portrayed – Jobs as a force for all that is good, and Gates as the devil incarnate.

Especially when you take into consideration the wider picture – and by the wider picture I very narrowly mean ‘what have they done with all their lovely wonga?’

I get that Windows Vista wasn’t very good (no really, I do definitely get that!) and that Apple products just, you know, work. But putting that aside for a moment we’re talking about two men who amassed personal fortunes that have to be measured in the billions.

It Could Be You

Most people have had that daydream about what they’d do if they won the lottery, but that doesn’t even come close. Lotteries hand out mere millions to the winners. A bagatelle. Billions, I repeat billions, is Jobs and Gates territory.

So what happens to all those billions then? Well no-one’s particularly sure what Steve did with his. He was a hippy at heart and a Buddhist so maybe he quietly bequeathed chunks of his fortune to good causes. No-one really knows and to be fair, it’s no-one’s business but his own. I get that too. I just find it odd that he’s still classed as the saint when it’s a matter of record that Bill Gates now works full time giving his billions away. He’s still the devil by the way. Just google it.

Given the amount he’s got stashed it’s no wonder that getting rid of it is a full time job, yet he doesn’t have to do it. Personally I think it’s a ‘good thing’ that he’s chosen to create (another) legacy this way, but hey I’m radical like that.

Virus And Disease

Just yesterday, completely out of the blue, he turned up as a surprise speaker at a school in Deptford. The BBC reported that “he told the Deptford schoolchildren how his foundation was methodically working to get rid of every last case of polio, a scourge which had paralysed hundreds and thousands of people each year.

There’s a hit list of 12 diseases which he wants to target – and he told the Deptford pupils that what had really surprised him was that these preventable illnesses had not been stopped before and that there had not been more innovation in vaccines.”

He’s well know for being a geek and focusing on attention to detail. Who would bet against him making a real difference in this area? I’ve worked in Tanzania and met many people whose lives have been affected by polio so have an interest and an insight into the impact eradicating this disease would have.

Legacy

Wouldn’t it be a wonderful and ironic legacy if the guy who gets knocked by the majority of the virtual world for spreading viruses, ends up being the guy who knocks out life-threatening major diseases of the real world.

We all leave a legacy. What would you like yours to be and what are you doing about it?

Sepia Tinged Freedom Of Youth

In my single days, (those long-gone halcyon moments of child-free existence), I used to be a lot more carefree and just book trips on the spur of the moment. But now I like to know exactly where and when I’m going.  So that’s why I’ve booked months in advance.

This is the same for the majority of folk – when it comes to their annual holidays most people know exactly where they’re headed, how they’re going to get there and how long they’ll stay.

But strangely enough people don’t always plan this far ahead, or with as much precision, for other things in life. Thinking about the plans you have for rest of your life, the other 50 weeks of the year, how clearly defined is your destination and the plan for how you’re going to get there? Exactly how are you going to lose that weight you’ve noticed sneaking onto your hips? Precisely when are you going to find the time to learn another language (Portuguese anyone?)? The plans for reaching these destinations are often a little bit hazy.

Some Day Isle

Having been there before I’m sure Portugal will be great, but lots of people actually end up going to an island. Well nearly anyway. This island is a place that people plan to go to some day. It’s a place where everyone is eating healthily, has a perfect balance of work and play and takes time for spiritual nourishment.

You won’t find it in the Canaries, the Balearics or anywhere in the Caribbean. I first heard about it from Brian Tracey in a seminar for the Coaching Academy and it sounds like a great place doesn’t it? Shame it doesn’t exist though.

This excuse is not much different from ‘I don’t’ have the time’ really but again people are very keen to delude themselves that this is a definite reason rather than an excuse. But guess what? Life never does seem to slow down enough to plan that trip to ‘Some Day Isle’.

I’ll Start Tomorrow

Wannabe fitness fanatics who can’t seem to get started at the gym for the first six months of the year, because work is in the way, tell themselves that the summer holiday that would be the ideal opportunity to get cracking on the whole body workout.

After all they’re flying to ‘Some Day Isle’ so it’s bound to work there when they’re away from the drudgery of the everyday. Yet when they step off the plane it turns out that the destination has changed, and Some Day Isle is still in the distance. For now they can reward themselves one last slice of fun, because they’ve worked hard for the last six month. In fact thinking about it, the best time to start fitness would be at home, where they’ve more control over the foods available and less opportunity to succumb to the temptation of an extra swig of sangria.

