2-2-3 working with yourself: GOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAl

What is a "goal" exactly?

-          From the "Perceptual Control" theory; it is: setting a reference that is out of your reach so it creates a motive for you to start taking steps toward it  

What a good goal looks like?

1-     Specific

-          Very clear

-          Have a very clear visual picture of what you want

-          A "too general" goal is not a goal, e.g. "I want to be happy"

-          It make you excited when you think about achieving it

-          It is a good goal when you can at a certain point stop and say "I have achieved my goal"

2-     Positive

-          Towards something, now "away from" something

-          "I want to stop doing …" is not a good goal

-          "Goal" is something you get to, not "getting away" from, by definition

3-     Concrete

-          All the factors to achieve it are available and at you arm's reach, if not, you may want to set previous goals before that goal

4-     Immediate

-          If it is a good goal, you can start moving towards it right now

Long story short, a good goal is "An Achievement"

2-2-2 working with yourself: Most important task

"Not all the tasks are created equal. Some tasks are more equal than the others"

-          You have limited time and energy, so you better focus on the most important tasks to do

-          Get the most important tasks done as early as possible ... this strategy has a lot of benefits:

1-     That gives you permission to say "NO" to the other time-wasting things as they are less important than what you are doing now  

2-     It makes you focus as you will be so engaged and busy to get them done

3-     It will make you feel relaxed and productive at the end of the day, especially if you didn't do anything more for the rest of the day

So, prioritize your tasks when you get up early …. Get the most important stuff done  

2-2 working with yourself: Tip, The Urgent/Important Matrix

Urgent/Important Matrix

-          Box number One

-          House On Fire

-          Lots of stress and corticosteroids in your blood

-          Bad on the long run, exhausting and  indicator of bad organization

-          When tasks are here, know that they moved from box two to here because something is wrong!

-          When a lot of tasks are here … something is wrong … Fix it!

-          Box number Two 

-          The Real Schedule

-          Critical stuff

-          That's the only box where everything need to be

-          Sort from the most important to the least important then get yourself busy

-          Box number Three

-          Distractions

-          The most deceiving son-of-a-bitch box

-          That's where your day disappear and you don't know why

-          Most of tasks in BOX.1 should be here, you just get deceived by the urgency and put them there instead of here

-          Once you discover one, get rid of it immediately … that would be hard on you at first, but you will get used to it and you WILL thank me later

-          Box number Four

-          Don't Do It

-          The most stupid things are here

-          One you read this, you have no excuse of keeping this box there