I’m usually not the most intelligent person in a room and I’m never the most educated or connected person.  But, I do usually become the most accomplished person given a certain task, project, or mission.  Some people say that’s because I have a lot of ‘grit,’ and while I don’t take ‘no’ for an answer and I always persevere under any circumstance, the real reason I achieve my goals is simply because I’m consistent.  Over the last 15 years, I’ve spent up to two focused hours every day consistently learning a new skill or perfecting a product aimed at achieving my long-term goals. 

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Whether I was the Chief Operating Officer of a hedge fund (an industry I previously knew nothing about) or an entrepreneur running bSmart Guide, this is the approach I’ve used time and time again to accomplish my goals: I identify my starting point, define my end goal, determine interim deadlines, and create a schedule of micro-actions based on my brain function for staying on track no matter how bleak my starting point may seem.  (And trust me, I always begin projects at the furthest possible starting point.)  Below is my strategy for scheduling your success, no matter how big or unlikely your goals may seem today.

List It

Do you walk around with the weight of the world on your shoulders, burdened by your life commitments or ambitious dreams?  Sometimes just thinking about your goals can create a pit in your stomach even though it’s the very thing you want to do!  Whether it’s applying to school or a job, learning a new skill, or creating a product, you’ll always feel burdened by the countless steps it takes to create anything if you keep them all in your head. 

The first step to scheduling your success is to list anything and everything you can think of pertaining to your goal until there’s nothing left in your brain that hasn’t been written down.  As ideas pop into your mind late at night or early in the morning, add them to your running list.  This first step is critical to alleviate your mind (and heart) from constantly carrying around those ‘to do’s’ in your head because you’re afraid you won’t remember to do them.

Next, take time to be specific and critical with your list.  Simply thinking ‘I want to start a business’ or ‘I want to go to school’ is too general to clarify the next step, which makes it harder to take an initial action.  Spend some time thinking specifically about what your goals will look like when they’re accomplished.  Research and even add new items to your list about what it requires to execute your plans.  This will ensure you don’t spend two years climbing a ladder only to discover it was leaning against the wrong wall.

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The real reason I achieve my goals is simply because I’m consistent.

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Prioritize it

The next step is to prioritize your list – not in the order of when each item needs to be completed – but in the order of when you want to address each item.  When my list of ‘things to do’ was stuck in my head, I constantly felt that everything had to be dealt with today and accomplished by tomorrow.  Now, I prioritize when I will address each task by putting a time period (year, month, or week) next to each item for when I will create an action plan for that goal. 

At the beginning of every week, I review my list of priorities and divide those items up by day.  I then begin each day by looking at that list and dividing those items up by hour according to my best brain function.  It’s important to refresh your priorities at the start of each week and day because priorities are constantly shifting as you gain new information about what your goals require.

The book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People describes all tasks as falling into one of four categories: 1) Urgent/Important, 2) Non-Urgent/Important, 3) Urgent/Non-Important, 4) Non-Urgent/Non-Important.  By refreshing my priorities at the beginning of every week and at the start of each day, I’m able to prioritize Non-Urgent/Important items, which usually fall to the side, and avoid Non-Urgent/Non-Important items.  After I’ve prioritized my entire to do list for the year, month, week, and then day and hour, I breathe a huge sigh of relief knowing that everything will be addressed at the appropriate time.  While everything needs to be done, not everything needs to be done today or even this week.  

Schedule It

How many times have you created your ‘to do’ list only to find you accomplished three out of the ten items on your list at the end of the day?  By 4:00 PM you feel lethargic and horrible about yourself, wondering why you don’t have the same stamina as everyone else for getting work done.  I used to feel this way and the same ‘to do’ tasks would roll to the next day again and again, until I researched how my brain functions throughout the day.  According to my research and experience, I found that my ability to be mentally alert followed the below schedule:

7:00 – 9:00:  Quick thinking great for rapid-fire tasks like emails or scheduling.
9:00 – 11:00: Critical thinking for focused tasks such as reading, writing, and comprehension.
11:00 – 2:00: Able to plow through my to do’s that don’t require much thought.
2:00 – 3:00: Unable to think or be productive and completely crash mentally.
3:00 – 6:00: Creative thinking great for visual or video editing, collaborations, or meetings.
6:00 – 8:00: Best for physical activities such as working out, shopping, or cooking dinner.
8:00 – 10:00: Great for busywork tasks that don’t require thinking in front of the television.
10:00: No more thinking and time for bed!
 

