Shine With Grace

Review your life three times each day.

~ Chinese idiom 

What is your initial response?  Would it be: “Huh?  I don’t even have time for a decent lunch, how on earth do I have time to stop and think?!” 

Right.  Our hands are always full - the to-do-list is pages long, the phone keeps ringing and ooops, the blackberry is beeping again…  

But, that is exactly the reason why you should stop and take a closer look of what is going on.   Don’t you remember that scene when you’re 14, taking the final term maths exam by wasting too much time on Q1-3 leaving yourself insufficient time for the higher score questions at the back of the exam paper? 

Don’t be that boy/girl again!

Don’t waste time doing things that need not to be done at all / doing it in a rather dump (well) way / allocating your time not according to your priorities…  Remember:  You can commit all three if you simply bury yourself in the action right away.

How to escape the trap? Think before you act!  And asking yourself questions helps:

Every morning:

• What are my priorities?  (Assuming you know your priorities…  If not?  You do owe yourself some quality time to figure it out.)
• What are the top 1/3/5 (or whatever number of) tasks I need to accomplish today?
• How much time I plan to allocate to each task?
• What time-wasters should I be aware of today?

Each noon:

• How am I doing so far?
• Have I been engaged in non-essential task(s) / Have I allowed myself to drag too long in any particular task?
• Is there any rescheduling needed so as to catch up with my plans /accommodate newly arisen needs?

Before sleep:

• How was I doing today?
• Good progress? Why / why not?
• Anything I need to pay attention to?
• What is important for tomorrow? 

Before starting a task: 

• Does this task align with my goals?
• Does this task essential?  Does it really need to be accomplished? 
• What is the most effective /efficient way to accomplish this task?
• Am I the most suitable person handling it?  Would automation / delegation / outsourcing an option?
• Is this an important task, or is it just a seemingly urgent (but unimportant) one? 
• How much time do I allow for this task?

After completing a task:

• Have I used the most effective / efficient method in handling it?
• If I’m to do it again, would I do it in the same way?  If not, why and how?
• BTW, did the task really needed to be completed?  If not, what lessons have I learnt? 

When you get this into a habit, a 5-min quick check could save your hours if not change your whole strategy.  

It’s the awareness that counts.   

By doing so hopefully you could become more focused on what is essential and be more alert of your progress.  Don’t just operate on auto-pilot - otherwise you would definitely miss the new highway which reduce your commute time from 30 mins to 5 mins (just for example and these examples are countless, right…).

Work smart, and maybe you don’t need to work that hard!

All cartoons adopted from Savage chickens at www.savagechickens.com.

Related posts:

• Say No To Say Yes (Why Setting Priorities Is Essential For Attaining Your Goal)
• If You Are Reviewing Your Career, And Reckon You Can Do Better Than It Is…
• A Strategy for Happiness And Efficiency
• A Half Conscious Life?
• Good To Be Lazy 
• 12 Important Questions To Ask In Regard To Your Work

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