My rule of three for planning states that you should always have, know, and focus on three priorities. Most of us do many more than three things per day, per week, per year, but I always took time every morning to make sure I knew exactly what my top three priorities were so that as I budgeted my time and added or subtracted from my calendar every day, those priorities were reflected.
I encourage people to have a list of priorities for a week, a month, three months, and finally a year. Checking these periodically helps you to prepare for a priority out further in time. You may need to gather information, hire talent, raise funds, etc.
The right way to review this list is to make sure all your activities every day are moving you past short-term priorities and toward long-term goals. Don’t let the urgent constantly rob time needed for important long-term priorities. Another common mistake is to put off aligning every day’s activities with a long-term goal, as if the long-term goal is what you plan to “get to” in a year.
- Do you keep to-do lists to organize your priorities?
- How can you align your short-term priorities with your long-term goals?