Priorities: Getting real about your to-do list

Have you ever started the day with too many items on your to-do list and not enough hours? Okay that’s everyone— arguably a dumb question. But if I were to unpack that, at the heart is the question: are you clear about your “hell yeah?” Here’s what I mean. I once heard someone’s trick about prioritizing: when faced with a question like “can you speak at this session?” the person would ask themselves something like…

• Do I want to do this?

• Is this contributing to my big goals?

• Will this make me happy?

They gave themselves 3 options of responses:

• no

• yes

• hell yeah!!!

How they evaluated their system is worth exploring. And if they didn’t respond with hell yeah, they often declined or deprioritized the task.

What’s your big, giant, fist pumping “hell yeah?” A lot of times we get stuck in the minutiae of the daily grind. Someone calls and asks for something in your wheelhouse. Or a project hits your radar that you have the skills to do. May inclination is to say yes. Not only do I want to be a nice helpful person, it feels good to accomplish things. How about asking yourself, what are the 3 biggest priorities or objectives or goals in your job? In your personal life? In your career? They can evolve and change, sure. But if you don’t know what they are clearly, you are probably wasting your time and floating. If you want to buy a house, spend more time with family, and raise money for a homeless shelter, (your hell yeahs) then politely decline organizing the school auction and send a small check.

How can you break that down? So you’re clear on your big 3, and have a way to evaluate incoming requests and activity, but don’t stop there. Break down the big goals into smaller steps. Want to run a marathon? Have a weekly exercise schedule, sign up for a 5K… you get the idea. Slice your goals into smaller steps.

Who's on your “hell yeah” team? And then tell people about it. Even better, find 1-2 more people who also want to work towards their own major goals, and stay connected on how it’s going. Accountability partners are so helpful in keeping you on track with your goals, and of course in celebrating the victories.

Have fun getting real about your own to-do list!