Prioritisation action guide session handout

Prioritisation Action Guide

How do you Eat an Elephant?



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Revision Date 2/7/2015

Table of Contents How do you Eat an Elephant? 3

One Bite at a Time! 3

How do you eat an Elephant? 6

One Bite at a Time! 6



One Bite at a Time!

Do you get overwhelmed with all that you have to do?

Break it down into the smallest steps.



One Bite at a Time!

Most clients when I ask them, tell me that they prioritise based on urgency trumping importance. This leads to stress and lack of accomplishment. Great leaders know the difference between being busy and accomplishment. It really doesn't matter how busy you are. It's what you achieve that makes a difference. This was one of my big weaknesses. And, if I am not careful, can easily be again. I can easily get distracted by something new and shiny... especially some new technology. I am getting better, but it still requires my self-discipline and diligence to keep this up. Again, it was Dr John C. Maxwell who suggests this and I have shared this with many clients as it works well and better than other ways of prioritising or so-called "time-management". We start with the Three R's of prioritisation and then use the 80/20 rule. The Three R's of Prioritisation Required - What things must I do that nobody else can or should do for me?

Return - What gives the greatest return on my time and effort? What am I doing that can be done at least 80% as well by someone else?

Reward - What things do I enjoy doing, that I am passionate about? Doing the things that you love to do is fuel for your soul and body.



One Bite at a Time!

Create a list of things that fit each of these categories. Anything that can or should be done by someone else needs to be, well, done by someone else. And make sure that you keep some things in reward (even if they could or should be done by someone else). Now we apply the 80/20 rule or Pareto analysis. The idea of Pareto analysis is that 20% of activity produces 80% of the result. It follows pretty well throughout all aspects of life. 20% of the sales people deliver 80% of the sales. 20% of your products deliver 80% of your profit. In the same way 20% of your own effort produces 80% of your results. So things we have to do (required) are part of the 20%. Intentional growth and development is also part of your 20%. The remaining 80% of your time you should spend doing things that give you the greatest return and things that you find rewarding. In short: Spend 80% of your time in your strength zone - things that you are good at doing (and thus do quickly and easily) Spend 15% of your time doing things that are required of you, but you are neither especially strong at doing nor are you so appallingly bad at doing that you really should hire someone to do it. Spend 5% of your time intentionally learning, developing and growing.


How do you eat an Elephant?

One Bite at a Time!


THE 3 R’S OF PRIORITISATION AND PARETO

We start with the Three R's of prioritisation and then use the 80/20 rule.

The Three R's of prioritisation 1. Required - What things must I do that nobody else can or should do for me?

2. Return - What gives the greatest return on my time and effort? What am I doing that can be done at

least 80% as well by someone else?

3. Reward - What things do I enjoy doing that I am passionate about? Doing the things that you love to do

is fuel for your soul and body.

Create a list of things that fit each of these categories. Anything that can or should be done by someone else needs to be, well, done by someone else. And make sure that you keep some things in reward (even if they could or should be done by someone else). Now we apply the 80/20 rule or Pareto analysis. The idea of Pareto analysis is that 20% of activity produces 80% of the result. It follows pretty well throughout all aspects of life. 20% of the sales people deliver 80% of the sales. 20% of your products deliver 80% of your profit. In the same way 20% of your own effort produces 80% of your results. So things we have to do (required) are part of the 20%. Intentional growth and development is also part of your 20%. The remaining 80% of your time you should spend doing things that give you the greatest return and things that you find rewarding. In short:

Spend 80% of your time in your strength zone - things that you are good at doing (and thus do quickly

and easily)

Spend 15% of your time doing things that are required of you, but you are neither especially strong at

doing nor are you so appallingly bad at doing that you really should hire someone to do it.

Spend 5% of your time intentionally learning, developing and growing.

Example An example using the Prioritization template I now use a cloud application (Smartsheet.com) for my planning – this is a spreadsheet version.

To help me with prioritisation I have a simple scoring system. Required = 5, Return = 3 and Reward = 1. Strength = 5, Must do = 3, and Learning = 1. Multiply the 3R’s by the Pareto split and I get scores. The higher, the more priority should be put on it. Some people find it best to include two further columns. Time and Effort. Personally, I have never found it helpful as, like you, there is never enough time for everything. So I use this method to eliminate what I can from my schedule. Once you have established your prioritisation this way, put the tasks into your schedule.

Activity Required Return Reward Strength Must Do Learning Scoring

Bible Study P P 1

Personal development P P 3

Travel to work P P 25

Meetings P P 9

Emails P P 9

Net searching P 0

Coffee (out) P 0

Lunch (with client) P P 25

Prepare presentation P P 15

Phone calls P P 15

Travel home P P 3

Dinner at home with family P P 5


PRIORITISATION TEMPLATE Think of a typical work day and everything that you do. Keep your personal stuff in here too.

If you want to get it done, get it in your schedule.

Activity Required Return Reward Strength Must Do Learning Scoring

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Prioritisation action guide session handout