Some Day Isle has moved and is now situated at home, yet is still just as far out of reach as it was and always will be.

What’s your version of Some Day Isle? Where should you be making plans to visit instead?

So sang the sharp suited Secret Affair back in 1979, also urging us to dress smart, keep clean and take them to your leader. (David Cameron is more of a Jam fan (I know, I know) as it happens.)

Procrastinators Listen Up

Where am I going with this? The key presupposition in the song title is that there is a ‘time for action’. Maybe like a time for breakfast, a time for the 6 O’Clock News, or as Bono suggested in another slice of pop, Miss Sarajevo, ‘a time for East 17′.

And it is this idea that there is a specific time for doing things that can be very, very, VERY unhelpful for people. Especially people who sometimes struggle to get things done. You know the type.

They’re always waiting for the right time to arrive before they start. They need to start their fitness programme on the first day of the New Year in order to get the old non-productive, lazy, fatty, sitting on sofa year out of the way first. They need to start their diet on the first day of the month so they can track the days better. Or they need wait until after lunch before they tackle that horrendous looking pile of papers sitting obstinately on the side of the desk. Or maybe the right time would be tomorrow. Or perhaps leave it till Friday afternoon. In fact let’s just get the weekend out of the way and do it first thing Monday morning. Yes, that would be the best time to do it.

Let’s face it – this is procrastination in action isn’t it? And you recognise yourself in that last paragraph don’t you? Thought so.

Feeling Blocked?

Well don’t worry (too much). This happens to lots and lots of people, at home, work and even at play. Writers use techniques procrastination really well to avoid getting things down on the page. In fact, writers become veritable Time Lords, masters at avoiding the ‘time for action’ and shifting it forwards, further and further into the future. They even have a special material to help them called ‘Writer’s Block.’ Creative eh?

There’s an old joke for wannabe authors that goes something like this.

Two men meet in a pub.
One says, “Hi, I’m a writer.”
The other says, “Neither am I.”

(If that’s you by the way amble on over to WritersKeepWriting for great ideas and inspiration on how to step over that particular block you writing types feel is preventing you from reaching literary greatness.)

Waiting For Godot

And speaking of literary greatness I don’t know if you’ve seen, read or heard Samuel Beckett’s ‘Waiting For Godot’ but let me tell you just one little something about the play. It is relevant to this post but could be seen as a bit of a plot spoiler, if you consider the work to even have a plot, so if you don’t want to know click away now, but thing is . . . Godot never actually turns up. There, I’ve said it. Vladimir and Estragon are waiting in vain. For nothing. The time for action never arrives and so nothing happens.

This Is The Time

And if you keep on waiting for the right time, then nothing will happen either. Or even worse something WILL happen but it won’t be what you want, it will be what someone else wants. Someone who took action and placed themselves into a position of power and influence and is now able to do things for themselves and to others. (Have we got back to David Cameron again?)

So what to do?

Well, happily it turns out that Secret Affair had the answer all along. And even promoted the answer by shouting about it from the dizzy heights of chart position 13 on Top of The Pops.

As it happens the answer is that there actually is a time for action. And if you listen carefully you’ll hear that ‘This’ is the time for action.

This. All the time. Whenever This occurs. Which is right now.

Right now is the time for action.

And as it happens right now is always the best time to start. And that’s all you have to do, make a start. Don’t worry about getting it all done. Just get started.

Change, progress, satisfaction, momentum and achievement all start with action. Don’t hang about, get started right now.

You don’t even need to do much. Just the tiniest shove will cause a boulder to roll down a hill. I’ve seen Wile E Coyote do this, and get flattened in the process, so I know this to be true.

Go on, start now. This is The Time For Action.

Take a few minutes out of your day to watch this short clip and see what you get inspired to do. I’m thinking about the fun activity at 3 minutes 44 secs. Can’t be that difficult can it?

I’m blaming the entire non writing thing on the fact that I’m living in a building site.

Okay, I probably could have found the odd hour or so to tap away at my trusty Lenovo Thinkpad, and now that things have settled down again I will, but for the first few weeks of 2012 I’ve been far too excited and involved with the design and creation of my new Coaching Studio!

