What Do You Want?

If you have read any book on time management (and productivity), there is a common theme that all of them begin with — what do you want?

While the way to go about this is usually different, almost all begin by getting you to answer some questions:

• What do you want out of life?
• What is important to you?
• What are your goals?

This is not a way to pad out the book; there is a fundamental reason for this type of question. These questions give you direction and purpose for your daily work.

Without knowing what you want and what is important to you, your days will be directionless, and you will be at the mercy of everybody else’s plan.

“If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.”

Jim Rohn

But it goes beyond lofty life goals — which I know many people believe this kind of planning is — It makes planning your week and your day easier.

When you know what you want and what is important to you, you already know what you must do each day. If being a great customer service person is important to you, you will prioritise taking care of your customers.

I once worked with a doctor at one of Korea’s top hospitals. This doctor was widely known as the top liver transplant surgeon in Korea (if not the whole of Asia). Yes, he had a lot of skills and experience, but what stood out for me was every Saturday morning, when he was not performing surgery, he would be in his office reading the latest research and surgical techniques.

I taught him English on a Saturday lunchtime because he was delivering presentations at medical conferences worldwide, and sharing his knowledge was an important part of his life.

For him, this was not work; it was his “mission:” to help people worldwide recover from debilitating liver disease and teach other doctors the latest techniques.

Professor Lee was an inspiration to all he worked with, including myself. I saw first-hand what having a long-term purpose in life gave you.

When you know what is important to you, your to-do list essentially takes care of itself. You already know what is essential and what is not. You know what tasks will move you forward in your “mission” and what will not.

Professor Lee was not great at managing his email (low value), but he never missed a paper submission deadline. His conference presentations were outstanding, and he was always on hand to talk with his anxious patients and reassure them.

That, my friends, is why knowing what is important to you will change your life. You will be less interested in tools and systems and more focused on what you need to do today to move towards accomplishing your mission.

Homework.

Review your areas of focus this weekend. How are you doing in each area? If there is anything you feel you are not performing how you want to perform, what could you do next week to change that?

(If you haven’t established your areas of focus yet, you can download my free areas of focus workbook here.)

Further help.

I strongly urge you to retake (or take) my areas of focus mini-course. In less than one hour, this course will help you establish what is important to you.

If you want to go deep and establish your long-term goals and purpose, then the Time And Life Mastery course is for you. The first part of this course is all about you and what you want.

The second part will show you how to bring what is important to you into your daily life.

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Get a copy of my latest book, Your Time Your Way: Time well managed, life well lived.