January-Time, Priorities and Rules

The month of January came and went before I even knew what happened.  There was a lot more that I was hoping to get done this month, but isn't that how it always goes?  Looking back at a month that has just finished is really an eye-opener to how we spend our time, and it brings up a lot of thoughts about time, priorities and personal rules for success.  It is obvious to anyone who has goals of reaching success and excellence that there just isn't enough time in the day to get everything done unless you work like an extremely efficient, well oiled machine.

Looking back at January, how well did your machine run?

There are many "strategies" of getting things done that can be used to accomplish just about any task that you put your mind to, but to me everything boils down to time, priorities and rules.  This is something that I feel like I have a very good understanding of, but it is the application that is proving to be difficult.

Time:  There is a set amount of time in every day.  We allocate that time to all the different activities that comprise our lives, and it is how we use this time that makes us who we are.  After you take the time for sleeping, eating and all the other bare necessities out of the picture, there really is not much time left in the day.  It is so crucially important that the time that is left over is managed properly.  The biggest waste of time in my opinion is the time that we set aside to complete a specific task that is not actually spent finishing what we are working on.  I can say that personally I spend a lot more time than I should focusing on things like what I am going to do next, what I have coming up and what has already happened.  Being present focused is very important to task completion.  Set aside time every day to get stuff done, and during that time focus on nothing but the tasks that you must get done.  If we focus on other tasks what we are really doing is procrastinating, and this is how we get behind on what needs to be done.   

Priorities: When you have 7 things that must get done, 4 things that should be done, and 5 things that you would like to get done, there is no way to do them all at the same time.  This is where prioritizing is king.  Break your tasks down into these categories, and this allows you to know what to attack first, and what may be able to wait until later.  When you prioritize properly you will be able to get things done in a timely fashion so that you are not bombarded with 16 things that must be done..........in an hour!  

Rules: In my opinion these are what make us who we are, and they dictate how we act on a daily basis.   On many occasions Tony Robbins talks about "Must-Do's" and "Should-Do's"  These are your rules.  Too many times in life we have something that is a Must-Do, but the steps needed to achieve that goal are not held to the same standard.  It is no wonder we get stressed and frustrated.  We need to embrace our Must-Do's and attack it with a passion.  For example if in order for us to be happy and feel fulfilled we MUST achieve result Z, then the steps to get to that result need to be Must-Do's as well; if they are not then it is no mystery why we don't achieve the desired result, which leaves us feeling unhappy and unfulfilled.  We should constantly evaluate what we are trying to get done.  If the result is a Must-Do then everything that leads to that result need to be a Must-Do as well.

Like I mentioned before these three things are not extremely difficult to understand, and it is really easy to use them to achieve the success that we all want.  The difficult part is having the self-discipline to actually practice the principles and the diligence to see it through. 

"I challenge you to make your life a masterpiece. I challenge you to join the ranks of those people who live what they teach, who walk their talk. " -Tony Robbins

RJ LoPresti
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