Thursday March 27, 2008 #22

“Set priorities for your goals. A major part of successful living lies in the ability to put first things first. Indeed, the reason most major goals are not achieved is that we spend our time doing second things first.”

~ Robert J. McKain

I hope you’re enjoying this series of action ideas to help you “get up and get on with it”. 

Remember:  Learning to take action is critical to your long term success and happiness.  You are someone with incredible talents who will change your and others’ lives in so many incredible ways if you just get up and get on with it!  Here is the second of 8 action ideas to enable you to do just that.

Action idea #3:  Prioritize!

Last JAM, I had you create a free-form list of all the things you want to do.  For many people that is enough.  For others, a bit more organization is necessary to make the list useful for energizing action. 

Go get your list (or make one if you didn’t do one already).  There are many methods for prioritizing and I will get into those in future JAMs.  For now, either use a method you already prefer or try this simple method:  Mark each item on your list with a 1, 2, 3, or 4.  

1 = Urgent to me, but not necessarily to others (training & education, important reading, working out, spending real time with family, etc.)

2 = Urgent to others, but not necessarily to me (what the boss, community, family member or friend demands of me)

3 = Not urgent for anyone, but I like it and it doesn’t hurt me or others (healthy relaxation activities)

4 = Not urgent for anyone, and I may or may not like it and it may not be good for or even hurt me or others (mindless or violent TV & other ‘entertainment’, partying, etc.)

Try to focus your actions on as many “1” items as you can, the necessary “2” items (can any of these be delegated?), reward yourself with a few “3” items, and try to say no to all the “4” items.

Like the previous idea, try this for 30 days and read through your prioritized list in the morning before you start your day and again before you go to bed, crossing out completed items.  If you stick with it, you will definitely avoid many “4” items you have been wasting time on and this alone will give you more time to attend to “1” and “2” items and maybe a few “3” rewards!