How to Achieve Goals: When Focusing On Less Means More

Since when did counting on one hand become a key skill? 

How to achieve goals involves have a quarterly meeting with yourself and asking one simple question.

'Spreading yourself too thin' is often the knee-jerk reaction to too many incoming demands on your time.

Having a clear view of the top 3 priorities in any given period provides a filter through which all new incoming goals and actions can be passed to decide whether you should agree to taking on more responsibilities or whether you should push back and negotiate with others or even perhaps yourself.

Focusing on less often means achieving more when it comes to goal setting

Time Management specialists Franklin-Covey suggest:

• If a team has 2-3 prioritized goals, they are likely to achieve 2-3 of them.
• If a team has 3-10 of these goals, they are likely to achieve 1 or 2 of them.
• If a team has 11 or more goals, the achievement rate is ZERO.¹

As the thousands of respondents in the Franklin-Covey cohort demonstrate, life is better when you can count on 3 fingers.

If you feel like you missed the memo about this while you receive 100 emails and what feels like another new 100 daily requests it is not surprising.

Now more than ever, with the constant flow of incoming communication and demands, the ability to accommodate everyone and everything is often painted as a virtue.

What a relief to learn that for great time management this is not the case!

How to achieve goals you set each quarter with one simple question

To get the best out of your time set yourself a quarterly appointment to answer this simple question:

What are my top 3 priorities across the next 12 weeks?

Make this choice matter! Ask yourself:

”What if these 3 are the only things I will be able to get done this quarter?”. 

What will you choose then?

Here’s where Pareto come in… The 80/20 rule  defines the 20% of activity or investment that gives back 80% of the yield on your activity.

So do your numbers, evaluate the benefits of the activities that vie for your time.

Accentuate up front the 1 to 3 priority activities over the next 12 weeks that will give you biggest bang for buck.

The Big Rocks of your life deserve your attention. Worry about the rest only after your top 3 get the attention they need!

NEXT- Decide on your time allocation using this Quarterly template and instructions