As many entrepreneurs, I have found myself with many deadlines that waited until the 11th hour. I prioritized deadlines with only one criteria; if it’s for a client it goes to the top of the list. I’ve on several occasions tried to convince myself that I produce better results when the pressure is on and I do believe that’s true sometimes.
Feeling anxious and overwhelmed about deadlines that were not directly associated with billable hours created such an internal conflict for me. I began to excuse missing those deadlines as anyone’s fault but mine. After all, if it wasn’t important to other people why should I beat myself up over those undone tasks? Problem was, I wasn’t other people and I started to realize that missing those deadlines, whether self created or not were making me uncomfortable in my own skin because that’s not who I am. At the same time it made me understand why it has become even more important to help and support people in discovering their own way to prioritize, organize and focus.
I believe most of us want to and intend to live up to every commitment we make. We unfortunately get caught up with trying to give the impression we have everything under control, even when we don’t. There is no right or wrong way to prioritize your commitments, only that you determine which method works for you.
So take a moment to really take stock of the projects you have committed to, create three categories one for customers, one for your business and one for you personally (could include self development, family related etc.). Ask yourself if any of these could be eliminated for you either through delegation or saying “no I can no longer commit to this project.”
Now comes the different part, you can go after the least time consuming projects first to shorten your list quickly or you could find the absolute most difficult and get that off your plate. The important thing here is that you choose a method and do something, anything because as soon as you finish one of those projects you will be that much closer to the next one and the next one. In the meantime be honest with yourself and those relying on you by only taking on what you know with absolute certainty you can do, do well and do on time.
