3.

Set goals and priorities

3.1 The importance of setting goals and prorities
We all know that human potential is limitless, which means you can do anything no matter
how hard it gets. The wheel was invented in the 4th millennium BC in Lower Mesopotamia
(modern-day Iraq). In the 1903,The Wright brothers' invention of the airplane and the first
airplanes took to the air. Sixty three years later, Apollo 11 was the American spaceflight that
first landed humans on the Moon. All of them had a big passion, a strong desire. They knew
what they want and stayed focused, there is no dispersion. In order to achive everything you
ever want in your life, you should know what exactly you are aimming for.
A goal is an object or an aim that we wish to achieve through action. Goals provide the
framework to organise your time, energy and not to waste your potential in every single
moment.
Setting goals creates a long-term vision and provides short-term measurable goals to focus
on each day. Goal setting helps you align focus with your daily actions, as you have a clear
destination to reach and a plan to reach your goals.
Prioritizing tasks based on importance has many benefits for your performance
management, such as helping you align your actions with your goals and strategy, increasing
productivity and efficiency, improving decision-making and problem-solving skills, reducing
stress and anxiety, and enhancing motivation and engagement. Focusing on the most
important tasks can ensure that you are working on the right things that will help you
achieve desired outcomes and support your organization's vision.

3.2 Identify and prioritize tasks based on their importance and urgency

A time management matrix is a tool used to prioritize tasks based on their level of urgency
and importance. It helps individuals allocate their time effectively by categorizing tasks into
four quadrants:
The first quadrant: urgent and important, like crises, deadlines, emergency situations.
Where you drop your responsibilities and focus on resolving these urgent matters. If you
spend too much time in this quadrant, then everything starts to control you, and you will
find you are just reacting to what life gives you instead of planning and preventing.
Quadrent 2: This is the quadrant of quality, the idea of this quadrant is to make your life
easier. You need to spend time in activities likes planning, preventing, preparing for what is
coming for you. By working effectively in this area, it means when you get busy it will be less
of a sudden surprise and shock.
Quadrent 3: This is the quadrant of distraction, all those urgent matters that come to your
attention that you shouldn’t be dealing with. These could include useless phone calls,
interruptions, some messages that you shouldn’t be responding to, meetings that don’t
achieve anything. These tasks tend to throw your time away from the important matters of
your day.
And the last quadrant, neither urgent nor important. This is the quadrant of waste. Our
brains love spending time in these areas because it’s easy and doesn’t require any mental
capacity. It’s hard to distinguish between the quadrant of quality and the quadrant of waste.
Mindless tasks like scrolling through social media can be put into the quadrant of quality
when you’re using it as a way to take a break or in the quadrant of waste if you are using it
to avoid other tasks in your day.

The goal of a time management matrix is to

focus on important tasks and minimize
distractions from non-essential ones.
3.3 There is example of effective goal-setting strategies
You’re not going to achieve your goals if they aren’t SMART. If you haven’t heard of SMART
goals already, they are goals that are:
Specific. There’s no point in setting vague goals that don’t achieve anything specific.
Measurable. Once you have a specific goal pinned down, it’s important to be able to
measure the success or completion of the goal.
Attainable. A SMART goal must be within reach. Lean on data, analytics, and research to help
set attainable goals.
Relevant. It is essential that any goals set for teams or individuals are relevant to company-
wide aims.
Time-bound. Goals must be time-related. It’s not productive to set a deadline too far in the
future for a simple task, or an unrealistically short deadline for something complex and time-
consuming.
Ex: SMART goal for waking up earlier
Specific: I want to wake up earlier to have more time for my morning routine.
Measurable: I’ll track how many times I snooze my alarm and when I finish my morning
routine.
Attainable: My schedule allows me to go to sleep early, so I can still maintain at least eight
hours of sleep.
Relevant: I feel rushed trying to get to work each day. Developing better environment and
behavior would help me feel calm.
Time-bound: In four weeks, I want to wake up two hours earlier than when I usually wake up
now.
Quadrant 1: Make sure you complete your deadline before 6PM.
Quadrent 2: Wake up at 5AM everyday. Running or playing any sport for 20-30 minutes
every day at the morning or before 6PM. Drink enough water. Stay away from junk food. Do
not skip meals.
Quadrent 3: Ignore useless phone calls, emails, messages after 8PM.
Quadrent 4: Stop scrolling tiktok videos, reels, watching honor movies at evening.