The 3 Keys To Getting Focused Now & An Action Plan
Published: Mon, 05/25/09
Memo From: Marlon Sanders
Memo To:
Re: The 3 keys to getting focused now
Hello,
Marlon here.
In a past email I explained how the cause of overwhelm is
assigning the same priority to everything.
But the path to overcoming overwhelm and getting focused now goes
way beyond that.
At any one moment in time you know what you're doing, where it
fits, the payoff you expect, the probability of getting that pay
off and why you're doing that thing instead of some other
thing.
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1. You must have a backlog and a way to prioritize it
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Every day new things that you want to do pop up. New
possibilities and opportunities arise.
This is where the prioritized backlog list of all your ideas comes
into play. You keep a list of all your "money" projects and
ideas.
You keep it in priority order.
Then when you're ready to start your next project you re-
prioritize it in light of shifting priorities.
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2. You must have a way to assign priorities that takes into
account multiple factors.
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I'll give you one very basic way to assign priorities here.
Obviously, I don't have room here to go into the more powerful
methods I give in Overwhelm Cure, simply because this email would
go on too long and no one would read it anyway.
Importance x Probability
a. Ranking importance
How important would the results of the item be to you? If you
did it and things went as planned, how important or valuable
would that result be compared to the OTHER things on the backlog
list?
b. Ranking probability
You can have an outcome with a massive importance or value but
very low probability of success.
You have to take probability into account.
There are a MILLION things you could rate backlog items by.
Like backend potential, ease of doing, profitability, ability
to repeat, ability to outsource.
The problem is that when you get into complex ranking systems,
you can make things more complicated than clear.
There's a real art into finding a few things you can focus on that
give you total clarity. That was my big message in Ockham's Razor.
The outcome you want is clarity. You want to find, develop,
create or test ways to rank your projects, new product ideas and
backlog items so that the outcome is clarity.
But to start with, you can use importance x probability. That'll
put you in the right direction.
If ALL you do is get all the "to do's" floating around in your
head out of your head and onto a spreadsheet or piece of paper.
And then find a way to prioritize those to do's so you're working
on the most valuable ones, that alone will do a lot.
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3. You must dump your "to do" list and move to a project focus
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This is something I never hear anyone talk about. But I've found
it to be true.
Look at your to do list.
You're going to find out one thing pertains one project, new
idea or endeavor. Another to do relates to something else.
This is why there's no focus.
You have a million things to do and they related to NO big
picture!
I've been there and done that.
The to do list that's a mix of many projects, ideas and so forth
doesn't work. The "to do" list can often BE the cause of your
overwhelm.
But you have to get things done. You need actions to take and a
way to SEQUENCE those actions. Otherwise, you're trying to do
a number of things all at once.
THAT alone leads to overwhelm also.
You've got to sequence actions. But those actions have to relate
to your big picture. And the big picture has to be prioritized
according to other big picture items you should go.
This way, at any one moment in time you know what you're doing,
where it fits, the payoff you expect, the probability of getting
that pay off and why you're doing that thing instead of some other
thing.
The problem with "to do" lists is you're grinding away, grinding
away, grinding away. But at the end of the day, you're working
on many projects. You make a lot of progress on a bunch of stuff
and none of it ends up done.
Or it's a big long haul to get there.
So look at your "to do" list.
For each item on it, do you know:
1. What you're doing
2. Where it fits in the bigger picture
3. The payoff you expect
4. The probability of getting that pay off
5. Why you're doing that thing instead of some other thing.
If the answer is no, then there's the cause of your overwhelm.
And the solution is to reverse that.
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Action Step
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For this next 2 weeks, pick the one outcome you want. What one
outcome could you get over the next two weeks that would make
you very happy.
Examine that outcome and see if there's any other outcome that
would be more valuable to obtain.
Assess your options in terms of the probability you can get the
outcome in 2 weeks.
Now create your action steps in reverse from that point so that
if you follow them in sequence you GET the outcome or the end
result.
This becomes your Game Plan for the next 2 weeks.
Best wishes,
Marlon Sanders
PS: Obviously, I've figured all this out for you and put it into
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Oh, it is guaranteed, so you don't risk anything. The webinars
are finished, so while you won't get to ask questions, on the
plus side, you get immediate access.