Today’s entrepreneur finds themselves working longer hours, yet they struggle to make headway on the tasks that will keep their business profitable. A sighing “I need more hours in my day” is often their weary war cry. In all reality what is truly needed is not more hours in the day, but a strategic plan that maximizes productivity and efficiency.

1. teamprojectmayhem.com
http://teamprojectmayhem.com/blog/priority-management-system-more-than-managing-your-time/?id=2asuccess
Carl Willis
Priority Management System – More Than Managing Your Time
I looked up at the clock and 45 minutes had already gone by, those minutes certainly were not in line with the priority
management system I had put in place for myself.
Like so many other people, I had donated 45 minutes of my time to a Facebook news feed that was blowing up with a
controversial story in my industry. That is almost excusable, since it pertained to my work (sort of), but I can think of
countless other times in the past when it has been crazy videos, funny memes or something that in the grand scheme
of things was not going to change my life.
Now don’t get me wrong. There is certainly a time to let down your hair and play. Unfortunately too many
entrepreneurs never get around to getting the important stuff done, because so much of their time is wasted on places
like Facebook. Statistics show us they are not alone…
“There’s no need for a definition of Facebook. All there’s left to say is that there were 728 million Daily active
users in September 2013 and 1.19 billion Monthly active users as of September 30, 2013. “
When Facebook Becomes a Never Ending Story TrustPsychology March 16, 2014

2. One of my mentors, Chuc Barnes of minutescount.com, made this observation in a recent conference I was
attending.
Sneaky thieves are anything with a screen!- Chuc Barnes
We’ve become a society that is bombarded with information 24
hours a day 7 days a week. No longer do you have to be sitting
in front of your television or computer to become distracted.
Technology like tablets and smart phones have allowed us to take
our distractions on the road with us. This constant barrage leads
to a severe lack of focus and reduced productivity.
Today’s entrepreneur finds themselves working longer hours, yet
they struggle to make headway on the tasks that will keep their
business profitable. A sighing “I need more hours in my day” is
often their weary war cry. In all reality what is truly needed is not
more hours in the day, but a strategic plan that maximizes
productivity and efficiency.
The Importance of a Priority Management System
Time is the most valuable resource any man or woman is given.
There are 86,400 seconds in a day… But this means nothing to you if you don’t know how to use it. Make it count!
- Joel Brown addicted2success.com
When money is spent it can always be earned again; however, when a second, minute or hour is spent it is gone
forever. Those moments can never be recaptured, making them the most valuable resource you have been given
stewardship over. When your time is invested wisely it pays substantial dividends. By the same token, when that
time is squandered it can never be reclaimed.
Highly successful entrepreneurs value their time. They understand the importance of making each moment count.
“Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be
careful lest you let other people spend it for you.” - Carl Sandburg taken from goodreads.com

3. Creating a priority management system is built around the greater objectives of the vision for your business. If you
are not perfectly clear on your desired outcome, you will continually struggle with managing your priorities. The more
clarity you have, the more effective your system will be.
A priority management system allows you to bring the future into the present on a daily basis. Your system should be
both written and simple. As you develop your plan it is critical that you remember that the “how” of the plan is less
important than the “what” of the plan. The key to making your system work is the linking of your long term vision to
your daily activities. Your plan will define the daily action steps that you will take, pushing you closer to your
objectives.
A Priority Management System Is Not Simply a Day Planner
Many people mistakenly believe that merely keeping an appointment calendar or using a day planner is the key to
priority management. There are many people who use these tools, but still fill them with activity that is not
contributing to the fulfillment of the overall vision and objectives of their business.
In making daily plans it is critical to differentiate between:
What must be done
What is not a necessity
From there you will want to order numerically those things
that must be done by priority (1, 2, 3) and then append for
priority among those priority listings.
If you don’t schedule your priorities, they simply won’t get
done. They will ultimately get put off by the time thieves in
your life or the tyranny of the urgent.
If you want to make good use of your time, you’ve got to
know what’s most important and then give it all you’ve got.
- Lee Iacocca

4. The truth is that you won’t find time for your priorities, you must make time. Achieving your goals is not a process of
chance, but is instead the continual, daily process of focused action.
Developing Your Priority Management System
As you begin developing your system, it is important that you ask yourself this question:
“What is the highest and best use of my time?”
For the entrepreneur the answer may surprise you…Thinking.
Taking time to think, dream and create is the absolute best use of an entrepreneur’s time, because it is from those
times that new products, marketing initiatives, content and valuable insights are created. Sadly, most business
owners have so crowded their schedules, that they never have time to think, dream, plan and develop strategy. They
typical entrepreneur finds his or her life being dictated by the crisis of the moment. This puts them into a reactive
mode instead of the proactive mode they need to be in.
Taking control of your priorities and scheduling your day accordingly puts you, the business owner, back in the
driver’s seat.
In my own business, I train aspiring entrepreneurs how to make extra money online using internet marketing
strategies like blogging, video marketing and paid advertising. As I began to evaluate the highest and best use of my
time, I realized that it is the time I spend in personal development that brings the highest value to my students, clients
and customers.
Unfortunately it was the time spent in personal development and furthering my education that was being crowded out
of my day all too often. In my non-stop business building activity, I was actually missing out on the one component
that made the rest of my activity the most profitable.
As you consider the highest and best use of your time, identify 3 income generating activities that you need to be
doing for your business. As you consider these activities look for those that are the most productive. This means you
want to identify those activities that offer the greatest returns for the time invested.
Once you’ve identified those activities examine how leveraged those activities are. A leveraged activity will utilize
either a system or the efforts of others to increase productivity and efficiency on an exponential level. If you find that
those activities are not leveraged, then ask this question:
“How can I leverage my time”
Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.
- Archimedes taken from brainyquote.com

