Risk & Business Magazine Miller Insurance Magazine Summer 2018 | Page 31

PRIORITIZING
PRIORITIZING
TIME IS ONE OF
THOSE LONG-
HELD GOALS
THAT WE, AS
PROFESSIONALS,
STRUGGLE
WITH DAILY. in your workday, and you’ll likely find
yourself swimming in inefficiencies.
Absolutely anything that you do that’s
repetitive is fair game for delegation. ME WHEN I AM
SLEEPING?”
Delegate those repetitive tasks to employees.
No employees? No problem. Outsource
them using a resource like UpWork. Even
if you’re in a nonleadership role, you can
unearth enormous value by having someone
help you with basic administrative or
clerical tasks. You could also simply hire
help based on annual and predictable spikes
in business or when you’re overwhelmed
with monster projects. Sleep is an obvious priority, but that doesn’t
mean you can’t also work while you rest.
Being productive with absolutely no effort
is a dream come true, and technology is
making it easier than ever.
Sure, it sounds simple, but putting
the concept to work proves to be more
challenging—and less effective—than we’d
like. And more often than not, individuals
with poor prioritization skills tend to waste
time and lose value in their daily grind. Delegating repetitive tasks isn’t a luxury—
it’s a necessity for successful professionals.
The biggest problem with prioritizing
time is that you have to start with the
most important task first. While that
sounds great in theory, it doesn’t help you
in instances where literally everything
feels like a priority. And since it seems
we’re constantly confronted with a pile
of priorities—all equally important—
efficiency becomes almost impossible.
Having worked with hundreds of business
professionals, I’ve found that there are a
few key things that prevent them from
prioritizing properly. Here are three
questions business managers should ask
themselves to make priority a function of
time and to get compound dividends on
what they put into their businesses.
“IS THIS A
REPETITIVE
TASK?”
According to a recent survey, repetitive
tasks consume 520 hours of an employee’s
time each year. This puts a lot at stake
regardless of where you fall on the
organizational ladder.
Take some time to recognize redundancies
“AM I CREATING A
BOTTLENECK?”
No one should ever look up and find out he
or she is the one holding up the line. But at
any point in the day, you could be the one
multiplying inefficiencies for your team or
department. If you’re feeling the pressure of
multiple priorities, there’s a chance it stems
back to a bottleneck you’ve created.
Keep an eye out for hints like unread or un-
responded-to emails, contracts or invoices
waiting for your approval, or slow-moving
projects. If you’re in a leadership role,
check things like employee resource and
technology needs. Employees can often be
held in limbo because they are waiting for a
problem to be serviced or fixed.
Take the time to acknowledge and address
any part of your work flow that holds up the
work of others. This awareness gives you a
clear path to prioritize your own tasks, and
it also gives you insight into what helps your
employees stay on-schedule.
Never be the bottleneck.
“CAN I CREATE
SOMETHING THAT
WILL WORK FOR
Invest in a process or tool that allows you
to create more value—and time—in your
day. Think of tools like computer programs,
algorithms, and automatic tools. Even self-
help articles like this one help you break
down the basics so you can streamline
problem solving.
ANYTHING—
OR ANYONE—
THAT KEEPS YOU
“WORKING”
24/7/365 IS AN
INVALUABLE
INVESTMENT FOR
DOUBLING YOUR
FREE TIME AND
BUILDING YOUR
PROFESSIONAL
VALUE.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
To sum it up, there are three rules for
prioritizing, creating value, and getting
more free time out of each day: reject
repetition, beware of bottlenecks, and invest
in automation.
Asking yourself the three important
questions posed in this article will make
your priorities a true function of time, and
give you compound dividends on the hours
you put into work each week. +
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