What’s Next?

From time to time we all struggle with the question, "What's next?" We get so lost in the busy-ness of life that we look back at recent days, weeks, even months and wonder what we have really accomplished.

One thing I have re-learned recently is that you must have goals, even in day-to-day living. Where do you want to be in six months, a year, five years, retirement? What does your life look like at each of these stages? What's next? PJ McClure has a wonderful free Goals Guide that is getting me back on track again. It's helping me to re-focus. Together with Sandi Krakowski's video on how to stay focused, I am feeling less frustrated and more hopeful that I will get more accomplished.

Besides staying focused on my overall goals for my life, I need to have smaller goals -- steps -- to reach those goals that lead me further along the path to accomplishing them. I've used Outlook Tasks for many years and while I worked in "corporate America", I actually used Tasks the way Sandi recommends you create your To Do lists. Start with the tasks that you must get done today. Limit it to four. Work on them first. Then list three to four tasks you would like to get done today. Work on them next. Finally, list three to four things you would like to get done if you had the time. In Outlook, I use the To-Do List View to organize my tasks that I have marked due today. I rename them with a "1", "2", or "3" in front on the task title to categorize them according to must, want, or like to get done. I also am careful when I set flags on my items to give them a due date so that not everything is due today. Otherwise, the list becomes worthless. A list, whether on paper or electronic, will help you know what's next.

How about you? Are you staying focused on your goals? Do you even have goals? Let me know what you think. I want to know what's working for you or with what you are struggling.