Every morning after my walk I have a cup of coffee or two and think about my life from seven overlapping points of view.
I. Physical Environment
II. Business/Career
III. Purpose
IV. Finances
V. Physical and Mental Health
VI. Relationships
VII. Fun and Recreation
Each point of view has its own Goals, Objectives, Actions, To Do lists, and Schedules.
For example,
- Physical Environment
- Maintain a clean and well maintained home
- Find my style and decorate home, landscaping, garden, fun outdoors, new furniture
- Personal Appearance – Haircuts, beard care, clothing, tattoos, beer gut
- Travel – temporary change of location to experience new physical environments
- Business/Career
- Training
- Raise tracking, market value
- Opportunities for visible responsibilities
- Total Compensation includes: money and benefits, fun relationships, and rewarding mission.
- Purpose
- Social Justice
- Creativity
- Being there for family and friends
- Finances
- Daily cash flow
- Debt
- Working Goals (kids, education, cars, house improvements, travel)
- Retirement
- Physical & Mental Health
- Counseling
- Self-care: showering, haircuts, facial hair care,
- Weight, BP, Chol
- Daily activity goals: morning stretching, elliptical; afternoon walking; evening lifting
- Regular checkups: Dental, Physical, Eyesight
- Daily supplements and vitamins
- Morning stretching and meditation
- Relationships (Circles)
- Being there for family
- Am I connecting with people with healthy habits
- Neighbors
- Volunteering, Groups, Classes, etc.
- Fun & Recreation
- Camp in every state
- Visit every active NFL, MLB, NBA, &/or NHL stadium
- Stay out of the house during the day
In addition to this top level overview, I review my selected Major Goals and see if I can break them into executable chunks that I can assign to a schedule.
For example,
- Major Goals – put a number or date on everything
- Credit Score > ###
- Review reports every three months
- Pay off or keep low balance on credit cards paying highest interest cards first each pay day or as possible
- Daily tracking of spending to budget
- Monthly Asset/Liability review
- Lose Weight
- Morning stretches and walk
- Push/Pull/Legs weightlifting 3 days per week
- Calorie and macro counting, Mediterranean diet, 2400 calories/day
- Average 5 miles walking throughout the day
- Sleep well nightly, reducing dependency on napping
- Creative Writing
- Write every day, even if only for a couple minutes
- Take notes constantly
- Finish X and proof Y this week
- Credit Score > ###
I then review my calendar and to do lists which I have been updating as I go through the above 7 areas and Major Goals.
List Commitment and Fatigue
I can commit to reviewing my lists because of my dependence on coffee. There’s seldom a morning where I don’t take the time for coffee so there’s seldom a morning where I don’t pull out my lists, even if only to review that day’s schedule and goals. The mornings I have no time for the lists, I get my coffee to go and return to them after the morning rush.
Too often, reviewing the list turns into it’s own list item and accomplishment. The volume of To Dos can be truly daunting and I’ll spend time rewriting or reorganizing the list items. I’ll feel like I got something done, but I didn’t really. These times can be valuable. Yes I’m procrastinating, but also sometimes we just need a break so the brain has space to process. It’s better than ignoring the list. When feeling a bit of list fatigue it’s best to either pick some low hanging fruit or to focus on a single item of high value and make a detailed plan for it’s accomplishment that you know you can commit to. Turns negative procrastination into positive procrastination.