In order to effectively schedule your time, you have to be clear on your most important goals.
Do you have some big fat goal or dream that’s been living in the back of your mind or the secret chambers of your heart? Something big you want to do or accomplish? For whatever reason, (probably feeling “too busy”), you have relegated this dream to the “someday” category.
But you have to take inspired action… you have to do something… to end up living inside the life of your dreams, instead of your dreams living only inside of you.
Chances are that you already have a wish or dream… something you’ve been inspired to do or create in this world. Maybe you have an idea for a book you want to write, a business you want to build, a piece of artistic expression to create, a nest egg to preserve. But how long has this idea been just that… an idea? A year goes by and you are no closer to the dream than before. Then another and another. Next thing you know, you’ve been “wanting” something for years but are no closer to getting it. Why?
Every year or two I like to go back and read “How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life.”
In this decades-old classic on effective time management, Alan Lakein walks us through some exercises to help answer that ever relevant question - What’s the best use of my time right now?
I revisit the book occasionally to make sure I am still clear on my goals, and still making progress towards those goals. If you want to read the book for yourself, by all means do so! It’s a great primer on prioritization. Take it with a grain of salt as some of the stories and context are a bit dated.
Here I’ll simply outline the basic exercise he has readers go through in order to get clear on how they should be spending their time. I hope you walk away inspired to make time for the things that are important to you. You don’t have to start with huge chunks of time. If you’ve been giving your big goals zero time, anything would be an improvement!
Suppose you want to write a book. Just promise yourself that this is the year you make some headway. You don’t have to finish it. Getting started is the hardest part. If you don’t have a lot of spare time, that’s fine. Promise to allocate 2 hours every weekend to your dream. You don’t even have to do the same task with that time block. This goal has many tasks: creating an outline, researching, writing the chapters, editing, finding a publisher, learning about marketing, etc. You can mix it up and use that time toward whatever task makes sense that week. At the end of a year, you’re over 100 hours closer to your goal than before. It might not sound like a lot, but once you get started and get some momentum you’ll likely start working on it more and more as you feel that dream becoming a reality.
Here are the big questions Lakein asks us to ask ourselves:
What are my lifetime goals?
How would I like to spend the next three years?
If I knew right now that I would be struck dead by lightning six months from today, how would I live between now and then?
To complete this exercise you’ll need a few sheets of paper, a timer (or your phone), and about thirty minutes. At the top of the first sheet, write “Lifetime Goals.” Then set the timer and give yourself just two minutes to jot down anything that comes to mind. These will be fairly general, but try to take account of various facets of your life, like personal, family, social, career, financial, and community goals.
Just write down anything that pops in your head. At this stage you are not committed to any of the goals. You are just brainstorming. Don’t be afraid to dream big!
After the timer goes off, give yourself another two minute period to make any edits so that you feel satisfied with the list of goals at this stage.
Now get out a fresh sheet of paper and write at the top “How would I like to spend the next three years?” Lakein suggests that those over thirty change three years to five years. List your answers as quickly as you can for two minutes. Once again, take an additional two minutes to make edits or add anything you missed.
On the third sheet of paper, ask yourself the third question above. Assume everything related to your death has already been taken care of (will, burial arrangements and the like). This question is about how you would live during that time, not how you would prepare for death. Answers here help determine if there are things that are important to you that you aren’t doing now or which deserve more of your attention. As before, write your answers as quickly as possible for two minutes, then go back and improve those answers for an additional two minutes.
Once complete, spend an additional two minutes on each sheet of paper, just reviewing and improving your goals statements. Take longer if needed but don’t agonize over perfection.
"For those who are happy doing what they are doing, the six-months question represents an affirmation; they'll continue along as they are."
If you would continue on much as you are today, even knowing you'd die in six months, that's a good sign that you've arrived. You enjoy and get fulfillment out of the work you do. You are happy with your amount of quality family time, travel, and physical health. If, however, you would make drastic changes knowing you'd die in six months, that's a sign that maybe you should make some changes now. Many say they'd quit their job, sell everything, travel the world, spend more time with family, etc. But no one is promised tomorrow and you shouldn't wait to do some of the things that are most important to you.
"The point is: With proper time management, there's no real reason why you shouldn't start doing most of your preferred activities today."
You should now have three lists of goals. Spend one minute with your Lifetime Goals list and select your top three goals. Label the most important goal A-1. The second most important is A-2, and third is A-3. Now do the same with your three years list and six months list, spending one minute on each.
You should now have a list of nine goals that are important to you. Now it’s time to pick out the three most important of those nine. On a fresh sheet of paper write “My three most important long-term goals are…” then put them in order of priority: A-1, A-2, and A-3.
“You have now finished a preliminary Lifetime Goals Statement. You have zeroed in on just what it is you want to do with your life as you see it at this time.”
Lakein acknowledges that it may take a few drafts before we are really comfortable with our Lifetime Goals Statement. Do the same exercise a few times this week and you’ll likely come up with different answers, new priorities, and stuff you didn’t even think of the first time. That’s okay. Go through the process a number of times over a week or two and come up with a goals statement that feels true. Another important thing to consider is that these are really your goals. Things that light you up. These shouldn’t be other peoples’ goals for you or things you think you should want to achieve based on societal or cultural norms. Be authentic in this process so you can live in alignment going forward.
This goals statement is dynamic and will grow and change as you do. After a week or two and you are happy with it, make it available to yourself. Make it part of your psyche. Put it up on your wall or set it as your computer background. Then, as needed, update and revise it. If you’re never struck with an obvious need to make changes, it’s a good idea to at least revisit either every New Year or on every birthday you celebrate.
With your top three goals in hand it’s time to think about how to make them a reality. You can save this next part for a week or two from now, when you are satisfied with your determination of your top three goals.
You can’t do a goal. You achieve a goal by doing the activities that get you there. So, we must list out the possible activities that would help achieve each of our top three goals. Go nuts here. This isn’t a list of activities you will do or need to do… just activities that would help you achieve that goal if you chose to do them. For example, maybe one of your goals is something general like “make more money” or “make six figures.” You could list all kinds of possible activities that would take you down a path of making more money - from asking for a raise, to starting a side-hustle, to getting another degree. You won’t choose to do all of these things. This is idea generation.
So, get three more pieces of paper. Write one of your top three goals at the top of each page. Then, spend three minutes writing as many possible activities that you can think of that would help you achieve the goal. Remember, an activity is something that you can actually do. When you are done, spend three minutes on each page once more, to edit, add, consolidate, and refine.
When you are done you should have three pretty expansive lists of activities that would move you closer to achieving your most important goals. The activities will far exceed the time you have to do them. Now it’s time to set priorities so you always know the best use of your time right now.
Prioritize your activity lists by eliminating low priority tasks. For every item on your list, ask yourself:
“Am I committed to spending a minimum of five minutes on this activity in the next seven days?”
If the answer is no, cross the item off your list. No justification needed. Maybe you simply don’t feel like it. Maybe there are other activities that need to be completed first before you are ready for the next. If you can’t commit to at least five minutes this week, cross it off your list. Don’t worry, you can always come back to crossed off items later. This process should eliminate almost everything from your lists.
Leave only what you are committed to starting for five minutes (and possibly finishing) in the next seven days.
Spend some time further eliminating items by keeping only those you want to do. Try to get to where you have four items on each list that are meaningful to you and that you are willing to put time into in the coming week.
Combine the results from your three lists onto one page. You now have a list of a dozen or so activities that you are committed to at least starting in the coming week. Pick your most important activity for the week and label it “A-1.” Other priorities should be labeled in order, A-2, A-3, A-4, etc. All that’s left is to schedule these activities into the next seven days. If an activity is particularly overwhelming, break it down into it’s sub-parts, or tasks, and schedule some of those into your week. Keep breaking it down into the smallest doable things, then schedule them and do them!
Remember, you don’t have to complete all twelve priority activities this week. You are simply committing to getting started - to spending at least five minutes on each of the twelve activities.
Obviously, to build real momentum towards your dreams, you’re going to need more than five minutes when you can manage. It helps to put a few solid blocks of time into your week that are simply reserved for A-activities. Others call this Deep Work - the things that really move the ball forward in your business, personal life, etc.
Build time for your A-goals into each week then use that time only for your A-activities. Hold that time sacred and don’t let other things encroach on that time you have promised yourself. This is how you move toward achieving your goals and living in the life of your dreams!
There is much much more to Lakein’s book. This summary really only covers the first few chapters. I hope the exercises helps you get clarity on what to do with some of the spare time we’ll be carving out for you.
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