Everything we read about being a successful person tells us to set goals for ourselves and work towards those goals. So we set some goals and many days go by. We find that we rarely have the time to focus on those goals. Life keeps getting in the way. There are just too many other things that need to get done.



In order to fulfill your goals, you really need to take a look at what tasks you are doing on a daily basis. It's important to develop good work habits that ensure the hours you are working are efficient and include tasks that are going to help you meet your goals. If a particular task isn't helping you toward your goal, maybe it's something you don't need to do or could do later.

I once heard an analogy that I'd like to share with you regarding tasks and their importance. Imagine you have a large glass jar. You also have a pile of rocks, a pile of pebbles and a pile of sand.

The pile of rocks represents your most important tasks. They are directly related to your current goals and need to be accomplished for you to meet your goals.

The pile of pebbles represents less important tasks. These tasks may be related to your goals, but could wait to be accomplished, or maybe they aren't going to bring in as much money or satisfaction as a "rock."

The sand stands for all the mundane tasks that fill our days, but don't seem to be related to our goals at all. These are the tasks that we feel need to be done to get through life, but they keep getting in the way of our goals. These tasks could be paying bills, making dinner, checking email, carpooling kids.

Imagine filling your jar with the pile of sand. If the jar is full of sand, how many rocks and pebbles can you squeeze into the jar? The answer is none. The jar is too full of sand. The same is true if you fill your days with the tasks that are not important to your main goals. If you start your day by filling it with "sand", you will never have time for the important tasks.

Now imagine filling the jar with the rocks. Can you fit in a few pebbles on top? How much sand will fit in the jar? If you can picture the rocks in the jar, you will notice that there is plenty of room around all the rocks for some of the pebbles to fit. There's room to pour some sand on top. Now shake the jar. Some of the sand will fill in around the rocks to get even more sand to fit inside.

The point here is that if you START with tasks that are directly related to your goals, you will find yourself getting closer to your goal. You can work on the less important or smaller tasks during small breaks throughout the day, at the end of the day after completing the more important tasks, or possibly even delegating them to someone else to fit into their jar.