by James Delrojo
One of the basic rules of time management is to sort out the tasks that are truly important and then focus on completing them, but what is the best way to determine whether or not a task is important. Even good time managers often get this wrong and as a result spend time on the wrong tasks.

As a basis for achieving this objective I am going to make the assumption that in a perfect world all you would spend your time on is activities that you really enjoy. Now we can ask if there is a system that will allow you to do that and still accomplish all the desirable outcomes for your life as well as avoiding all the undesirable outcomes.

We don’t really live in a perfect world so you may never fully achieve the above goal but you can get very close if you are clear on your objectives in life and if you develop the habit of asking the right questions.

All good time management starts with having a clear set of goals and objectives for your life. You can’t sort out the important tasks from the non important tasks unless you know what you are ultimately trying to achieve. But assuming that you do have clear goals and objectives where do you go from there?

Once you have your goals and objectives the next step is to rank them in importance. This will basically come down to your relative values in life. For example if you value family over career then establishing a happy family life would be a higher priority than success in your career. This implies that you have to establish the happy family life first and then find ways to build your career without undermining that family life.

If you have your goals and values established then you can get down to the job of sorting tasks on the basis of importance. You do this by asking four questions.

The first question to ask in relation to any task is; what is the bottom line benefit to me if this task is completed?

The average person gets swept up in unimportant tasks because they never take the time to really consider the potential value in completing that task. If you know exactly what completing that task can give you then you are in a position to rank the value of that outcome. You do this with the second question.

The second question to ask is; how will this potential benefit help me achieve my goals and objectives?

This is important because even a good benefit may not be the best option for your time. There may be another task that you could be focusing on that would provide an even better benefit and therefore would rank higher in importance.

These first two questions concerned the potential benefits from completing the task but now we have to also look at the other side of the coin.

The third question is; what is the consequence to me if this task is not completed?

A particular task may provide little direct contribution to achieving your goals but if not completing it would result in some terrible consequence then it should be given a high level of importance.

The fourth question is; how will the consequence resulting from not completing the task effect the likelihood or the ease of me achieving my goals?

Even with the bad consequences it is important to relate them back to your basic goals and objectives. This gives you a way of deciding whether a bad consequence is destructive to your goals or simply an inconvenience.

Once you have answered these four questions you will be in a position to accurately rank the competing tasks on importance to your life. If you decide that a particular task needs to be completed then there is one more, very important question to answer. This is the question that most people forget to ask.

The fifth question is; can I cost effectively delegate this task to someone else?

Remember my basic assumption stated in the beginning of this article was that in a perfect world all you would do is the things that you really enjoy? Well the fifth question is aimed at achieving that objective. If you can cost effectively delegate or outsource everything that needs to be done but that you don’t enjoy doing then that leaves you free to do what you do enjoy.

Try applying this five question system to the tasks that are competing for your time and I am confident that you will make better choices as to where you place you efforts.

James Delrojo would like to help you by giving you hisebook “Unleash the Success Power of Your Mind” (valued at $27) completely FREE. Go to http://www.YourSuccessMind.com

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