Priorities, planning and getting things done

This article appeared on Gary North's site.  It's very good.  I thought I would pass it along.

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Your top three or four priorities should not change unless you have just re-thought your life's work. That happens once or twice in a life, but it does not happen often.

What are your top priorities? By "priorities," I mean those features of your life by which you define yourself and which you would like others to define you, especially after you die.

These do not change often. They are like a compass: true north.

Turbulence in life is common. Like turbulence on the ocean, don't let it deflect you from true north. The turbulence has relevance mainly for the swiftness of your journey, not your destination.

Smooth sailing is what we say we want. Yet, as has often been observed, human beings are foul-weather creatures. Adversity strengthens us. It gives us a sense of accomplishment when we overcome it.

One way we can deal with turbulence is with a schedule. We have a routine we stick to, day in and day out. This schedule respects our priorities. We devote some time every day to our top priorities. We don't let the turbulence deflect us 100% from our priorities because we have these priorities in our schedule.

Do you have such a schedule?

I have a weekly one: 10 hours spent on writing my economic commentary on the Bible. I have stuck to it ever since 1977. I may skip a day or two per week, but I apply those 10 hours. This has enabled me to write 20 volumes, plus half a dozen book-length appendixes. This has been my priority. My output reflects this.

Do you have something comparable? If not, you should.

The discipline of sticking to a schedule keeps a person from succumbing to the tyranny of the urgent.

If you do not set aside time each week to work on your priorities, you have no priorities. You will be tossed around like a ship on the water that has no compass. In stormy times, you will lose your way.

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