Hello Everyone!
Learning to prioritize and work diligently is so important! Pretty much everyone reading this blog post is an accomplished leader or an up-and-coming powerhouse leader, which makes it important for everyone to both teach AND learn about balancing your schedule and life. Everyone has their own way of "keeping on top of things," and it is very important to share it or discover it.
In my life, I have daily appointments, meetings, service projects, and homework, all to be completed, along with maintaining my social life. There are definitely times where I am far too overwhelmed to do anything. At those points in time, I reassess my situation; I figure out which parts are most important to me, and I go from there.
In my opinion, it always helps to set strict time limits on all my "need-to-be-completed" tasks. First, I make a structured 'to-do' list of everything I need to do. I estimate about how long each task will take for me to complete. I take note of all tasks which have certain, special requirements to be scheduled in (i.e. important phone calls should be made when the other person is available or generally before 9 PM; scheduling dinnertime, evening meetings/events, etc.) Then, I make a nightly "schedule book" with time slots, I assemble the group of jobs into the slots in the order they need to be done (with those things most important to me happening first, of course), and I begin to work. Once it is time to move onto the next item on my list, I move onto it. If one task is taking more time than I scheduled/imagined, it is time I take a break from that task anyways and so I move onto my next task. And the next. And the next. (Keeping to the schedule I made at the beginning of the afternoon/evening.) Then, once I complete all the scheduled tasks, I come back to the ones I did not finish. If I find that one task did not take as long as I scheduled, I can either start my next task, reassess my schedule, or just relax. (I usually choose to relax...)
But, it is always up to you! So, if you wish to share your tips on how you manage to finish everything you need to and not go insane (or, at least just finish everything), POST IT! SHARE IT! Help others who are struggling to finish their own days worth of tasks; they'll appreciate it. Thanks!
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Mark Fairbrother
MAHS Vice President
MAHS Center 9 Rep.
Eisenhower High School
