If you are the type of person as most of us, then you may have a similar problem to this one: you tell yourself you will work hard to achieve some goal or improve a certain part of your life but… fail to deliver. Life and various responsibilities get in the way and you end up prioritising things that must happen right there and then, meaning that you have very little energy left to push with something that you truly want.
If you feel stuck in this continuous loop of planning, procrastinating, and doing something but not finishing, then the following strategy may help you take better control of your life. This is the strategy that helped me achieve my important goals and that I still use to guide me through different areas of my life that I want to improve.
1. Start by defining your goals
Take a piece of paper and note down the goal(s) you want to achieve. Make sure these goals are SMART ( specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound). For example, if you want to start a side hustle, your goal should look like this:
To create a small business (specify the type of business you want), earning at least £X per month by the X (date).
If you have several goals in mind that you want to tackle at the same time, write them all down, leaving enough empty space between each other.
2. Think of all the tasks you will need to do to achieve your goals
Some of the goals can be rather complex and require a ton of work to achieve them. You might need to set up a little strategy for each of them and consider different tasks that you’ll need to do first in order to push yourself closer to these goals.
For example, if we use the same example as above, and your goal is to start a side hustle, then, if you’ve already done some groundwork for it, some of your tasks might be: register a company, create a brand name, hire a graphic designer, prepare a pre-launch marketing strategy, etc. However, if you haven’t started anything just yet, and this is a very new goal that you came up with, then your tasks might look more similar to something like this: decide on what I am good at and what I can sell, look for inspiration online, enroll into a course about starting a small business, buy some tools/materials, create a work sample, evaluate if there is a demand for it…
Write down as many tasks as you can think of leading you toward your goals. The more specific they are the better, too.
3. Plan your time
Now you have a long list of all the tasks you need to do to achieve your goals – it’s time to make sure that you actually do something with them.
First, make sure you set yourself a deadline for each goal. Let’s say you have 6 months to achieve them all.
Then, take 6 additional pieces of paper and write Month 1/Month 2/Month 3/Month 4/Month 5/Month 6 on each of them until you have 6 pieces of paper for each different month.
Now, divide each piece of paper into 4 columns – these will be your weeks.
Start from Month 1 first and write down all your typical responsibilities and tasks in the 4 columns. When you have them filled in, now it’s time to transfer tasks from the long list that you created earlier. Think realistically, and place them in weeks when you’d like to get certain things done.
You’ll need to follow the same process for the remaining months, however, I recommend doing this one month at a time – this way you will be able to easily move all the tasks you couldn’t achieve in Month 1 to Month 2, etc.
4. Put these tasks into your daily schedule
If you like to stay organised, then you may already have a way to plan your day-to-day activities either via a daily planner or a calendar. If you do, then you will need to make sure you include the tasks you created for your goals earlier into your daily schedule, too.
Some of the tasks may be too time-consuming to get done in one day or one sitting. If that’s the case, then be sure to divide them into more manageable pieces each day. Depending on how packed and busy your days look, you will ideally have at least 1-3 small tasks each day that are pushing you towards your goals.
5. Know which tasks are the most important
Some of your tasks will be more time-sensitive or urgent than others. Be aware of which of these should be tackled first before you jump onto the next one. You can follow Stephen Covey’s time-management matrix and assign each of the following to all your tasks:
Urgent & important: Tasks that require your immediate attention. It can be anything from preparing an important presentation at short notice to going to a doctor’s appointment. Such tasks might not be of your own making but something that you simply need to do. They should be prioritised and dealt with immediately or as fast as possible. These tasks will need to be done first before you can move on to the tasks from your long list.
Not urgent, but important: Tasks that are important to do but do not require your immediate attention at a particular time. These tasks are typically connected to your short or long-term goals.
Urgent, but not important: Tasks that are urgent but they are not important to you. These may include various interruptions, meetings, incoming calls or emails, etc. You should do your best to minimise your time spent on these tasks. Make an effort to avoid them, delegate to someone else, or do them quickly.
Not urgent & not important: Tasks that are neither urgent nor important. These usually are the activities that lead you to procrastination or just generally waste your time. It may include checking on your social media aimlessly, watching Youtube videos, etc. Do your best to avoid them wherever possible or leave them to the very end after you get everything else done.
6. Find what works best for you
There are several ways to plan your time and schedule tasks. Some people use Excel sheets, digital or print calendars, project management apps, planner journals, others simply depend on their memory. If you are just starting, then you may need to go through some trial and error until you find the tool that works best for you.