Time is money.  If you don’t make the best use of the time, you are much less likely to be successful.  If you feel that you are never “on top of” your business, where do you start? Here are two excellent places to focus..

Start Dealing With Priorities. Stephen Covey in his Seven Habits Series has indicated that our problem is not managing time, it is managing ourselves. We must first decide to deal with matters of importance to us in order to accomplish our mission in life. This means that we may have to stop dealing with urgent matters that may mean more to other actors in our life. Therefore, we must learn to say no when it is appropriate.

Take the time to analyze how much time you spent doing what in a particular week. Write it down. How much time did you spend accomplishing tasks that you consider essential to your success? The next time you make a list of items to accomplish the next day, prioritize them. Try to accomplish the list in accordance with your own priorities instead of acting on the wishes of others. Start one day at a time, moving in this direction for the entire week.

Identify your goals. Before you can prioritize, you must recognize what is important in your life. Spend some time determining what you would like to accomplish next year and in the long run. Goals should be personal and professional. They must be specific. If you would like to retire: When? Where? With how much income? It is hard to prioritize if you do not determine what is important to you. Most of us move through life without a clear definition of what is important and what is not.

We feel confident that if you take these two important steps, your purpose will be clearer and it will be easier to align your daily tasks with this purpose.