Setting Personal Goals
Senior 2 · Entrepreneurship
Setting Personal Goals
Lesson 4 of 4
18 min
It is Saturday morning. Mutesi has a maths test on Monday, a science project due in three weeks, water to fetch for the family, a shift at her parents’ shop, forty unread messages in her class WhatsApp group and a football match she would love to watch. She cannot do everything first. A priority is a task that must come before others because it matters more or has an earlier deadline. Knowing how to set priorities is how busy people, including entrepreneurs who run a business alongside family life, get the important things done.
A task is urgent if it must be done soon. It is important if it serves your goals. The Eisenhower method, named after a saying credited to US president Dwight Eisenhower, sorts tasks into four boxes:
| Urgent | Not urgent | |
|---|---|---|
| Important | Do it now, yourself. | Schedule it: set a date and do it yourself. |
| Not important | Delegate it: ask someone else to do it. | Drop it, or keep it for free time. |
The trap is the “urgent but not important” box: it shouts for attention (a ringing phone, a chat), so it steals time from important work that is not yet urgent.
Another simple method, from Alan Lakein in 1973, labels every task A (most important), B (next) or C (least important), and numbers the tasks inside each group: A1, A2 and so on. Many people then keep a short daily list and work through it in order, one task at a time.
This case is written by Ganzaa. Mutesi has 10 hours free, from 08:00 to 18:00.
| Task | Box | Decision | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fetch water for the family | Important, urgent | Do now | 1 |
| Revise for Monday’s maths test | Important, urgent | Do now | 3 |
| Work her shift at the shop | Important, urgent | Do today | 2 |
| Science project due in 3 weeks | Important, not urgent | Schedule a first session | 2 |
| Collect a parcel for a neighbour | Urgent, not important to her goals | Delegate to her brother, who is going to town | 0 |
| Rest and watch part of the match | Not urgent | Free time | 1.5 |
| Read the class chat | Not urgent, not important | Once, at the end of the day | 0.5 |
Total = 1 + 3 + 2 + 2 + 0 + 1.5 + 0.5 = 10 hours, so the plan fits. Notice that rest is planned too: a plan with no rest is not achievable for long.
Tip
Memory hook. Do, Schedule, Delegate, Drop, in that order, for the four boxes: urgent-important, important only, urgent only, neither. Before starting any task, ask: “Is this important, or is it only loud?”
Solution: (a) important and urgent: do now; (b) important, not urgent: schedule; (c) neither: drop.
Solution: Delegate it: ask someone else to handle it so that your time goes to important work.
Solution: 2.5 + 1.5 + 1 = 5 hours used, so 6 − 5 = 1 hour left.
Solution: A: it is the most important task.
Summary
Sources and credits
The Saturday case, the worked example and the practice items are written by Ganzaa.
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
