It’s easy to lose yourself in other people’s priorities. That’s why having your own defined priorities is absolutely necessary whether you’re a C-Suite executive or a stay-at-home mom.

Author Chuck Palahniuk wrote, “If you don’t know what you want, you end up with a lot you don’t.”  It’s a variation of something Benjamin Franklin said, “Failure to plan is planning to fail.”

The same goes for priorities. If you don’t know what your priorities are, they won’t happen.

GILD’s Freedom By Design program is designed to create a custom time management and boundaries system for your life. We invite you to follow this link and check it out.

In the meantime, here’s a crash course in weekly prioritization to help you get on track:

1. Identify the beginning of your week. Some people say it’s Sunday, others say Monday. There are no wrong answers here – so just pick one that feels right for you.
2. Create your “rolling” to-do list at the beginning of your week. This includes all of your work, personal, and miscellaneous to-do items. I call it a rolling list because this isn’t a list you make once – not a daily list that ends up making you feel bad about yourself. It’s your buddy; your prioritization BFF.
3. Set importance levels to each item on the list. Decide if they have to be done or can wait until later. Go through your list and categorize every item.
4. Plot the “must-do” items in your calendar. Immediately. I’m serious. If they are not in your calendar, they are not going to happen, or at least not when they should if they are not there. Go ahead and schedule more time than you think they’ll take in case things run long.
5. Plot the additional categories of items in your calendar if there is room. If there is no room, don’t plot them – you already identified them as to-do items that are not a priority. If they will become a priority at some point because of time-sensitivity, make the judgment call to schedule them at the appropriate time.
6. As you complete your items, cross them off of the to-do list. If you finish the week with 75% or more of your “must do” items completed, consider it a success.

That’s it.

Simple?

Yes.

Easy?

Not at first.

Stick with it.

Helping people develop prioritization techniques are just one way a coach can help you.

If you want to explore this or more, please let me know by clicking here. I’ll get your request and we’ll connect soon for a complimentary consultation session just for you!

Also- here’s that link again for our Freedom By Design program – watch the video on the page and listen to some of our client success stories, too!