Take the Time to Set Up the System

Everyone is busy. I rarely speak with anyone who doesn’t say how busy they are. Unless they are retired or really bored with their job, everyone feels rushed to get more done.

Often this creates a cycle. We feel rushed to get things done so we rush through them. Because we didn’t do a thorough job, we often must redo them later. As more gets added to our plate we rush through it instead of taking the time to do it right.

Everyone is guilty of this from time to time. Often, when I feel this coming on, I try to rely more on my organizational systems to keep my head above water. If I am only getting 80% of the work done, I must be certain I am working on the most important 80%.

But how do you know you worked on the most important aspects? You need to prioritize effectively. Prioritizing allows you to set the levels, so you spend the time on the tasks that matter most.

I’ve found that many people misunderstand the idea of prioritizing. They assume if someone didn’t get something done, they didn’t prioritize their work. But it could be that they prioritized other tasks ahead of the one that got missed.

Therefore, we all need to have prioritization systems in place. We need a systematic way to go through our to do items to determine level of importance. Then we will be confident we worked on the top 80%.

Our organization systems matter when it comes to these busy times. If we are sloppy and unorganized, more tasks will overwhelm us. If we have great organization systems, we will learn how to shift things around, schedule things out, block out appropriate time, and work in an efficient manner.

If someone says they are very organized, I ask them what organization systems they use. If they can’t answer, they are likely not as organized as they let on. But if they can point to the ways they keep track of everything with specific and consistent steps, they have a system.

It is the same with prioritization. If they have a system, they should be able to tell you what they do. There should be evidence that they often use this system. If they say they prioritize but can’t answer “how” they don’t understand how to prioritize systematically.

Using systems for these and other areas of your life will completely change how you go about your day. They will allow you take the flood of emails, meeting requests, and due dates and remain on top of everything. Sure, it will still feel like you are drowning from time to time. But the systems will help keep you afloat and pop right back up.

People that don’t use systems, assume they have maximum efficiency. But they don’t. They often argue that there isn’t a way to do it better, while defending their actions.

If we use systems, we know there could be systematic improvements that can be made. We are more open to changes when they turn into improvement.

Once you realize the value of systems, you will be able to unlock much more potential. You will be able to accomplish more, stress less, and be responsible for greater assignments. It all starts with being able to utilize systems instead of always winging it and then defending your actions.

Improving the systems and habits in your life will have a profound impact on how you approach your day. Avoiding systems, will leave you defending your actions, not realizing the patterns of criticism might just be hinting that you need a better system.