So how do you overcome the tyranny of the urgent and stay focused on what really matters most to you in business and in life?

Secret number 8 to making this year the best year EVER is to write down your ideal week.

At this point, you should have a pretty good idea of what your goals are and your high payoff activities are. You create your ideal week by first creating an ideal day. You could start with Monday and break it down by half hours or hours.

Create a schedule for yourself that will allow you to focus your most productive time of the day on your most important tasks.

Do this for every day of the week, and you will create your ideal week. Include as much detail as you can – when you are going to wake-up, eat, sleep, work, play, plan. Remember to be realistic.

Do not attempt to fit three hours of work into a thirty-minute time slot. Also, schedule some free time, schedule time to work on yourself and your most important relationships.

Do not leave anything up to chance; If you haven’t planned it, it is more than likely not going to happen. It will be defeated by the nature of humanity to be driven to distraction.

Once you have created your ideal week, you should identify your top time wasters and eliminate them.  

To help you stay focused on your goals program I recommend you go on a media fast. Turn off websites you can get information from and you probably won’t miss any of the bad news, the fear-mongering, and the sensationalism – most people will willingly share this information with you without you even asking!  

If you feel a need to stay connected, find one media source that you can check in with once daily or once weekly.

I also recommend turning off the notifications on your phone during focused working hours. You can schedule a time during the day to check them periodically, but often we waste so much time checking our phone’s notification after notification and we do not even realize it!

If one of your activities is not going to move you toward your goals, get rid of the activity forever and lead a happier, more meaningful life full of what really matters most.