[PODCAST 205]: How to Decide What to Work On

Whenever I go into a professional workspace and speak with the team members, I ask how they decide what to work on. Typically they work on “whatever wheel is squeaking the loudest,” or what they spoke about at their last meeting, or what sounds interesting at the moment. When we do that, however, we typically don’t get the most important things done. So today I’m mapping out (in less than 10 minutes!) how you can actually work on projects and routines that will move you toward your goals…WITHOUT overwhelm or procrastination. This is the exact process I use each day, and I hope you’ll love it (and share it with your friends so they won’t be overwhelmed either!). If you’d like to watch the video version, please click here or on the image below! (You can hear the podcast by clicking the “play” button above.) The main ideas are as follows: In our personal and professional lives, we want to have strategic objectives (goals/outcomes) we’re working toward each month, quarter, year, etc. Those strategic objectives are supported by routines and projects, but most people get those confused. Routines are things you do over and over and over again. Projects are things you do once–and then it’s completed. Often, routines start as projects, so we’ll establish a system and then move it into “routine mode.” We each need to have our own “Routines List” and our own “Projects List.” Any kind of digital project manager (or paper system) can work! For routines, we’ll want to categorize them as “daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly.” Please do not put deadlines on them, though, if you’re using a digital project manager or app…. You’ll end up with tons of overdue tasks. Instead, you review your list weekly and you create calendar triggers for those routines that are not yet habits. For projects, you’ll want to categorize them as “current, in progress/waiting, next in line, and someday.” Your “Current Projects List” is for that month. You want to keep it short and focused. I recommend no more than 8 projects TOTAL on that list, but a maximum of 3 in the professional space. If you’ve hired someone else to help you–or if you’re waiting on someone else before you can personally move forward–the project is moved into “In Progress/Waiting” with a potential calendar trigger to follow up. It’s tempting to add more and more projects to your “current” list, but if you try to work on 50 projects at the same time, you won’t accomplish any of them, right? Whenever you put a project into your system, you can also identify sub-tasks (next action) to go along with it. And you can link relevant files, websites, etc. r