This month’s theme is supposed to be about strategy but it’s already the end of the month! Where did the time go? I know for me it was sucked into the hole of my inbox after coming back from leave… catching up on what happened while I was away, extracting the to-do list from the flood of emails, meeting with team members to get on the same page. Isn’t it always like that? Constantly feeling like there are 10 things to do but time only for 5!

Now and then, probably not as often as I should, I stop and take a look at the to-do list. The question I ask is: should this be on my list at all? And I don’t mean, should I delegate this to someone, I mean… is this task going to benefit me in the long run, what is the purpose of the task, does it get me anywhere?

Some tasks are just ‘have to’, like paying the bills, but most of what we spend our precious time on should be towards the achievement of something that we want. The beginning of the year is always a good time to reassess what our goals or objectives are for the new year, and then plan our approach or our strategy to achieve them. Then the tasks we tackle should be in line with our plan, they should help us move closer to our goals, and they should have purpose.

Every year, at least twice a year, we set aside time to review our objectives and refine our plan. This time is sacred, out of the office, without distractions. In the busyness of life, it can feel like there is never enough time, but you can’t wait for a clear to-do list, or a quieter day. You have to ring-fence the time NOW, so that you don’t waste more of it doing things that didn’t need to be done!

Please comment if you’ve done your planning for the year already. Or let us know what you struggle with the most when it comes to strategy, planning, and prioritizing.