EVERYONE IS BUSY

It's true... everyone is busy, but how many times have you gotten to the end of the day, and realised that you haven’t made any real progress toward the things that are most important?

Productivity is no longer a function of how long we spend doing anything. It's not about how long you sit at your desk or how much time you're spending with your family and friends. It’s about paying attention to the right things, at the right time, while shutting out distractions.

And this is where our MIT’s become crucial.

MIT’s are your Most Important Things. It seems simple, but when we ask people what is most important, they struggle to find an answer. They can name twenty important things, but they can’t seem to narrow it down. The result is that they get pulled in too many directions and don’t make real progress.

But when we are clear on our MIT’s, it makes it possible to be more disciplined about the things we choose to do throughout the day. 

There is a clear area for your MIT's in our Focus Planner, making it a great productivity planner for all aspects of your life. This planner diary (or planner journal) makes it easy to keep connecting to your MIT's daily. 

"It seems simple, but when we ask people what is most important, they struggle to find an answer. They can name twenty important things, but they can’t seem to narrow it down. The result is that they get pulled in too many directions and don’t make real progress"

YOUR TIME AND ATTENTION

Here is a quick audit:

Think quickly about what is most important to you. Maybe write down your top three things: you might say health, family, friends, happiness... it really doesn't matter, just write them down. 

Once you’ve done that, think about the things that get the majority of your focus and effort.

Now, if you’re like most people then there is a disconnect between these two things. You probably find that you spend relatively little time and effort on the things that should be most important. It probably turns out that you put 'work' further down your list and yet this is the thing that takes up your time effort and energy. 

I know you spend more time at work than you would like, but I didn't ask you what gets most of your time, I asked what gets the most focus and effort. And this happens for a few good reasons, but for most people, it happens because we are not truly clear on what those Most Important Things are. Without a clear idea of what we are saying 'yes' to, it becomes hard to say 'no' to other things. 

The Focus Planner is a performance planner that is going to help you fix that.

MIT's IN THE CRITICAL AREAS

In the Focus Planner, we look at some Critical Areas for our MIT’s: Work, Home and Relationships and Self. If you haven’t done it yet, check out the Video and Article on these Critical Areas.

Each Critical Area affects the others in a very real way, and if we want to perform at our best in one Area, we need to try to maximize performance in the other Areas as well.

BUILDING GREAT MIT's

Read this carefully: You need to do this if you want any chance of making real progress in these Critical Areas.

What are the Most Important Things for you at this point in time?

You can only pick two MIT’s in each Critical Area, because if you focus on more than this, you don’t get things done. And being most productive is sometimes more about what you choose not to do rather than what you choose to do.

What are the most important things you need to focus on right now at work? It’s a hard thing to do, but you need to whittle away all the day-to-day activities until you get to the one or two things that are most important. Maybe it’s to increase sales or to build staff engagement. It will be different for everybody.

What about home and relationships? What’s your MIT there? To be an outstanding father, mother, husband or friend? I know it sounds a bit silly, but don’t let that hold you back - go ahead put something big out there. Remember, you need to know where you want to go in order to choose the behaviours that will get you there.

And then the Area of Self – what do you need to do to make sure that your physical, mental and emotional health is on track?

Again, there is a specific section in our Focus Planner - or any good performance planner - for these three areas of balance.

"Without a clear idea of what we are saying 'yes' to, it becomes hard to say 'no' to other things"

FOUR COMPONENTS OF GOOD MIT's

It’s really important that your MIT’s have four components:

Firstly, they are outcomes - MIT's are something you want to achieve, not a task you need to perform. 'Make more sales calls' is not an MIT, but 'Increase sales' is a great MIT.

Secondly, they are aspirational - they are a stretch and reflect something you haven't yet achieved

Next, they have an action word - like increase or maximise or create

And most of all, they are high impact. They are the things that will make the biggest difference to your life over the next 12 months or so.

Once you’re done, here are some key things to think about:

• What would be the impact of spending more time on these MIT’s?
• What is stopping you from getting these MIT’s done? What things are getting in the way and where are you spending your time instead?
• What are you going to do less of, in order to spend more time doing these Most Important Things?

The Focus Planner is a performance planner or performance journal that can help you stay more focussed, balanced and productive. It is the only full Focus Planner in Australia.