Video transcript: How to balance work and life

[Audio / Visual: As the screen opens, quiet music plays in the background. The music plays throughout the video. The screen opens displaying the title “How to balance work and life”. Beneath the title is sub-title text: a by-line “Good business looking after you” and the Spark BusinessLab and business.govt.nz logos.]

[Audio: The presenter, Jonathan Black, begins to speak]

We explored what prioritisation means in our video, “How prioritising helps you succeed” In this video, we’ll discuss ways to prioritise, and tips for prioritising successfully.

Prioritisation can be really quick and simple, or it can take longer and be more detailed. You choose, depending on how much time and energy you have. The simplest way to prioritise is to ask yourself a few questions as you’re getting ready for work. For example: What projects am I working on that are critical for my business? Do I need to pay specific attention to anything today? What do I need to organise today to make my week easier or more productive?

The day before, think about what questions you’ll ask yourself, so that you’re not figuring out the questions and trying to answer them at the same time.

Standard questions that suit you and your business work best. They build your prioritisation muscle. Another way to prioritise is to work out what’s urgent and what’s important. Divide a sheet of paper into four squares and write your tasks in them.

[Visual: the presenter gestures his hand to the upper left part of the screen. Visual graphic with the text “Important and urgent” displays on the screen momentarily]

The top-left square is for important and urgent tasks: the things that will cause serious problems if you don’t do them immediately. These will probably be the things that are worrying you most, like tomorrow’s deadline and urgent requests from your best customer.

[Visual: the presenter gestures his hand to the upper right part of the screen. Visual graphic with the text “Important - urgent” displays on the screen momentarily]

The top-right square is for tasks that are important but not urgent: things that are important for long-term success but don’t need to be done yet. For example, you might need to work on your business strategy. Ideally, you’ll spend the most time on important but not urgent tasks. That means you’re in control, not just reacting to things as they happen.

[Visual: the presenter gestures his hand to the lower left part of the screen. Visual graphic with the text “Urgent – not important” displays on the screen momentarily]

The bottom-left square is for things that are urgent but not important: things that need to be done, but not necessarily by you. For example, could someone else organise next week’s meeting?

[Visual: the presenter gestures his hand to the bottom right part of the screen. Visual graphic with the text “Not urgent – not important” displays on the screen momentarily]

Finally, the bottom-right square is for things that are not urgent or important: things that won’t cause problems if they don’t get done. They could be nice-to-haves. For example, if you’ve already looked at two options for something and you’re happy with one of them, you may not need to look further.

People often know they need to prioritise, but don’t how to get started or how to keep it up. Here are seven tips.

[Visual: on-screen graphic with text “Permission to prioritise” is displayed momentarily]

Tip number one: give yourself permission to prioritise. Remember that prioritising will help your business and your wellbeing. You’ll be working on your business, not just in your business.

[Visual: on-screen graphic with text “Get a prioritisation partner” is displayed momentarily]

Tip number two: get a prioritisation partner. Prioritise with others if that makes you more likely to prioritise and keep to your priorities. You could partner with anyone, but ideally someone who can give you insights, like someone in your type of business, or another business owner. What about catching up for coffee once a week? If you can’t find time to meet, try telling a friend that you need to prioritise, then telling them every week how your prioritising is going.

[Visual: on-screen graphic with text “Choose your best time” is displayed momentarily]

Tip number three: choose the best time for you. For example, you might want to prioritise on Friday afternoon, so you use your energy from the week, unwind and enjoy your weekend. Or you might prefer Monday mornings, so your priorities are top of mind as you start your week.

[Visual: on-screen graphic with text “Make it a routine” is displayed momentarily]

Tip number four: make prioritisation a routine. Put prioritisation in your diary for the same time each week.

[Visual: on-screen graphic with text “Use time well” is displayed momentarily]

Tip number five: use the time you can afford. Prioritisation doesn’t have to take long. Even 10 minutes can be enough.

[Visual: on-screen graphic with text “Review your process” is displayed momentarily]

Tip number six: review as well as plan. Looking back on what you did helps you prioritise better the next time. If you’re making progress, great. But also check what you actually spent time on, so you can decide what to avoid or delay in future.  

Like planning, reviewing doesn’t have to take long or involve detailed notes. Going through your diary or emails might be enough. When you review, use the same method you used to prioritise. For example, if you asked yourself three questions, check what you did in response to those questions.

[Visual: on-screen graphic with text “Leave some room” is displayed momentarily]

Tip number seven: leave time for the unexpected. No matter how well you plan, unexpected things will happen, so leave room in your day for them. Plan only 80 per cent of each day. If you work an eight-hour day, that means you plan six and a half hours.

Once you’ve prioritised, keep your plan top of mind during your day. Be very conscious of whether you’re doing the things you planned, instead of reacting to other things. At first, only some of your day may go to plan. But you’ll soon get better at doing what you want to do, rather than what someone else wants you to do, or things you should do.

So there you have it: two ways to prioritise, and top tips for prioritising successfully. You don’t have to get things perfect or spend a lot of time prioritising. The most important things are to get started, and to prioritise in a way that works for you.

Download our file on this page to get started with prioritising, and choose from three easy-to-use templates.

And one last thing: do the check-in on this page too, to see what you know about prioritising and learn more tips.

[Visual: Display changes to closing screen, displaying the Spark BusinessLab logo and business.govt.nz logo on the bottom right.]

[Video ends.]