I tested Michael Hyatt’s Full Focus Planner system and learned about the Daily Big Three. This is a concept that helps us prioritize three daily high-leverage tasks that will move the needle toward your goals. These would be things that even if you were not able to accomplish all three, you would still feel accomplished.
If you’re like me, you can probably come up with many more than three things you’d like to accomplish in a day. It could include business, personal and home tasks. Let’s face it, the quadrants of our lives overlap. Determining what is the most important to accomplish is your first step. If everything is a priority, then in reality, nothing is a priority. Focus is more productive than hustle.
How to Choose Your Daily Big Three
Good question! Ideally, you have a Wellness Vision that paints a picture of how you want to live your life. From this point, you have broken down your big goals into smaller goals and tasks. From there, your daily big three would be aligned with your overall goals and your daily tasks would move the needle in that direction.
Limiting your priorities actually increases your productivity and forces us to evaluate what matters most.
Establishing your daily big three can be done the evening prior so when you wake up, you have a clear plan of what you will focus on. This method works in an office/work environment, home, entrepreneurial venture, etc. It’s important to include all areas of your life and ask yourself, what’s important for me to accomplish today? What will give me peace of mind? What will help me make progress toward a goal?
What This Looks Like in Real Life
I’m going to give you an example from my planner. Today’s big 3 were (1) strength train; (2) write my weekly blog post; and (3) edit at least one chapter of my book.
All of these will move the needle in my personal life and Inspired Wellness. I could get distracted but when I look at my planner, I’m brought back to what I pre-determined is most important for the day. Today, all went smoothly but all days are not that way. Unexpected things can pop up and priorities can change so we must remain flexible and keep the spirit of spending time doing what matters most. There’s always another day. We strive for progress, not perfection.
Health Benefits of Setting Priorities
- The process of prioritizing promotes better time management that lends itself to reduced stress. Yay!
- Planning ahead helps us be more efficient and find time to add in movement, meal prep and other self-care tasks.
- Your big 3 can include anything you want to accomplish no matter how small. I’ve included a phone call I want to make and other small tasks.
- Prioritizing helps ensure that urgent tasks don’t crowd out important ones.
Call to Action
Invest in a planner or an app of choice and consider what is most important for you to accomplish each day. I think you’ll find the structure of this helps to use your time wisely. I know it does for me, plus it removes a mental load when I pre plan each day.
In love and health,
Terri
