Control your time 75
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activity
Goal setting
Deciding your outcomes for the next day – or week or year – can be
difficult. There are often so many competing demands on your time and
attention. This is stressful, so really effective time management (rather than
being reactive and managing the tasks you already have) requires a big
picture of what you are trying to achieve in your life: your goals.
Put aside at least half an hour – more if you can – to sit quietly with a
notepad, and think through the answers to these four questions:
1 How is my life, now?
Inventory each aspect of your life: your family and friendships, your
home life, your career and work life, your financial situation, your
hobbies and interests, your education and self-development. How
content and successful do you feel in each area, and overall? What are
you happy with? What would you like to change, or develop?
2 What is important to me?
Now think through what sort of person you really are. What words
would you use to describe yourself? For example, you may be ambitious,
arrogant, caring, dependable, enthusiastic, intellectual, jolly, miserly,
practical, selfish . . . Pick a dozen or so words. Once you have done that,
ask yourself: ‘What things are most important to me in my life?’
3 What do I want?
Such a simple question. Ask yourself what you want for yourself, what
you want to achieve, and how you want your life to be in the future.
What do you need to learn, to do, to acquire, to achieve? Write these
down, because these are your goals in life.
4 When do I want them?
Pursuing too many goals can be stressful, so start to prioritise and
sequence them. For each goal, prioritise it as either primary (something
you feel you must achieve to create fulfilment in your life) or secondary