Bob The Builder

At the end of the year work began on our new extension. Single storey and cleanly claiming the footprint of our old garage (who uses a garage for cars these days anyway?) the new build will comprise a new kitchen, utility room, shower and WC, and ta daaah, my new office and client workroom.

I’ve always had a dedicated space for clients so I can work face to face with them in an environment that I have complete control over, and since I let the lease expire on my old room at Donyngs Leisure Centre, Redhill, I’ve missed having my own studio.

As the build has progressed, however, I’ve noticed parallels between the project and how I help clients to approach a challenge.

Design Your Dreams

First of all you have to know what you want and why you want it.

Our needs for the new space were varied and detailed and we hired an architect to translate our dreams and designs into clear drawings.

Likewise before any coaching takes place I ask clients to complete a detailed form that covers what they would like to gain from the coaching experience. Getting clients to take time to write their desires out in full, helps them to really clarify what it is they want, reflect on those thoughts and to recognise the commitment they’ll need to undertake the changes.

Start With Deep and Strong Foundations

One of the first jobs for the build was to dig the foundations. Because of the type of soil where I live(Fuller’s Earth), the bods at building control insisted that our foundations be deeper and wider than those used as standard. Upon their instruction we actually passed the lower level of the original foundations for the main house, so our base for the single storey build is now deeper, wider and stronger than that of the two storey construction that has been standing upright since the 1930s!

All of my coaching sessions are built on my clients’ strengths. People are so keen to pass over their better qualities (often dismissing them completely) that sometimes they don’t even recognise they’re there. We all have a lifetime’s amount of resources. I insist that we go and have a good look at them, auditing what there is and making notes about what could be useful to build with or upon.

Be Flexible

Another similarity I’ll mention is the need to be flexible. When you’re digging around under the ground you never know what you’ll find and although I think most of the big surprises are out of the way now, (fingers crossed!) being told that we needed to alter the size of our foundations meant plenty of flexibility in different areas: extra work, extra time, extra materials and therefore, yes you’ve guessed it, extra cost!

In NLP terms Deep Structure is the real meaning hidden behind our words and actions. The benefits of a coaching session are not always foreseeable and clients often come to conclusions that they would not have anticipated. That’s one of the benefits of being coached of course, (especially by a coach trained in NLP), but it does mean that flexibility is a key attribute for clients to adopt. Being flexible is a must if they truly want to fully realise and make real, the full impact of their session insights.

Next Steps

My builder and his team have taken advantage of the clement weather to crack on with the build and over the next few days are going to break through the existing walls and insert new structural beams.

Coaching can provide some massive breakthroughs, which often means that new supportive beams need to be put in place.

Erm, it’s probably time to let this metaphor take a rest now so make sure you’ve got your beams in place for whichever breakthroughs you plan to make this year.

Upwards and Onwards

Stop by from time to time to track my progress and let me know if what I’m sharing is helping you to improve yours.

Just Stop

Take a minute out of your year and simply stop for 60 seconds. OK, so you might not have achieved everything you set out to do in January 2011, but that doesn’t mean you need to wallow or get cross with yourself. Lift your head up and look around at your world in a different way. You’re still doing OK. In fact by looking at things a little more closely you might even come to the conclusion that you’re doing better than most people have ever done. That’s most people throughout history by the way! Seriously.

Better Than The Pharoahs

Although they ruled over thousands of subjects for thousands of years the mighty Kings of Egypt still never lived life as well as you can. They never experienced the wind in their hair from driving at more than 40 miles an hour down a leafy country lane. I doubt their chariots had a top speed of over 25mph. And even as you look upon their works and despair in wonder at the awesome temples and statues, just bear in mind that they never had the ability to hop on a plane for a long weekend in Amsterdam or Nice. Or enjoy the view from a building that rises more than 100 stories high. Or flicked a switch to bring forth light. Or enjoyed the splendour of a David Attenborough documentary on a stupidly big HD telly. Or were able to have their children immunised from Tetanus, Measles or Rubella. Or get a flu jab themselves. Or pick and choose at whim, maybe without even realizing, to have a French breakfast, Italian lunch and Indian for dinner.

What a poor life these sad individuals must have endured. In comparison to you at least.

Looking At It This Way

Perspective is an amazing thing – how something appears just depends on how you approach it. And if that’s still not working for you then simply head over to this website where, with one click of one button, you can make everything OK. Happy New Year!