Using Roles to Make a Plan

Once you have established the roles that you have in your life you can use them to establish a monthly and weekly plan that will guide you to achieve the items that you put the most value on. At the beginning of each month, and on Monday mornings is sit down with my list of roles and walk through this process:

1. I review the list of ROLES and make sure that they are all still current and viable. I add or subtract roles based on the month or week.
2. I then go through each role and determine the key items that need to be done for each of these roles. As I do this I write down the key tasks that need to be done for each of these roles.
3. Not all roles are equal - achieving balance does not mean that each role has the same number of tasks that need to be completed. Some roles my have 7 key things that need to be done, and roles may even have only 2 or 3. (I sometimes maintain a role with 0 tasks for a particular week)
4. Make sure that you do not ignore roles that are important in your life, but do not "seem" urgent. One of the roles that I have on my planning list is "husband". I always try to think of one or two things that I could do for my bride that will let her know that she is important to me.
5. Place your list somewhere where you will look at it daily.

This does not need to take a lot of time. When you are first starting a process like this it may take you 30 -40 minutes. As you practice over time the time will decrease. I challenge you that if you take this time here, you will save hours throughout the week by eliminating distractions that come in day to day life.

I have been taking these steps every month and most weeks for the last 19 years. I can complete this process in about 15 minutes a week. I will be amazed at the volume of work I get done by Tuesday night, just because I sit down on Monday morning and identify the key priorities of the week.

On the next posting we will look at moving these items from your weekly plan, and getting them into your daily schedule.