![\"Break_the_cycle\"](\"https:\/\/www.stl-training.co.uk\/b\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/under_pressure-300x200.jpg\")
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Are you overwhelmed by priorities?\u00a0 Well, focusing on the essential priorities can make the difference between feeling continually stretched to actually feeling more relaxed and successful!<\/p>\n
Prioritisation is a time management skill<\/a> fundamental to the success of both effective managers and professionals. For many of us the plain truth is, that although we tell others to prioritise, we don\u2019t always manage to do it consistently for ourselves.<\/p>\n Prioritising is essential for our health as it reduces stress.\u00a0 It improves work life balance by creating better boundaries.\u00a0 You may find that much of the work you felt was urgent, isn\u2019t really essential at all.<\/p>\n Very often we find ourselves backed into a corner due to a very common underlying reason\u2026\u2026.<\/p>\n Is this true for you? Do you or others around you fall into the trap of saying \u201cyes\u201d because:<\/p>\n Maybe you have another reason? (Please let us know!)<\/p>\n Saying \u201cyes\u201d to everything may give you a short term benefit. However, it\u2019s likely to get in the way of the long term satisfaction you get from succeeding with your most important goals.<\/p>\n Instead of endlessly saying \u201cyes\u201d to our manager, key customers and colleagues, we need to decide what\u2019s essential.<\/p>\n Deciding on what\u2019s essential is a tried and tested way to clarify what our priorities are.<\/p>\n Here is a three step process to help you do this:<\/p>\n The most effective managers and leaders block time to reflect in their diary every day. Without reflection we behave like hamsters in wheels, going round and round, and never stopping to think why.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a quote from the successful investor Warren Buffet about how he prioritises his own time:<\/p>\n \u201cI insist on a lot of time being spent, almost every day, to just sit and think. That is very uncommon in American business. I read and think. So I do more reading and thinking, and make less impulse decisions than most people in business.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n When we were cavemen and women, saying \u201cno\u201d was pretty risky.\u00a0 It could result in social exclusion and being left to the mercy of large animals on our own. Today\u2019s manager can develop a repertoire of ways to elegantly and unapologetically say \u201cno\u201d without risk to life or limb. Learn how to do this and experiment with different ways every day!<\/p>\n \u201cThe difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.\u201d Warren Buffet.<\/em><\/p>\n Greg McKeown, author of \u201cEssentialism\u201d, tells us that the thing that holds capable, disciplined people from breaking through to the next level, is success. Why? It gives too many options, which then, if not managed, lead to failure. The answer is the disciplined pursuit of less. This means finding out and focussing on a few things only. Greg tells you more on how to do this in his video for Stanford Business School here<\/a>.<\/p>\nWhy don\u2019t we practice what we preach?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Saying Yes to everything!<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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3 Keys to Success<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"Make_time_to_reflect\"](\"https:\/\/www.stl-training.co.uk\/b\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/reflect-300x200.jpg\")
<\/p>\nTake time to reflect!<\/h4>\n
Learn to say \u201cNo\u201d.<\/h4>\n
Focus on a few things only \u2013 Your essentials<\/h4>\n
<\/div>Greg McKeown: Essentialism - The Disciplined Pursuit of Less<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>![\"Greg](\"https:\/\/www.stl-training.co.uk\/b\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-youtube-lyte\/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FT9x6D09AKBU%2F0.jpg\")