As the Douglasses say, "When you don't know where you're going, you'll probably wind up somewhere else." (Manage Your Time, Manage Your Work, Manage Yourself, p. 79) So it's wise to clarify where we want to go in life.
The following exercise is about determining and prioritizing goals and objectives in seven areas of life. You'll identify and record lifetime objectives in seven areas: family, social life, career/service, finances, health, leisure, and spiritual development.
Set up your environment so you won't be interrupted for half an hour, and get at least seven sheets of paper. At the top of each sheet write one of the following: family, social life, career/service, finances, health, leisure, and spiritual development.
"Now write down everything you can think of that you would like to accomplish in each area during your lifetime. . . . just write down your thoughts.Write quickly, but take as much time as you like."
"When you have listed everything you can think of, review all the items you have noted. Some of them are more important to you than others. Since you are after the best use of your time . . . you need to set priorities."
"As you read over the . . . lists of objectives you have prepared, rate them with an ABC system. Put an A beside those items that are very important to you. Put a B beside those that are moderately important, and put a C beside those that are not important at all. You now have a simple priority system. If you were to spend your personal time most effectively, you would concentrate on doing the A activities first [or foremost] and the B activities next, and you would forget about [or simply deemphasize] the C activities."
"You probably have several A items on each list. If you do, rank-order them. Go through each sheet and indicate them A-1, A-2, A-3, and so forth, until all your A activities are ranked."
"Now look to see what item you have ranked A-1 on each sheet. You might list all the A-1 items on a separate sheet of paper and then rank-order them relative to one another. In other words, the various aspects of your life are not equally important. Determine which ones are more important to you than others."
"Do any of your objectives conflict? Many people find, for example, that they are torn between family and career. It's hard to take your son to the ballgame when you could be earning a bonus if you devoted the day to work."
(The above material is from pp. 258-9 of Manage Your Time, Manage Your Work, Manage Yourself by Merrill E. Douglass and Donna N. Douglass (AMACOM, 1980).)
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