I found myself this week in the same place I often find myself - standing at my giant whiteboard, a full spectrum of dry erase markers in hand, ready to plan out the week - when I realized a mistake I had slipped into.
I had written “Goals”, and used that section to list what items I wanted to accomplish.
“Wait,” I thought, “those aren’t my goals. Those are my tasks!” I quickly changed the verbiage and it hit me - THAT is why I have been feeling overwhelmed. I lost sight of my goals, and became buried in a task list.
Before I could put one more marker to the board, I had to shift my mindset. Tasks are completely pointless if they are not moving you toward your goals. It is the never-ending, aimless task list that throws so many people into burnout.
So here is the question I returned to. As soon as I asked it, the weight lifted off my shoulders and I could move forward with planning with purpose.
What impact do I want to make in this area?
My goal is always to make an impact, but I was getting lost in the land of checklists.
For example, I do social media marketing for the Springfield Symphony Orchestra. My “goal” is not to schedule five posts this week—those are the tasks. The impact I want to make is increasing ticket sales for the next concert. The tasks that feed the goal of increased ticket sales are developing social media posts that will excite people about the concert and move them to buy tickets.
Suddenly, my tasks felt less like chores and more like purposeful steps.
This reminded me of the parable of the bricklayer…
It is told that a traveler once came upon three bricklayers. He asked each one what they were doing. The first said he was laying bricks, the second said he was building a wall, and the third said he was building a cathedral. They were all doing the same job, but one could only see the task at hand, one the job he was assigned, and finally the last one could see the purpose for his work.
That’s my advice to you this month, my friends. Evaluate your time in terms of where you’re trying to make impact, and schedule your tasks accordingly.
After you’ve done that, let me know if this helped you!