You’re working hard, but you may find that you’re not really getting ahead. Chances are, it’s because you’re fighting with perfectionism and procrastination. You’re not able to be your most productive when you’ve got such internal struggles holding you back. We’ve talked about several ways that you can manage this cycle and move closer to your goals. Today, I’d like to add one more to the mix, and that’s prioritization. Working on what’s most important to you first can make the biggest difference in your life. Let me show you what I mean.
Decide What You Want
The first step to prioritizing your goals is to know what you want and what is most important to you. Even for smaller tasks, understanding why you want to accomplish it and what you get out of it will help you to tackle the most crucial parts first. Having an understanding of your desires and intents will allow you to plan accordingly.
Link Your Actions to Your Goals
Each day decide what needs to be done and add tasks that will help you to accomplish those things. This ensures the actions you take will be relevant to your goal and will help move you in the direction of completing the necessary task. Everything you do should have a purpose. Linking your daily actions to your goals will help you to avoid mindless busy work or other types of procrastination.
Create a Plan
Once you have your list made, create a plan for how you will tackle it. Decide in which order you want to complete each part. Be sure to take care of urgent things first. Ensure priorities are done so that you aren’t left scrambling later. This will also provide you with momentum to keep working on things throughout your day.
Put Important Tasks on Your Schedule
If a task is particularly important to achieving your ultimate goal, it’s a good idea to add time for it to your calendar. Be sure others know this period is to be uninterrupted so that you can be free of distractions. Blocking out time will make it easier to avoid the temptation of procrastination, as well. You won’t be as likely to push this duty aside when you know there is a particular time it’s meant to be done.
This is an outline for helping you to determine and act on which activities are most important and will have the most impact on your life. Give it a try. Feel free to adapt the process to fit your lifestyle and preferences. It will get easier with time to prioritize and gain momentum so that you can accomplish your goals and be more productive.
