Controlling What You Can

"Nobody ever ran out of time, they just didn't make it a priority. "

As I spend more and more time with PGA Members, Associates, and Students in the field, the compression of time that they experience is a common refrain. There always seems to be more to do than time allows. I often come back to something that one of my friends and former Colorado PGA President, Ty Thompson, once told me:

“Nobody ever ran out of time, they just didn’t make it a priority.”

With that in mind, here are a few tips for effectively managing your time:

1. Prioritize your work. Stephen Covey, co-author of First Things First, offers an organizational tool for your to-do list based on how important and urgent different tasks are. Looking at what goes into making up your day, where do your work activities fit in these categories?

Important and urgent — Tasks that must be done. Do them right away. Important but not urgent — Tasks that appear important, but upon closer examination aren’t. Decide when to do them. Urgent but not important — Tasks that make the most “noise,” but when accomplished, have little or no lasting value. Delegate these if possible. Not urgent and not important — Low-priority stuff that offer the illusion of “being busy.” Do them later.

2. Don’t add to your plate. What are you agreeing to that is preventing you from accomplishing your top priorities? Is it something that could be delegated to someone in outside services or another staff member?

3. Plan your day. I know some of you think it takes too much time to make a checklist or plan the next day, but believe me you will get more done if you do! Depending on your personality, try one of these options:

The night before — At the end of the day, take 15 minutes to put together a list of the next day’s most important or urgent task. First thing in the morning — Arrive a few minutes early and make your urgent to-do list (see #1). This may prove to be the most productive part of your day.

4. Eliminate distractions, particularly social media distractions. Your smartphone is extremely useful, but it’s also addictive and among the biggest time wasters of your day. It may take a true exercise in willpower, but occasionally turn off your phone to maximize your time. Instead of being “always on, ” plan certain times of day to catch up on email, call people back, and respond to texts that are not urgent. 5. Take care of yourself. Rest when you can. Sometimes Netflix should take second place to sleep no matter how good the series is! The days are getting shorter, and cooler temperatures are in the not-so-distant future. Hopefully some of these tips will help make the journey to the end of the season a little easier.

Keith Soriano, PGA, ARWC

PGA of America Career Consultant

Serving the Colorado and Utah Sections of the PGA ksoriano@pgahq.com (720) 841-1006