One of the fastest ways to get more energy in your life is with clarity. There are lots of philosophies around the best way to manage your to do list. One of the best that I use is a variation of something called Getting Things Done (GTD). Knowing exactly what you should be doing next is certainly a key step, however, knowing WHY you are doing what you are doing is just as important.
It’s easy to get bogged down in the details of everyday life. The most successful people I know are ruthless about cutting out the clutter from their lives. It’s called the Pareto or 80/20 Principle – 80% of your results come from 20% of your effort. The question is, which 20%? Every week I spend time thinking about what I want to get accomplished by the end of the week. I also reflect on what I accomplished over the last week and whether or not I accomplished what I had set out to do. I do the same thing every month. Doing this allows me to be really clear on my priorities. On any given day when I find myself being pulled in all sorts of directions by email, bills, phone calls, and random errands, I can stop and ask myself if what I’m doing is getting me any closer to what I want to accomplish that week.
When you start weighing what you are currently doing against what you want to accomplish you quickly realize whether or not you’re being energy efficient. To do this requires clarity on what you’re trying to accomplish. Not only will such clarity enable you save energy, you’ll get energized just by knowing that you’re being productive and meeting your goals. Sometimes getting that clarity is a challenge unto itself. How do you get it? I’ll save that for my next post…