Does Your To-Do List Reflect Your Big Goals?

I'm going to share something with you today that I really wish I had learned sooner.

Your to-do list is a direct reflection of the quality of your goal setting (for better or for worse).

In other words, your to-do list trickles down from your goals.

So, if your goals are clear and the steps to get there are clear, what you need to focus on today to reach them is clear.

But, if your goals are not clear or how you plan to reach them isn't clear...

Then your to-do list will be a hodgepodge of things that are likely goal-related or goal-adjacent but not goal-focused.

Here's the problem with that:

If I am not clear on the most impactful steps I can take in my business at any given time, it is much easier for me to get distracted, procrastinate or work on things that are peripheral to my goals.

And this is the sneaky bit:

When we work on things that are peripheral to our goals, they FEEL productive but don't help us get any closer to our actual goals.

Let me give you some examples:

Example #1

Your goal is to increase revenue in your business.

A key project on your plate is to work on your client onboarding so that when you bring someone on board, it's nice and smooth.

Feels productive.

I love a client onboarding system.

Has nothing to do with increasing revenue.

Example #2

Your goal is to be more visible and get more eyes on your work.

A key project on your plate is a rebrand and to update your website.

Feels productive.

Branding is important.

Has nothing to do with directly increasing traffic.

If your goals are increasing revenue and increasing traffic, it would be very easy to get to work on your client onboarding and updating your website.

These projects are worthwhile and good assets for your business.

But are they the most direct thing to work on if your top goals are revenue and traffic?

And if you spend time on them instead of something more closely tied to achieving your top goals, what is the opportunity cost?

If your goal is to make a cake, cleaning the kitchen and reorganizing the pantry are worthwhile pursuits, but they won't yield a cake.

It's incredibly easy to fill an entire year with goal-adjacent projects that aren't directly related to the thing you actually want for yourself and your business.

So, the quality of our goal setting determines what ends up on our to-do list...

... and what ends up on our to-do list determines how closely our day-to-day actions align with our goals and dreams.

Which determines how quickly we reach our goals.

That's why when I teach people how to use Asana, I don't just teach how the platform works and what features it has...

I teach how to use it to get clear and focused on what actions will truly move the needle on those big goals and dreams.

So, a question that might help if you're wondering how to get clearer on your action plan:

If I knew I couldn't fail, what is the most direct line between me and [insert big goal for this year]?

Amy x

PS. If this resonated, you would LOVE my self-study course Scattered To Streamlined, check it out.