Are you prioritizing or procrastinating?

Good question, yeh? This made me pause and ponder to validate my premise. We tend to procrastinate when we’re lazy and don’t deem as critical. And yes, it is okay to postpone. What is not okay is if we fail to plan for it. Hence, there’s a fine line between prioritizing and procrastinating. Let’s review them.

When is it prioritization?

Prioritization is when we plan, task, manage and control. Yes, this is a key management trait. At a professional level, we prioritize to plan and execute for a pre-defined goal. At a personal level, we prioritize to escape harm; be it paying bills on time to avoid late fees or seeing doctor to avoid serious ailments. We can certainly prioritize to procrastinate as long as it’s planned and is in control and doesn’t remain a dream. Best yet, we can pat ourselves when we're not postponing indefinitely.

We ought to prioritize events for timely action. Certain events do have lead time and thus need timely initiation to plan for ensuing dependencies and lag time, to meet target completion. Hence, timely initiation is a key prioritization task for success; else it’s failure due to procrastination. Cases in point: at personal level - scheduling timely annual physical appointments and timely retirement planning, let’s not procrastinate the prioritization of life changing events; or at professional level - failure to initiate timely stakeholder communication and getting signed off requirements, let’s not procrastinate the prioritization of tasks to avoid scope creep and cost overrun.

Let’s prioritize by managing our “to do” list.

When is it procrastination?

Procrastination is when we delay or postpone with no defined timeline. We justify by claiming to be overwhelmed with tasks at hand, when in reality it’s laziness and failing to own it up. It is when we have a loose time frame and hence a lesser priority for tasks at hand. However, we have a great opportunity to not procrastinate, by prioritizing our procrastination.

How not to procrastinate our prioritization?

To keep it simple, we could plan our procrastination; and hence time box our procrastination. It’s about now or later versus never. The easy fix is to prioritize first and adjust when to re-prioritize instead of procrastinating indefinitely. Once we categorize a task as a desire or dream, we’re procrastinating. I would rather start with a set timeline and postpone to a new timeline vs. make it an open-ended task and get to it when it’s too late. Track your “to-do” list with due dates and reminders. Be aware that our short-term decisions impact our long-term goals! Let’s look at a life planning task – kid’s college education planning. How many of us plan for this on-time? The sooner we start, the more affordable it becomes. Indeed, it is also dependent on how our child could help by excelling in grades and procuring scholarships.

Let’s plan and make our dreams a reality!

Looking forward to your thoughts.

Raj Mathapati

Education, as an insurance against unemployment

Is education an insurance against unemployment? Indeed. There are different schools of thought; apparently with disparate ROI. George Savile, the noted English statesman quoted, “Education is what remains when we have forgotten all that we have been taught.” This statement is rightly justified by the employer’s minimum educational requirements and hence the mushrooming of universities, MOOCs, and unlimited learning options to meet the demand of varied employment needs.

Education can take various forms based on necessity and affordability. Education can also be of various kinds based on necessity and age. Nelson Mandela, the revolutionary South African philanthropist and politician, said “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

Parents and teachers have equally significant stewardship role towards children. Lyndon Johnson, the 36th US President, said “Education is not a problem. Education is an opportunity.” Few of the resources supporting education are the school system, community, local government facilities, government policies and incentivized programs.

Mahatma Gandhi, the revolutionary leader of Indian independence movement, aptly quoted, “There is no school equal to a decent home and no teacher equal to a virtuous parent.” Education begins at home. Parents have the initial privilege at home, hence the prime responsibility. They could enhance the learning experience by creating conducive environment, support system and encouragement. Reading is one of the simpler regiment that Parents can inculcate, that has an everlasting and invaluable return. Thanks to the schools for making Reading as one of the core traits. Reading sets the baseline foundation for the education journey that children embark on. Public Libraries supplement and support the Parents efforts. Parents have numerous tools at their disposal to further the learning experience - Museums, exhibitions, STEM symposiums, science fairs are a few that could be readily leveraged. Children would tread in the path laid down by parents and excel with the teachers learning enrichment and guidance. Kids are wired to pursue with what they’ve access to.

The Government has the overarching responsibility and authority to formulate policies and enforce guidelines to supply the learned resource pool and thus meet the industry demand for talent. Federal, state, and local authorities can offer subsidized educational or vocational programs to close the gap between the employment opportunities and employable skills.

Educational institutions are temples of learning and knowledge. Colleges and Universities provide the resources - tools, facilities, and faculty. How can we leverage these resources? Again, the basic foundation of education at younger age would help catapult to higher education with ease – monetarily, i.e. the price to cruise through higher education gets subsidized with scholarships when the basic schooling is done right and excelled at.

Career growth is aided with supplemental education. Hence education is applicable at any age. John Dewey, a renowned American education reformer said, “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.”

Please share your thoughts and comments.