How to Focus On What's Important And Eliminate What's Not

Last week, I answered a question about how to raise your productivity level, and that sparked a lot of questions about how to reduce the number of tasks you have to do each day. So, this week, I will explain how to do just that.   You can subscribe to this podcast on: Podbean | Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify | TUNEIN   Links: Email Me | Twitter | Facebook | Website | Linkedin   Email Mastery 2021 Course Download the FREE Areas of Focus Workbook More about the Time Sector System The FREE Beginners Guide To Building Your Own COD System Carl Pullein Learning Centre Carl’s YouTube Channel Carl Pullein Coaching Programmes The Working With… Podcast Previous episodes page   Episode 181 Hello and welcome to episode 181 of the Working With Podcast. A podcast to answer all your questions about productivity, time management, self-development and goal planning. My name is Carl Pullein and I am your host for this show. Last week, I pointed out that the most productive people—the people operating at a higher level—only ever have four or five tasks on their to-do list each day. The question is how do they manage to do that and get all their work done? That is what I will be answering today.  Now the starting point, as I explained last week, is you must know what you want. Most people are struggling with managing their work each day because they don’t know what is important to them. And when you don’t know what is really important, everything becomes important and then (bear with me here) nothing is important.  It’s similar to knowing the root meaning of the word “Priority”. Technically, we cannot have “priorities” because “priority” means one thing. There can only be one priority. You cannot make the word plural. Now about fifty years ago, the pluralisation of the word “priority” started and now most of us use the word “priorities”. But, if you really want to reduce your to-do list you need to treat the word “priority” as it should be treated. What one thing can you do today?  If you have not sat down and thought about your future, about what you want, how you want to live your life in five, ten and twenty years time, then you will find your task list becomes full of other people’s tasks and very few of your own. You will not be prioritising today what you need to be ready for in the future. To give you a simple example, when I was a teenager, I got to know a gentleman in his 80s who was a very useful sprinter in his day. As got older he became a prolific marathon runner. Every three months he ran a marathon and he was in his mid-80s.  I was so inspired by this that I decided I too want to be running marathons when I am in my 80s.  The question is, how will I be able to do that. If I spend my life eating unhealthy food and sat behind a desk all day being stressed out by every little thing that came my way, I would soon find myself unable to run anywhere. I’d be too fat and too sick. To make sure I can achieve that goal in the future, I must take care of my health and stay fit today. How do I do that? I must be careful of what I eat and exercise frequently.  And that is what I have done. I exercise at least four times per week, I eat healthily and I make sure I do not spend all day sat down behind a desk. I move…a lot.  I know what I want to be doing in thirty to forty years time and at least four times each week, I do something that will enable me to do that.  And that is why it is important you first establish what is important to you.  Now here’s where you will face difficulties. For most of us, we spend too much time worrying about the problems and difficulties we face today. We get caught up in the dramas of other people—our colleagues and customers for instance—and we lose sight of our long-term plans. That means you are living your life at a daily level and that is not sustainable. You need to operate on a level that grows and builds your future self. You need to understand that all great things—and life is a great thi