Ever feel like you’re caught up in doing, but not sure if you’re doing what you should be doing? It’s scary to think we could be throwing all our time and energy into climbing a ladder, only to find at the top it’s been leaning on the wrong wall.

In Getting Your Life On Track Part 1, we discovered a powerful way to find out if the things we spend our time on are really that urgent and important.

Now, here’s another powerful method from Stephen Covey’s First Things First to get your life on track.

What Are Your Roles?

We all play several roles in our lives. I could be a brother, employee, writer, martial artist, coach, friend, lover, artist, son, depending on where I am, what I’m doing and whom I’m with.

What are the roles current in your life?

List them out. Now, looking at each role, ask yourself; what’s the most important thing you could be doing for this role?

And are you doing it?

Set Your Goals

Looking at your roles, pare them down to a manageable 4 to 7 if you have more, for the next 7 days ahead. Looking at each role, ask yourself what the most important thing you could do for the week ahead is.

Break that goal down into actionable steps. Steps simple enough that you can take, and schedule them into the week ahead so they become real.

This will get you to shift from Q3 and Q4 into the Q2 activities that matter, and overcome the tyranny of the faux urgent to do what’s truly important for you.

Doing these simple steps will also get you feeling more relaxed and at flow. But if you still feel stressed from the daily grind, in my next post I outline a way for you to unload your anxiety.

Getting Your Life On Track Series

Getting Your Life On Track Part 1
Getting Your Life On Track Part 2
Getting Your Life On Track Part 3
Getting Your Life On Track Part 4