How to be more intentional,

think more clearly,

do more consistently,

and have what really matters.

Dick Biggs

Plans vs. Priorities

A plan "always implies mental formulation." It`s passive. A priority is "something meriting attention before competing alternatives." It`s active.

Prioritization, the ranking of your goals in the order of importance, is the catalyst that sparks daily results. That`s why priorities form the tip of the MPFC (discussed in the January 1999 issue). This filtering system allows you to act daily on the most important things in your profession and personal life.

Check off priorities as you achieve them. At night, transfer any remaining priorities and add new ones to the next day of your calendar. Chip away until a priority is completed, or decide that it`s no longer important and delete it.

The following is a "5Ds" system for prioritizing your goals:

Y Determine the importance. Make sure it`s really a priority or you can be busy and unproductive. Develop the habit of listing goals you must do today in the order of importance, then do your best to prevent anything else from interfering.

Y Deadline it. Just like goal-setting, you need a timeline to create a sense of urgency. Without deadlines, procrastination (not starting) and perfectionism (never finishing) can waste valuable time.

Y Decide on a plan of implementation. Planning can save time, but it can be a deadly time-waster as well. Don`t spend so much time on an action plan that you catch the disease of "paralysis from analysis."

Y Delegate if possible. Speaker Patricia Fripp puts it this way: "There`s no point doing well that which you shouldn`t be doing at all. "When feasible, assign others with different skills to do what "you shouldn`t be doing at all." Try doing more of what you love to do and less of what you dislike doing.

Y Do it! Dreaming, learning, planning and talking isn`t enough. Eventually, action must be taken if success is to be realized.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson advised: "Do the thing and you shall have the power."

Dick Biggs is president of Biggs Optimal Living Dynamics. An inspirational speaker, he is the author of If Life is a Balancing Act, Why Am I So Darn Clumsy? For more information about Mr. Biggs, call (770) 886-3035. His Web site is biggspeaks@mindspring. com.