The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities. 

– Stephen Covey –

Here’s a familiar response you’ll get when you ask someone how they’re doing – BUSY. It seems that busyness has become a badge of honor these days. I know what that means, I was born and raised that way. In fact, I notice myself frequently saying the same thing. When not doing anything almost equates to committing a crime, you wonder why almost every one nowadays struggle to answer emails on their smartphone or fill their calendars with activities.

As I prepare for my presentation for PASS’ Professional Development Virtual Chapter, I’ve re-read the comments on the SQLServerCentral.com editorial that prompted me to write a response thru this previous blog post. There is no right nor wrong answer in terms of how you deal with the demands of life. Besides, we’re all on different stages and phases of both our lives and careers.

I don’t claim to have the answers myself. But I do know one thing that has worked for me for the past decade now.

The key is not to put more items in our calendar. It's about putting our priorities in our calendars first. Share on X

This changes the framework of time management into priorities management. Others will argue that we need to organize our task list better. But organizing our task list should be secondary. Identifying what our priorities are should come first.

Which really says that we don’t have a time management problem. Rather, we have a priorities management problem. And because of the constant changes that are happening in our lives, we also need to prioritize re-prioritizing our priorities on a regular basis.

Now, go ahead and look at your calendars for this month and the rest of the year. Do you see your priorities scheduled somewhere?

P.S. To help me prioritize how I can better serve the community, I’d ask if you can take a minute to fill up this survey form. The results of the survey will help shape the future content and resources that I prepare and create. Thanks for taking time to do so.