How do you decide on what is ‘first things first’ for you?
If you are like most people, urgent things go to the top of the list. However, a potential problem with that approach is that urgent things may not be important. In fact, surprisingly they seldom are.
Reading is not urgent but important, so it gets parked. Same applies to exercise – not urgent, but important – so it also gets parked. The trouble with postponing reading and exercise is that insight, productivity and health get affected. All important to your well being and success.
What’s the solution? Differentiate between what is important and what is urgent (but not important).
Schedule important things before urgent things. Then, do important things first! Urgent things will get done but important things won’t.
At the end of the day what will count is not how much you finish but what you finish!