Do The Things You Do Last...First

Do The Thing You Would Want To Do Last ... First

Efficiency is doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right thing. – ZIG ZIGLAR


If I’d ever wanted to share a great tip on reaching personal efficiency, this would be it.

Don’t we all have our daily `favourite’ to do list? Things like responding to irrelevant emails, filing papers and just about anything that makes us feel good.

Don’t we all have that list of tasks that we absolutely hate but would have to be done? That complaint letter that we had to answer? That return call to so and so, the one you wondered why, to your great misfortune you had to serve as a client? That repair to the car which you had been delaying for a week? And so on, and so forth.

Trust me, I’m no masochist. Like you, I too have my `favourite’ to-do list. Thing is, the `non-favourites’ often puts me in stress mode as the day wears on. And sometimes, more non-favourites occur, putting even more stress on me.

So, I had resolved some eons ago to tackle the unpleasant tasks first. To first tackle the tasks that given a choice I would do last. Which would then leave me, as the day wore on, to tackle the favourites so that by the end of the day I was less drained and more cheerful.


As Zig Ziglar says, it’s all about doing the right things. And more often than not, the right things are the ones we want to do last. Or not at all.


Everyday cannot be a feast of lanterns. – CHINESE PROVERB

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