5. Leverage comes through the utilization of
systems and the efforts of others. When you
leverage your time, you are seeking to get
multiple minutes of work for every minute you
invest.
Here are 7 great tips for leveraging your time
from lifehack.org…
“In life, we can leverage our time, and here
are seven ways to do just that:
1. Get it out of your head. If it’s in your
head, chances are it’s taking up valuable
storage space that you can be using to
get things done. Every time you think of
a task, to-do item, or idea, write it down.
Getting it out of your head not only lets you focus energy elsewhere, rather than trying to remember
things, it also helps you clear your mind so you’ll be more effective when you do try to tackle that
massive list of chores.
2. Organize your day. Do you go to work and just “jump in” to all the work that’s in front of you? Try this
instead: organize your day into chunks of time–10-15 minutes for emails, an hour for that large project
due at the end of the month, etc. Focus on knocking out the most important things on the list, earlier in
the day to increase your productivity. As your day draws to a close, the easier or shorter items on the
list will require less effort, allowing you to de-stress at the same time.
3. Use other people’s time. One of my favorite entrepreneurial tactics is leveraging other people. This
doesn’t mean using other people–no one likes that. Leveraging other people means empowering and
allowing coworkers and employees, or even outsourced help, to help you with some of your routine
tasks throughout the day. If you run a website, consider hiring someone to maintain the server, site,
comments, and emails.
4. Focus on the prize, but work in “chunks.” Don’t let the looming pressures of finishing that massive
report get you down. Focus on how awesome it will be, but actively seek to “chunk” it into manageable
parts that you can work on steadily. Give yourself a small reward every time you finish a chunk, and
yes–give yourself a large reward when you finish the final project!
5. Allow time for yourself. One of the most overlooked aspects of the American working life, leading to
stressful people who are spread too thin, is giving time to yourself. Plan and write down a segment of
each day that you can take 10-15 minutes (at least) to just unwind and do nothing. Don’t think, don’t
check email, don’t call your friend. Just sit, relax, and let your mind recharge. You’ll come back
refreshed and more able to leverage the time you have. In addition, take a breather for one day a week
or every other week if possible to increase your productivity. Do some easier tasks or the “fun” parts
of your work, but don’t let yourself get carried away turning Sunday afternoon into another workday.
6. Use technology. Technology is an evil temptress for productivity–it can suck us in with promises of
simple task management, planning, and keeping us in the loop. But we can easily get caught in the
vortex of more, more, more tech. Use a simple task manager if it suits your work style, but give
yourself limits on social networking sites, checking email, and even text messaging (if that’s your
thing). Ironically, there are really cool apps and software packages that help increase your
productivity, so be careful and mindful of how you’re leveraging their help.

6. 7. Keep learning. The day you stop learning is the day you stop producing good stuff. Keep reading,
trying new things, and implementing them. To leverage your ability to read, start listening to
audiobooks in the car to and from work, and during workouts. Don’t let your RSS feed reader bog you
down during the day, but make sure you keep tabs on your favorite blogs and news sites a few times a
week, if for no other reason than inspiration.”
7 Ways to Leverage Your Time to Increase Your Productivity – lifehack.org
In my business I utilize automation tools and outsourced labor to obtain maximum leverage for my time.
Automation systems I use include tools such as email auto-responders, social media scheduling tools and research
software. These tools give me maximum benefit for every minute I invest in their usage.
My greatest gains in time leverage have come from the utilization of the efforts of others. For any entrepreneur, the
use of outsourced labor allows for the recapture of precious time that can be used for other higher priority tasks. In
my business I use outsourced labor for content creation, graphic design, website development, content syndication,
managing social media profiles and other time consuming tasks.
To find good outsourced labor check the following sites:
oDesk.com
elance.com
guru.com
freelancer.com
Putting Your Priority Management System to Work
Once you’ve defined these variables for your priority management system, it is time to put it into place. In my
business I use Google calendar. My day is scheduled by priority (here’s a screenshot).
My personal development activities are
scheduled into the start of my day. These include
such things as prayer and Bible study, daily
affirmations, personal development reading and
audio and my daily workout.
The next part of my day deals with my income
producing activities. These include a daily email
to my marketing list, a new blog post and a new
video for my video channel. These are the
activities that must be done consistently to keep
my business moving forward.
The afternoon is left open for research, social
media, returning emails and phone calls or other
“urgency” type issues that may have arisen… the
things that used to crowd out the most important
activities in my business.
Most of the principles of creating a priority management system that I have learned have come from my involvement
with my online business. Through this business I have learned how to build a business while still having a life. Click
the button to learn more.

7. More Articles You Will Love
Easy Careers To Get Into And Odd Places You Will Find
ThemHow to Do SEO for YouTube VideosHow "Low" Can Jobs
for Fresh Graduates Go? The Educated Minimum Wage
WorkerReasons To Go To College - How Hollywood Got It All
WrongGenerate Leads Effectively: Why and How to Generate
Leads
Carl Willis
Carl Willis has been training and equipping leaders in multiple professional disciplines for over 20
years. He is the creator of The Marketing Classroom and Create Your Blog Now, training courses
designed to help the entrepreneur and small business owner develop their unique brand online.
Click here to visit his blog.
More Posts - Website
Follow Me: