Focus Your Time and Resources

I just did an interesting exercise you might want to explore. (This process was mentioned by someone on Medium in the last few weeks, and when I find the article again, I will link to their Medium page.)

First, I listed 10 goals I have. They ranged from “write a novel” to “go zip-lining with Feliks” to “lose weight” and everywhere in between. Some were work-related, and some were not. It was easy to list 10 of them. Almost all of them have been rambling around in my head for quite some time now, angling for attention almost daily.

Then, I added 7 more goals to the list. Some of these were financial goals, and others were things I want to learn, like weaving and Spanish and ASL. Still others were things I want to create.

Then, I added 5 more goals. This stretched me a little and took more time. One of these was to spend a month every year living outside the U.S. with my family. Another was getting a writing fellowship. Yours will be different. Maybe yours include creating a garden in your side yard or walking one mile a day–it can be anything.

Finally, I added 3 more goals. These included things I wouldn’t have necessarily considered if I were only listing 10 goals, like going on Outward Bound with Emma and riding a horse with Feliks.

I read all the goals, all 25 of them.

Then I crossed off 10 goals.

Then I cut 7 more goals.

Then I cut 3 more goals.

And finally, I cut 2 more goals. This got harder the more goals I crossed off of the list.

This left me with 3 goals. Of the ones that survived, one is a wellness goal, one is a learning goal, and one is a writing goal. For the next six months, I have decided to dedicate my time and resources to these three goals and see what I can accomplish in each of them rather than be distracted by 25 goals, none of which moves forward in any significant way when they are all vying for my attention. In fact, they lead to a kind of stasis, paralysis, and procrastination since there are too many to choose from daily.

My first step is to make these three goals very specific. How will I know if I have accomplished that goal? What will the measures of success look like for each of them? Then how can I break them down into monthly, weekly, and then daily goals to ensure I accomplish them? That’s what I am working on right now–an actionable, realistic plan to get there. A plan that excites me rather than overwhelms me.

What happened to the other goals? I still have the longer list, but am putting them aside for the next six months to hone in on these three. I find that too often, I spread my focus too thin, and I have too many ideas of things I want to accomplish or do. I want to see what happens with this kind of attention and focused resources on just three goals. I’ll report back in six months.

This reminds me of being overwhelmed by to-dos years ago, then reading about Toni Morrison identifying the only two things she must do, or she would die: Be a mother to her children and write. There is clarity in focus. And there will always be hard decisions to make about which are the most important things since everything seems important if we don’t differentiate.

Perhaps this exercise would clarify a few priorities for you as well? Give it a try!