There’s a common productivity method where you first identify your long term goals, then plot our 1 – 3 main tasks each day that are aligned with your vision. I’ve read about this productivity concept from many experts, the ones that come to mind are Michael Hyatt, Brian Tracey, and Steven Covey just to name a few. Pretty popular concept and I think it’s unfair to attribute it to one person or book.

The power of three is a solid strategy for working towards building priority and making sure that, if anything, you’re spending a little time each day working on tasks that will help you reach your true mission.

We all get tied up with daily tasks that are important and the moment but maybe not necessary to our overall creative mission or personal achievement. This way, by having one to three daily goals that you have identified as important to you – as in your business, your health or your relationships – will keep you on pace to make your creative breakthough.

In order to select your daily important but not urgent tasks require a fairly rigid regimen of weekly planning, daily planning and more. Which is a great rhythm to get into and keep but due to various reasons we all sometimes stumble and fall off the bandwagon.

Goal setting is very important and should always be a priority but with the day-to-day of life, we sometimes fall off the wagon and don’t always plot out the coming months/weeks/days as rigid as we should.

Find your Guiding 3

At the beginning of 2019, I decided that while I have many important but not urgent tasks, there are three main priorities I have that I will need to work on each day for a minimum of 30 minutes. By doing so, I will be working on tasks that are in line with my long terms goals and it’s super simple because I don’t have to spend much brain power thinking about my most high impact tasks each day. Rather I simply look towards my guiding three and decide if the tasks that I’m working on right now are in line with my overall goals and mission.

I’ve decided that in 2019, I’m 100% focused on writing for 30 minutes a day, reading for 30 minutes a day and exercising for 30 minutes a day. Therefore, no matter what else comes down the pipe, I know that I need to spend 1 hour and 30 minutes doing what is most important to my personal and professional goals. I almost always have at least that much time each day to get a little done, especially if it’s all an invement into my future self.

Do your Guiding 3 when it best fits for you.

The key to staying on pace with my Guiding 3 is to slot them in when I have the most energy and space to make them happen. Most importantly, getting into a daily rhythm where feel natural. For example, I find that writing is best spent during the early part of my day, before 9 a.m. when I have the clearest and sharpest mind. Exercising falls into my lunch hour when I start to lose mental energy and need a break. Reading is best in the evening when I have drained my creative energy to produce but not ready for bed. This is enough time to consume something of value – such as a self-help book, business podcast or documentary or simply spending quality time with those I love.

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We all fall off our routines from time to time. Vacations, holidays, life change cause stress on our planning but with a guiding 3 you can use this concept to stay on task to your most important goals regardless of you weekly plan or not. That is why I recommend finding your true mission and aligning your creative goals with your daily 3 as much as possible.

Download the free Creative Year Ever! Workbook and use this exercise to find what is going to help you generate your best year yet.

Photo by Casey Horner on Unsplash