Deciding
Your Work Priorities- Finding Out What to Spend Your Time
On
How
to Use Tool:
An
important part of focusing on results is working out what to focus on!
Many people work very hard all day doing little jobs that do not actually
affect the quality of their work.
This
section concentrates on three areas - clarifying what you enjoy,
understanding what your strengths and weaknesses are, and working out both
what your job is and what constitutes excellent performance.
Doing
what you enjoy
It is important for your own quality of life that you enjoy your job. If
you know broadly what you like and dislike, you will be more able to move
your job towards doing things that you enjoy. This is important as you are
much more likely to do your job effectively if you love it than if you
loathe it.
Note
that almost every job has tedious or unpleasant elements to it - it is
important that these parts are done properly. It is up to you over time to
minimize this.
Concentrating
on your strengths
It is also important to know what your talents and weaknesses are. A good
way of doing this is to carry out a SWOT analysis This provides a formal
approach to evaluating your strengths and weaknesses, and the
opportunities and threats that you face. It makes a lot of sense to find a
job that suits your strengths, and where your weaknesses do not matter.
Understanding
how to be excellent at your job
One excellent way of ensuring that you concentrate on the right things is
to agree them with your employer!
You should ask
the following questions:
If
you have answers to these questions, you will know how to do your job in
precisely the right way. If you know what exceptional performance is, you
can plan to achieve it using all the resources you have available.
Key points:
This
section gives you three ways of deciding your work priorities:
-
Concentrating
on what you enjoy
-
Using
a SWOT analysis to work out your strengths and weaknesses. This
helps you to play to your strengths, minimize weaknesses, and move in
the right direction.
-
Finally
it explains how to clarify your job with your employer, and
concentrate on doing well in the areas he or she considers to be most
important.
By
concentrating on the right priorities you will ensure that you are always
working as effectively as possible.
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