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Keeping First things first

Drucker says, “There are always more important contributions to be made than there is time to make them.”

The previous chapters talked about time being the most precious thing that cannot be replaced.  Then again there are so many things that an executive needs to contribute.

Like the old saying goes, so much to do but not enough time.

Therefore, how does an effective executive  do more with less time?

You need to make First things first.

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One of the concerns in this chapter states that the more you concentrate on time, effort, and resources the greater the number of complexity of tasks the executive has to perform.  Basically, meaning that the better you get the more  contributions are required.

The conclusion is that you have to come to terms that there is going to be evitable that you will be bombarded with your time.

There are always more important contributions to be made than there is time to make them.#PeterDrucker #effectiveexecutive Click To Tweet

One major tip that Drucker provides is to basically understand that you have to cut some of your losses and be ok with it.  Today is always the result of your previous decisions and various actions that you have taken on the previous day.

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One method to eliminate your tasks is to ask yourself “Is this still worth doing?”

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There is a need to eliminate your tasks that will not have a great impact to the overall results of your organization.  Keep in mind that a new task might be more productive in a way can effect a previous required tasks you might have eliminated.

Basically, You might just have killed two birds with one stone

You have to cut some of your losses and be ok with it. Click To Tweet

Peter Drucker calls this Priorities  (put up front) and Posterior ties (Put down Back).  Aka First things First

  1. Order tasks by priority
  2. Decide what tasks that you don’t want to do and stick with that choice
  3. When you postpone something, Your actually abandoning it.
  4. Making a task a Posterior (Put down back) can be someone else’s top priority (delegating)

These tips are not really new.  Actually, it’s basically the foundation of the GTD (Get things Done) principal in productivity.  But what is really notable is the notion that “Postponing something is actually abandoning it.”

I know for a fact that there are certain tasks that I end up postponing indefinitely.  Maybe it’s just more of procrastination way.  Something’s it’s a difficult task that I don’t feel ready to do.  But if I’m constantly pushing out the date is it really something important?

See also  The Summary of The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker

I should just scrap it all together and remove it from my view

Drucker lays out some additional suggestions in learning how to identify priorities.

  1. Pick the future as against the Past
  2. Focus on opportunity than the Problem
  3. Choose your own direction rather than jumping on the bandwagon
  4. Aim High, make a difference and don’t play it safe.

He suggests that it’s “More productive to convert an opportunity into results rather than solve a problem?”

Many times I feel like I’m just putting out fires on a daily basis.  It’s very possible that these fires  should never even started at all!

Think about “Smokey the Bear” talking about “Only YOU can prevent forest fires” .  Get to the Sources of the problem and figure out a way to prevent the fires.

Let me know what you are doing to make a difference and figuring out how to master your own time.

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