Take Three Steps Toward Realizing Your Potential

As a business writer and speaker on time management and productivity, I am constantly encouraging my readers to ask themselves what I call "big life questions," like:
* What was your life like yesterday?
* How did you feel when you woke up this morning?
* Do you have a deep understanding of your purpose in life?
* What drives you?
* Who will you be 90 days from now?
* Why are you willing to work so hard?
* Are you happy?

Then, as a thought exercise, I asked myself one question:
* How can the books and articles I write help my readers practically, tactically, and strategically reach their full potential in life?

This month I will offer three ideas to help you reach your full potential by prioritizing, organizing, and simplifying your daily work habits.

Prioritize
The prioritize, organize, and simplify process begins with prioritizing your most important values. You must clarify and frame your foundational values. These values are what you believe to be true in life. And while people value different things in life, we see many common themes: Love, faith, family, health, meaningful work, making a difference, leaving a legacy, laughter, integrity, serving, community, growth, and freedom are often felt at the very core of our being.

These values act as inexhaustible fuel for our souls. When tired, when stressed, when our work is hard--we need to be reminded of the WHY in life. We are often willing to persevere because of what we believe to be true. Our priorities help us develop a proper mindset, and when we have created this new mindset we can then develop the crucial skill sets to achieve our full potential. Unfortunately, we are so busy we find it difficult to remain aware of these unshakeable values.

Practical Step One:
Take out a sheet of paper and create a list of everything you value in life. Then, list your top 10 values in order of importance. Finally, let this list percolate in your mind and ask if your time and your actions are in alignment with what you have stated to be most important in your life.

Tactical Time-Management Tip One:
Review your calendar. Look at how you spent your time last week and how you are scheduled to spend your time this week. Are there adjustments you can make to find time to focus on your values? If you want to regain your sense of drive and motivation, it can usually be found by renewing your awareness of what you love most in life and spending time to create more balance in your life.

Organize
Business executives across the country are well aware that disorganization, distraction and constant interruption are huge productivity problems. Disorganization stands as a barrier to success. Clutter, procrastination, unfinished projects, poorly organized workflow, and an outright overflow of paper are some of the common problems that financial advisors share. Creating a clean, organized work space is the point of physically organizing your surroundings.