MOTIVATION FACTOR #4: Create a Master List

For previous factors, click on the following links:

MOTIVATION FACTOR #1: Buy A Notebook, Not A Planner.

MOTIVATION FACTOR #2: Set Yearly SMART Goals

MOTIVATION FACTOR #3: Divide Your Major Goals Into Mini-Goals

The fourth motivation factor is very simple.  It’s creating a master list, which means a list of practically everything you’re going to do.  I reserve the second subject of the 5 subject notebook for the “Master List.”  It’s a list of what you do daily, what you do weekly, what you do monthly, and quarterly, and every six months, and….well, you get the point.

The one thing I don’t recommend is hurrying the process up so that you forget something.  You’re putting down a lot of things….I even include sleeping, brushing my teeth – things that are part of my daily routine.  However, make it specific…if your goal is to sleep 8 hours a day, then write that instead of just “sleep”.  Another thing on the master list is to write in the planner every day.  You’re really writing down everything you’re going to be doing.

Think of your weekly engagements.  A simple goal for the week may be to work 40 hours, but you still write that.  It can be anything from attending church on Sundays to playing in that weekly Bingo game.

Think of things during the months.  If you know you’re going to be celebrating someone’s birthday in the next month, write that down.  The one thing that is important about the master list is that you want to make sure it’s updated thoroughly at all times, especially before a new month hits because the things that are going to go on your monthly list come from your master list.

You also want to include the goals that you set in Subject #1.  That includes the big, large goals and the mini-goals.  I also put down deadlines and anything else important that goes with it.  The monthly list is going to be based on whatever you have put on your master list.  The weekly list is going to be based on what you have on the monthly list and the daily list is going to be based on the weekly list, so you can see the importance of the master list.

So, in summary:

Subject #1:  Yearly Goals and Mini-goals.

Subject #2:  Master List

 

Next week, I’ll go more in depth about how the Master List and Monthly Goals work together.

MOTIVATION FACTOR #3: Divide Your Major Goals Into Mini-Goals

So now that you have a list of goals, written in the SMART format, what do you do?  It’s actually really simple as you take the first goal and work on that one.  For myself, I still use the first subject of a five-subject notebook and I skip a space in between the 10 yearly goals and the first goal I want to work on.

So after a skipped space, rewrite the first goal (either the first one in sequence or the first one in priority) and make sure you include the deadline.  Now you’re going to break that goal into mini-goals by brainstorming EVERYTHING you need to do to get the goal accomplished.  Don’t worry about what you have and don’t have, just write down all the things you need to do to get your goal moving to the end.  There’s really no set number, I just write until I can’t think of anything else.

Once you’re finished with that, you now have a major yearly goal written down with a list of mini-goals.  With that list of mini-goals, you’re going to do the same thing you did before and that’s put two numbers down afterwards, a sequence number and a priority number.  While this process may take a while (depending on how large of a goal you’ve set), I’ve also found it to be organized and motivational.

Now that you have that list finished, it’s time to get started on that first mini-goal.  Just like your major goals, this one should also be written with a deadline in mind.  And just like your major goals, it should be realistic.  Give yourself a few days to finish it if you have to…the idea is to make sure you don’t set an unrealistic time and then finding yourself overwhelmed when other goals begin crossing over at the same time.  It’s many cases it’s not life-ending if you don’t meet your deadline right away.  Just extend it and keep working at it.

Once you’ve finished that part, you can move on to the next mini-goal and work on that.  The idea is to just keep taking baby steps towards finishing the goal.  There will be barriers along the way, obstacles that you didn’t foresee and that’s OK because we can’t predict every fathom of life.  For myself, I take a deep breath and just move forward.  You can’t change anything in your past, so don’t dwell on a mistake or something that happened that stopped you in your tracks, just think of how you can get back to the task at hand.

As you start finishing your first major goal, you can then repeat the process with your second goal.  If able, you can start your second major goal while working on your first or you can wait and start and finish your first one.  If it starts to get overwhelming, go back to your earlier goal and complete that first because the last thing you want to do is start on something, put it aside and then forget about it.

Continue on until you finish all your goals that you’ve set.  Some of them may be pushed further down the road, some of them may be surprisingly started earlier.  No matter what, you’re now on your way to working on things that will help you feel happier and more accomplished in life.  Good luck as you move towards a more successful life!

Next week, I will go over the fourth motivation factor.