Getting Your Life On Track Part 2
Ever feel like you’re caught up in doing, but not sure if you’re doing what you should be doing? It’s scary to think we could be throwing all our time and energy into climbing a ladder, only to find at the top it’s been leaning on the wrong wall.
In Getting Your Life On Track Part 1, we discovered a powerful way to find out if the things we spend our time on are really that urgent and important.
Now, here’s another powerful method from Stephen Covey’s First Things First to get your life on track.
What Are Your Roles?
We all play several roles in our lives. I could be a brother, employee, writer, martial artist, coach, friend, lover, artist, son, depending on where I am, what I’m doing and whom I’m with.
What are the roles current in your life?
List them out. Now, looking at each role, ask yourself; what’s the most important thing you could be doing for this role?
And are you doing it?
Set Your Goals
Looking at your roles, pare them down to a manageable 4 to 7 if you have more, for the next 7 days ahead. Looking at each role, ask yourself what the most important thing you could do for the week ahead is.
Break that goal down into actionable steps. Steps simple enough that you can take, and schedule them into the week ahead so they become real.
This will get you to shift from Q3 and Q4 into the Q2 activities that matter, and overcome the tyranny of the faux urgent to do what’s truly important for you.
Doing these simple steps will also get you feeling more relaxed and at flow. But if you still feel stressed from the daily grind, in my next post I outline a way for you to unload your anxiety.
Getting Your Life On Track Series
Getting Your Life On Track Part 1
Getting Your Life On Track Part 2
Getting Your Life On Track Part 3
Getting Your Life On Track Part 4
Recommended Reading
First Things First : To Live, to Love, to Learn, to Leave a Legacy
Funny. A few months ago, I’ve used the very same Windows theme with ObjectDock at the bottom.
Anyway I think your desktop could be simplified even more.
- Is ObjectDock really necessary? You can use the Start menu.
- Use online calendar (like GCal) instead of Rainlendar, and open it only when needed
- Hide all tray icons
- Don’t display the date next to the clock
Hi qeek,
I love the dock because it’s a much faster way for me to get to the programs I want. After this post I set it to auto-hide though, which works much better (by the way it’s the resource-light Y’z Dock not ObjectDock).
I like having my calender on the desktop because I have to go out for events regularly and I like having the reminders there. Plus it integrates nicely with the GTD method of having only time-sensitive tasks in the calender.
I like having the date on the clock! I know it adds to the clutter but it’s just me – it reminds me of a Mac :p
Thanks for the link to desktopography – superb site and I’ve got myself a nice new desktop. The actual link in your article is wrong i think – it should be http://www.desktopography.net/
Oops! You’re right, Rob, thanks! The link has been amended.
Complexity and disorder is the natural way of things. Real life doesn’t fit into orthogonal containers. Clutter represents uncertainty, mankind’s greatest fear. Learn to accept it, appreciate it, love it!