• What is the first thing you do at work?
  • Where do you spend the majority of your time?
  • How do you determine if something is a priority?

It is my observation that most of us take on more than we can finish. This happens because we accept work pushed on to us by others or because of self-inflicted busyness.

We get an idea, take action, and shortly become overwhelmed at the number of projects we have taken on. And what is important receives little attention.

We don’t take the time to clarify our thinking. We don’t run our ideas through any filtration process.

As a time management speaker, I too have struggled with this and fallen victim to the little voice saying, “You can do more. You need to do more.”

What ends up happening is we move fifteen projects an inch rather than three projects a mile. And our results are average because we have abandoned 80/20 thinking and prioritizing.

So, the next time you find yourself excited about something and eager to start, first ask yourself and your team some qualifying questions. You want to find out if this a priority or a project masquerading as something important.

Here are three questions to pose when you want more clarity on any project, priority, or problem.

  1. Goal — What has to be true when this project is completed? Or put another way, what is the criteria for success?
  2. Impact — What difference will this project make? What is the potential real impact? It is easy to deceive ourselves about the actual effect vs the perceived difference of something.
  3. Focus — What would cause you not to finish this project? Writing down your obstacles puts you in greater touch with reality.

Clarity is power. The more clear you are about what you want, the better your brain knows how to get there.

Here is an example:
Project: Consistently create and post videos to YouTube

1. Goal — What has to be true when this project is completed?
– A schedule for creating videos and a process for posting.
– A way to track engagement. Comments, followers, and likes.

2. Impact — What difference will this project make?
– Grow my audience.
– Provide value to existing clients and prospects.

3. Focus — What would cause you not to finish this project?
– Not developing a process.
– Not involving other team members. Try to do it all by myself.
– Don’t see the immediate benefit, get distracted and pursue another project.

Taking a couple of minutes to organize your thinking can provide you with higher levels of clarity and confidence.

Eric Papp
Time Management Speaker

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