So, you’ve gotten to the end of another day and you’re feeling disappointed and a little guilty. There were things that you wanted to get done, but between the blizzard of emails, an unexpected “crisis” at work, and one of your kids being up all night sick, you got very little done on your list and made no progress at all on the things you know will move you closer toward your Custom Built Life™.
You feel a little better by saying to yourself, “It’s impossible to get things done when life is so crazy, so I’m just not going to worry about it,” but these good feelings are fleeting.
Instead of giving up or delaying your dreams, try these three strategies to achieve personal goals and get more of the things that matter to you done.
Prioritize at the End of the Day
A simple, but powerful time management technique that I learned many years ago is to get into the habit of establishing your priorities for the following day before you leave work each night. Write down a short list – say 4- 6 tasks – of what you’d like to accomplish for the next day.
Give each task a priority rating of “A”, “B”, or “C” based on how important it is. Consider using the following definitions:
“A” Tasks are extremely important. They either help move you closer toward achieving one of the personal goals related to creating your Custom Built Life, or if you don’t do the task, it will have significant negative consequences. Examples of “A” Tasks are signing up for a class that will help you explore a career change you have been considering, getting your passport renewed before the dream vacation you are finally taking, or completing and sending in your income tax.
“B” Tasks are also important. In fact, one or more people might be inconvenienced if you don’t get to these things. However, they don’t matter to you as much as your “A’s.” Examples of these might be tasks that are important to your current employer, but that aren’t in alignment with your future career goals and aren’t used to judge your current performance. I’m not suggesting that you stop doing your job; however, it is important to realize that in some instances, where you are headed is far more important than where you are today.
“C” Tasks are optional. They don’t really move you much closer to any of your personal goals and nothing bad will happen if they don’t make the cut for the day. Examples of this are meticulously responding to each and every email that you receive each day, or making sure every room in your house is spotless.
Your Best Time is Your “A” Time
All of us have our most productive hours of the day. For me, it is at around 8:00 AM, after I’ve exercised and am working on my first cup of coffee. For Stacy it is mid-morning or mid-afternoon, and for some it is late at night.
Whenever this time of day is for you – cherish it for the gift that it is and reserve it for your “A” priority tasks. Turn off your phone, email, and instant messages and focus on completing your “A” priorities without interruption.
Similarly, choose your least productive time for “C” level tasks, like churning through emails. I clear more out of my email inbox during the late afternoon hours than at any other time of day because I’m typically feeling sluggish after sitting in front of the keyboard for large parts of the day. If possible, only dedicate a fixed amount of time to working through emails. Scan for urgent items – address those – and the rest will need to wait until tomorrow.
Plan for Reality, not for Perfection
Do you remember the story at the start of this article when I talked about the “unexpected crisis” that popped up at work? Let’s face it – plans change and things go wrong all the time.
While you certainly don’t want to dwell on these things, you do want to account for them in your schedule. When you think about what you’ll accomplish for the next day, only schedule about 80% of your time leaving the rest to deal with the “expected” delays, detours and roadblocks that invariably pop up.
It seems paradoxical to think that scheduling less will enable you to get more done, but it’s true! You’ll end each day feeling more accomplished which will energize you to take on the priorities that you schedule for the following day.
Your Assignment
At the end of today, take ten minutes and do three things:
- Ask yourself, “What are one or two small things that I can do tomorrow that will move me in the general direction of one of my personal goals?” Write them down and list them as “A” priorities.
- Determine what your “A-Time” is and, whether that’s morning, noon or night, block it out on your calendar. When possible, work on your A-tasks during this time. If it’s not possible, think about how you can change your routines and commitments on a long term basis to get more access to your “A Time.”
- Fill out the remainder of your list with enough “B priority” tasks to fill about 80% of your day.
That’s it! Try this approach for a couple of weeks and let us know how it’s working for you!
