Habit 3: Put First Things First? (Make hay while the sun shines:)

This is going to be quite subtle, but if to do were as easy as to say... you get the idea... & I intentionally leave it at that...

On that note, I'll see you all soon at a time management seminar, which I will not be able to make in time, because...

The intent here is to highlight something crucial, the ever existing problem of prioritisation... Warren Buffet's quote hits the nail on it's head:

"The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything."

The hustle for a not for profit, member driven industry body like IVCA is, how to say no to our members, and by the way, they all have unique suggestions and challenges, e.g. and I quote this several times, in the case of Angel Tax (phase 1 - refer GSR127E), Section 56(2)(viib), if the whole industry and leaders had not come together, the right people/departments in the Government might not have been able to understand the on-ground challenges faced by founders at that time; funny story - it all started from a small message I received on WhatsApp - though, it's a story for some other day and absolutely in person :) refer news coverage;

Still, one effective way to sort and differentiate between important and urgent tasks is to use the Eisenhower Matrix. All this 'gyan' is easily available online, but its implementation is challenging.

I have been distracted a lot in my life, but then I am a type of person that can't sit idle and has to do something bigger/larger than myself, i.e. find a problem to solve, because of which I have landed in trouble also several times, both, personally and professionally, to share this mindset more aptly, I'd like to share a quote from the book 'Range':

…the most successful problem solvers spend mental energy figuring out what type of problem they are facing before matching a strategy to it, rather than jumping in with memorized procedures. - Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein

and thus I came to the conclusion of first finding the right kind of problems, digging deep, finding out all probable causes and eventually probable outcomes of the efforts that'll go in solving them. This skill has been honed deeper in this journey at IVCA, managing multiple stakeholders.

I try and justify my time at work as well as time spent with family, whatever it is, I urge everyone to put first things first, else you'll end up like Dwight Kurt Schrute :P