How to Get More of the Right Things Done

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How to Get More of the Right Things Done

Have you had your summer vacation yet? Do you ever spend any part of vacation thinking about how you are doing in life? Some questions you might ask are: Are we too busy? How can we simplify? How can we get more done? Maybe you don’t ask these questions over vacation, but if you are a parent to school age kids, maybe the summer offers a break from the school year activities race, and that gives you time to think about how you get things done. Summer is an opportunity to rethink routine. If you are interested in getting more of the right things done, I have three questions you can train yourself to ask for your personal and professional life that will work. Or what might make it easier is sharing 4 words that start with the letter D to help you remember these questions.

Is this worth doing? If you want to simplify life, this is one way to do it. There are a host of things that we do rather thoughtlessly without asking the question of whether it is even worth doing. How do we determine whether something is worth doing? We just list the costs and the benefits. We are not just measuring the cost in dollars, but cost in time (which you know I believe is an even more valuable asset). We must also measure the cost in stress. The more often you say, “we are just so busy all the time” the more important this question is. You may find that your kids are giving lots of time to sports or lessons of one kind or another, and that it is not really moving the needle of family fulfillment. Perhaps the greatest cost are the family meals at the table and quality time together as an entire family that you are missing. Don’t get me wrong – sports and activities can have tremendous value (as a side note, all our kids play sports). But we should measure the benefit to ensure it exceeds the cost. There are lots of things that are valuable to do. But does that value exceed the time and money that you put into it? You can ask this same question when it comes to the workplace. Is the task I am about to do worth the time I’m about to invest in it? Is this project going to yield something greater than the money and energy I’m about to put into it. We rarely ask these questions. We just take the next thing that presents itself to us and just do it mindlessly. If we can develop a discerning mind, we will be able to eliminate the things that have lower value, to give us bandwidth to spend our resources on the things that really matter. The D word to summarize this question is Dump and we are asking the question: “What should I dump?”

Am I the only one who should do it? Okay, you’ve decided that something is worth doing. It’s important. It’s valuable. Are you the one who should be doing it? There are so many leaders in organizations who lack the ability to let go of important things so that they can commission others to do them. When leaders do this, they limit their own effectiveness by ignoring the opportunity to leverage themselves through the work of others. They also rob others of the opportunity to learn and to grow. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean that you should do it. And just because someone can’t do it quite as good as you doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give them the opportunity. Effective delegation is one of the differentiators between good leaders and great leaders. Great leaders focus on the things that no one else can do and/or the things that they really love doing. Great leaders are constantly training others on those things that only they can do so that they can continue to broaden and expand their own effectiveness through others. I think this is particularly important in the home. I am perfectly capable of taking out the trash but letting my 10-year-old do it is good for both of us. I can wash all the dishes, but it is better for us to have a rotation among our family of 6 to let everyone have an opportunity to serve. I could mow the whole lawn, but I want to teach each of these kids the value of diligent work and the satisfaction of a job well done, so they help me. So, this question isn’t only applicable in the workplace. The D word to summarize this question is “delegate and the question we should ask is “What should I delegate?”

When should it be done? You’ve narrowed down your to-do list to only include the things that should be done. You’ve delegated some of those tasks. Now we focus on the timing of completion. Not everything is urgent. Let me say that again, not everything is urgent. We can work ourselves into a frenzy trying to get everything done right away. If everything is urgent then nothing is urgent.  It is important to distinguish between urgent, time sensitive, and non-time sensitive. I classify urgent items as something that must be completed today. There is a distinction between what has to be done today and what I want to be done today. There is a small percentage of items that absolutely must be done today. I don’t mark something as urgent unless that is truly the case. There are a lot of tasks and projects that are time sensitive. Some need to be done within a few days, some within a week, some within a month. It is helpful for me to put tasks on my calendar rather than a to-do list so that I am assigning them with goals for completion. The act of putting a task in a place of time triages my list so that I can see that this task is more timely than another task. I get overwhelmed looking at a long list of things to do and trying to decide when to do them. But a calendar allows those tasks to live in a certain place in time and not get my attention until its turn comes around. It’s like making a queue for tasks based on their time sensitive nature. And for those tasks that are not time sensitive, try to fit them into the calendar as well. The more important they are or the higher the impact, the sooner they should show up on the calendar. You may have a better system – but asking yourself when things need to be done can protect you from the anxiety caused by a false sense of urgency. Two D words associated with this question are “defer” and “do”. Some things you will need to do right away. Some things you will be able to defer. So, the last question you want to ask is, “when should it be done?”

Summer might be the perfect time for you to come see Foundation Bank. Perhaps you feel like your current bank isn’t the place it used to be. You might not know the people there, or way they do things may have changed dramatically. We’d like to be your bank. If you are looking for creative solutions for your money – we’ve got em’. Visit our website at Foundationbank.org to start your financial conversation. We hope you’ll subscribe to this podcast to it in your favorite podcast app and share it on social media. Until our next episode, God bless you.

-President Chad P. Wilson, CFP

Today’s episode of “Money Matters” was written and recorded by President Chad P. Wilson of Foundation Bank/McKenzie Banking Company on June 30, 2026. This episode does not constitute financial advice. Please consult a financial professional to discuss your specific needs. Any rates mentioned are subject to change and are accurate as of the recording date. Foundation Bank/MBC is an Equal Housing Lender, Member FDIC.