Transcript

So often in our society today, we find people who are managing multiple priorities. They are trying to balance 6-8 things at a time. They feel as if they never have enough time. They frequently feel stressed. They frequently feel as if there isn't enough time in the day to get done what they need to get done. Is that your situation? Well, guess what? Welcome to the club that has millions of people! How is it that we all feel as if we have too much competing for our time and attention?

Well, as it turns out, society has changed. There are more TV stations, more radio stations, more magazines, more newspapers, more online zines, more email, more of everything competing for our time and attention. In the workplace, particularly, we're asked to do more with less. Very often, the budges shrink in our departments, sometimes our staff is taken away from us, sometimes we're simply asked to do more in a given amount of time. So, frequently people find that they're managing multiple priorities. They're trying to take care of many things at the same time. How do you deal with a situation where there's 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 or 10 items that all demand your earnest attention and concentration? Well, the answer is quite simple: you tackle one thing at a time.

That's not an easy message to deliver in contemporary America and in the western world these days where people have almost been taught to multi-task. And yet, studies will show, time and time again, that if you will tackle the most important item first, take it to completion or as far as you can. Then tackle number two, then number three and so forth. You'll be faster and more efficient than any other way you could get through that pile.

If you doubt that, think of this test that you could do with a friend right at home or right in your office. It wouldn't take more than a few minutes and you would have conclusive evidence that the best way to manage multiple priorities is to stick with one task until its completion. Here's the test, are you ready?

What you want to do is put yourself against a friend on three types of tasks. Task one will be to stack 20 pennies up and up and up so you have all 20 in a stack. Task two will be to link 20 paperclips and task three will be t draw 20 stars on a page.

Now, here are the ground rules. Your friend stacks all 20 pennies at once and then goes to the paperclips and links all 20 paperclips and then goes to the page and draws 20 stars on the page. You on the other hand, stack a few pennies, then switch over to the paperclips, then switch over to drawing stars on the page. Then switch back to the stack of pennies, and then go back to the paperclips and so forth only doing 3-4 at a time, continually switching between tasks.

Who do you think is going to finish first every time? If you guessed your friend who gets to stack all 20 pennies, gets to link all 20 paperclips, and gets to draw all 20 stars in succession, you are correct.

So it is with the priorities we face in life. If we play the game that, "Oh, I'll just dabble with this one and I'll deal with that one a little and I'll work on this one when I have a little here and then turn back to this one." Hey, mentally that can be actually satisfying. It's as if you're saying to the world, "Look at me. Look how important I am. Look how I'm balancing all these tasks that compete for my attention."

The reality is, you're not nearly as efficient as the person who tackles the most important task first, takes it to completion, goes to number two, takes it as far as they can. Sometimes there can't be completion. Sometimes you have to sign off or have somebody else sign off on it. But, you take each task as far as you can after you've ranked them. That will be the fastest and easiest way to manage multiple priorities.