Everyone has a system to sell to you, push to you, trick you into, or get you addicted to. The internet is thick with this snake oil. If I had a dollar for each time that a slick-haired personal guru pitched a system of organization, system for blogging, system for learning, or system for being a millionaire on the “interwebs” then I myself might be a millionaire. I use five methods, and offer you five tips, that come from five different techniques that I will dub my five career essential tips (career means anything that you dub a career, not just the corporate world, these tips apply to everything).

     The lifespan of a goal has creation, value placement, recognition, time allotment, and completion (or the action of completing it). I use the best of five systems to cover each of these.

I. Creation of a goal

     GTD or Getting Things Done is a method of productivity by David Allen. The method addressed in GTD that I utilize is the “put it all down in a logical place” method. Under the GTD method, you take everything in your life and write it all down, get it out of your head, and sync it down to paper.

     Once you have it all synced to paper, then you can see what is in need of completion. This could be “email client x” or “or call the people that can fix the garage door, “or “make the greatest web application in the history of the world.” Whatever it is put it down on this list.

     Immediately, before leaving this piece of paper or whatever organization system you have been using, write a “next action item” next to the task you are starting first. So if your task was “make awesome web-app on local deals” then next to that task write “find Groupon case studies on CaseStudies.com” or something along those lines. Put this task into a reliable system. This can be Outlook, Toodledo, Producteev,  Evernote, OneNote, or wherever you want ( as long as you trust the system).

II. Value Placement of Goals

     You might have 10 or 20 important goals or tasks that you need to complete. So the answer becomes which one to tackle first. In the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by the great Stephen Covey, a method of value placement is created. This system looks like a box with four distinct squares:

     The idea is that as you write out and try to decide which tasks are the most important you must look at what box to put them in. If they move your life forward and progress you forward through long term success then place the item in the top-left box. If they are important but also urgent for now (a phone call is this urgent thing I am talking about), then they go into the top-right box. If they are an immediate “put out the fire” type of action (like responding to an email that keeps the ball moving but isn’t important in and of itself) then it goes into the bottom-left box. Basically nothing should go into the bottom-right box.

    Once you have your tasks/goals, then put them through this filter and go after the important/not urgent ones first. These tasks are the ones that give the most long-term rewards.

III. Recognition

    This is simple. Put the goal or task in a place where you will see it. In fact, you should write it down or revisit it multiple times per day. I go by the Brian Tracy technique of putting the briefcase by the door so you can’t lose it. With this technique you setup schedules times for yourself on the calendar to look at your goals so as your day progresses, you have not point but to stop and look at what you have to achieve now, tomorrow, next week, and next year.

    I use my phone and a Moleskin (mole-uh-skeen-uh) notepad for all of my note taking, goal tracking, and dream making. You can use any system that you want, just revisit this system daily, hourly, often, keep on track, and keep on working.

IV. Time Allotment

     You know what we all do once we start making goals? We make too many goals, don’t complete them, and then we are stuck failing. To battle this pending failure I like to take the Agile Results method by J.D. Meier (from the Microsoft Patterns and Practices team). This system says to have a Monday vision where three goals are set out for the week. Next, a daily vision is created to complete only three things that day that are super important. Next, the Friday reflection is a time to step back and look at what has been accomplished during the week and adjust any goals going into the next week.

      Basically, it isn’t about allocating time per se. It is about recognizing that only so many important things can be done and to be realistic about it. Don’t put more pressure on yourself than what is possible.

V. Completion

      POMODORO. There is nothing, and I mean NOTHING more promising for rock-hard focus and concentration like the Pomodoro Technique. I wrote a post on this recently, and I will tell you that I have been rocking this method for some time and can completely vouch for how well it works at just getting work done, increasing focus, and increasing momentum (about three pomodoros in a row and just about anything can be done – or completely planned out *GTD*).