With the holiday season approaching, I am prompted to reflect on how we can continue to do more with less. We can feel pressured to make sure everyone’s time is spent most productively, yet it can be challenging to find the time to take a breath and consider what really needs to be prioritized.

Former President Dwight Eisenhower noted, “What’s urgent is seldom important, and what’s important is seldom urgent.” He, and later businessman and educator Stephen R. Covey, popularized this matrix:

The matrix helps to prioritize tasks by identifying them in one of four quadrants: urgent/important, non-urgent/important, urgent/not important, and non-urgent/not important. To begin:

1. List all your tasks and think of where they fall on the matrix.
2. Share and debate your thoughts with your co-workers and supervisor. This healthy discussion can keep everyone aligned on what can be feasibly achieved within agreed timelines.
3. Ask these questions to arrive at the best possible outcome: If time and energy is given to complete this task, what will be the impact to the practice/patients? Can anyone else help or assume responsibility for this task? What would be the consequences of not completing a task (this week/this month/not at all)?
4. With the questions answered and feedback provided, plot your tasks on the matrix.

It’s perfectly normal to feel overwhelmed at times. While there will likely always be more work than time available, it’s amazing how helpful it can be to involve others in your assessment of priorities.

I will leave you with this: Spending more time and energy doing fewer things well (those listed in the non-urgent/important quadrant) can often deliver greater impact than scrambling to get it all done at any cost. The few minutes taken to schedule these tasks can be a critical first step in reaching your goals.

What will you focus on for the rest of the year?

What will you allow yourself to de-prioritize?

And how can you still help the practice fulfill its goals?

Enjoy this edition of OP, and have a wonderful rest of the year. OP