No!: The key to success

You’ll be seeing a few posts from me around the concept of a good No. It’s critical to decision making, prioritizing and a general sense of wellbeing.

Today I want to pick up on a blog post written by Gustavo Razzetti, MD. His post is titled “How to Focus on What Really Matters to You.” His six step process is:

1. Write down 10-20 things that you want to achieve.
2. Divide your goals in three groups:
   1. Group 1: most critical
   2. Group 2: doubts and not sure how critical they are
   3. Group 3: can live with or live without
3. Eliminate Group 3 and all its content
4. Take a stand with Group 2. Eliminate those closest to Group 3. Move those that really matter to Group 1.
5. Rank the items in Group 1. Make time for those that really matter
6. Accomplish or initiate the top 3 priorities next month.

This is a pretty good list in a pretty good order. But the key to it is right in the heart, steps 3 and 4.

Eliminate Group 3 and all of its content! You need to De-Cide what’s important.

The word decide doesn’t mean figure out what you’re supposed to do, it means to figure out what you’re NOT supposed to do. It means to figure out what to kill.  Forcing yourself to finally decide and eliminate some of the options that you’re holding open is a main key to success.

Step 4 continues the same process but gets even tougher because these are items that you have doubts about or are not sure. There’s a fear of letting go of something that might be valuable to you in the future. Let it go!

The other key to the list is step 6. Start now. Do it this month. Don’t delay any more.

An old Chinese proverb says that “The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago.” But the real power of the proverb is in the second sentence, “The second-best time is today.” Plan the 3 priorities you’re going to tackle next month. Then plan which one you will do in a given week. Then plan which day of that week you’ll set aside time to accomplish your goal. Put it on your calendar and when other demands pop up, simply say “Sorry, I’m already scheduled for that time. Let’s find another option.” Enjoy your new found success.