It has been more than three weeks since I posted anything on my blog."You can't do that!" I'm told. "You must post several times eachweek!"

Well, guess what? I survived. My blog did notself-destruct. My business did not fail. Health care, Afghanistan, andthe economy still dominate the news. Meanwhile, I was doing moreimportant things.

Most everyone complains about too much to doand yet we commit ourselves to tasks out of obligation, habit,compulsion, and fear on a regular basis. Tasks land on the To Do list automatically, displacing more important tasks. The urgent, habitual, always-done-that-way, can't-not-continue, can't-refuse, should-be-done tasks keep arriving on the list. The more-important, less-defined, new, must-begin, longer-term tasks keep falling off the bottom.

• Where do you want to be a year or more from now? Personally and professionally?
• What are the two, three or four areas where you need to focus your energy, time and money to achieve those goals?
• What is the single most important concrete next step needed in each of those areas?
• When will you complete those three or four steps?

Carve out calendar space to protect progress on these critical steps. You will be more productive, feel better, and have a better chance of achieving your goals if you move the most important things forward by leaps and bounds than if you get all your ducks in a row and nudge each a few centimeters along their way.

If there are too many priorities, there are no priorities. And if that is the case, you have only yourself to blame.


© 2009 Ann Latham. All rights reserved.