Juggling is for multi-taskers. But not everyone is a multi-task individual, which may complicate their candidacy for certain important positions. However, the good news is that if you are not accustomed to prioritising, to marking your calendar, to checking your timetable or schedule, to finding time when there is none, or making time itself, to doing two things at the same time – this is something you can learn how to do.

In fact, much like juggling, prioritising is a very challenging job. It is not easy to know which sales lead, which client, which customer, or which task to pursue first. Nine out of ten times we confuse “first in, first out” – as our way of determining how important something is.

This is actually what prioritising is all about. How do you determine that something is important to you? Many times prioritising is easy: personal = very high priority. Not personal, or business-related = issue that passes to a second plane. But, on the other hand, there is no-man’s-land – those issues which are important to you and, therefore, important to your company. This is rather tricky!

So how do you juggle your tasks, your responsibilities, your talents and fit them into the “company policy.” The answer to this is called prioritising. Many people mistake priority with importance, in general, and importance to “me”, in particular. Without sounding “preachy,” maybe you need to think again. These days you have the absolute necessity to either share or conform to company policies that may or may not be of your liking. The important thing is to prioritise and make things happen. If you want to do something right, do it yourself. And its necessary corollary: do it right the first time around.

But all of this does not resolve the real issue: How do you prioritise? First of all, let us ask ourselves some real questions: what, who, when, where, how, should I prioritise? Is it the same if we are talking about family-related issues, personal issues, or business issues? The short answer is, “Of course not.” But let us take a moment to consider what makes us prioritise.

A Sense of Urgency: Some tasks, reports, issues, difficulties or problems produce a sense of urgency – in this case, a sense of urgency to accomplish, to address, to face, and to resolve.

A Special Meaning: These duties or obligations to resolve actually give meaning to my career, to my status in life, to the reason why I do what I do, where I do it.

A Sense of Responsibility: The project I am working on is very important, not just on a small scale, but rather on a much larger scale. What I do adds value to the company. There are people, families, clients…that depend on how I do my job in order to reach their goals, accomplish their mission, and achieve their objectives.

As always, ask yourself, if I “really take the time out” to plan, to prioritise what is important to me, to my team, to my family, to my boss. Once you take the time out to consider these, prioritising and a “first things first” type attitude, will add value and meaning to your professional career and private life.

Photo credit: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/17/22716359_1321282f19.jpg?v=1179074688