Before learning when my brain functions best, I would fill my morning by responding to emails and making phone calls during my most mentally alert, critical thinking time.  I would take a break for lunch around 1:00, and then at 2:00 try to do my most mentally challenging work like reading, writing, or analysis.  By 4:00 PM I would feel so discouraged I hadn’t crossed off anything on my ‘to do’ list, I would procrastinate, do non-essential tasks, or again go through my email.  After dinner I would work from 8:00 until 1:00 in the morning (not peak productivity times) and then be exhausted the next morning when it started all over again. It was a horribly un-productive cycle.

Now, I schedule my tasks that require mental alertness from 9:00 – 11:00 AM and then push through with my other to do’s until 2:00 PM.  I take a complete break from 2:00 – 3:00 PM knowing I couldn’t do anything if I tried.  For me, scheduling tasks in accordance with my brainpower has been critical in accomplishing my ‘to do’ list because I’ve scheduled the tasks for when I’m capable of doing them.

In addition to scheduling tasks by brainpower, it’s important to schedule what Cindy Gallop calls micro-actions – the smallest aspect of any task that’s so easy to do, so why not do it?  The tasks I’ve scheduled are so tiny that there’s no way I can’t complete them in the time I’ve allotted.  Because I’ve clearly defined what my end goal looks like, I feel at peace knowing I’m taking the right steps in the right direction no matter how small.  With this approach, I rarely feel overwhelmed, behind, or like a failure at the end of each day.  If you feel guilty by going this slowly with your tasks, remember that your life is comparable to running a marathon, not a sprint, and slow and steady always wins the race.

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Scheduling tasks in accordance with my brainpower has been critical, because I’ve scheduled the tasks for when I’m capable of doing them.

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Walk It

I’ve learned that this approach of listing my goals, prioritizing tasks for when I’ll address them, and scheduling micro-actions according to my brainpower is my recipe for success.  However, the entire process, from start to finish, typically takes me two years to execute my vision before I’m pleased with the results or feel legitimate with what I’m doing.  You might be thinking, ‘I can’t wait two years for X to happen!’ or ‘I have to go much faster and accomplish a lot more!’  The truth is you can’t and you shouldn’t go faster with your projects.  In fact, rushing the process in business or creative endeavors can jeopardize the quality and foundation of what you’re building. 

To build something the right way, you have to do it piece-by-piece without cutting corners and adhering to excellence every single day in every single way.  Remember that the people you admire had to walk the same long path you must walk down and could have easily felt overwhelmed by their long list of ‘things to do’ (and they probably were), but they consistently tackled small tasks over many years just like you have to do. 

Will you allow the feeling of being overwhelmed cause you to procrastinate from taking your first micro-action?  Will you let the fear of falling behind force you to cut corners and schedule more than you should?  Will you insist that you must grow your business faster than humanly possible resulting in burnout and a long list of ‘to do’s’ left untouched?  Or will you start the process of creating your dreams and scheduling your success today?  If you feel overwhelmed or burned out on the path towards accomplishing your goals – list it, prioritize it, and schedule it.  I’ll see you at the finish line.

 

Meagan Hooper, bSmart's founder, leveraged an arts degree and professional theatre and film experience into a decade long career on Wall Street, working her way up from Administrative Assistant for the founder of a premier hedge fund, to the firm's Chief Operating Officer. Self-taught in the world of finance, her prowess and expertise was quickly recognized, as she then became Director of Operations for a global wealth management firm, overseeing $4 billion in assets across multiple asset classes. Through her journey, Meagan discovered a need for advising, supporting, and connecting aspirational millennial women. This motivated her to launch bSmartGuide.com to serve as a platform for women to learn, connect and promote their brands in order to achieve success and obtain their goals.

 

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