How to Decide Which Goal to Do First
“I have so many projects to do and they all seem important but how do you figure out which one to focus/work on first instead of working on little bits of each one?”
Do you know how many people have absolutely no idea what they want to pursue? And here you are with ideas brimming over the edge of your brain so quickly that you can hardly keep up! That’s a blessing, okay?
Maybe you’re multi-passionate and have a million different ideas that have nothing to do with each other or maybe you’re working on creating a really impactful brand or business and you have a ton of ideas that all point back to that one big umbrella goal. Either way, the reality is, there is only one of you, so we’ve gotta be strategic in how we go about this.
Before we chat strategy, though, I want to encourage you with one more thing that hopefully gives you a sense of freedom and eases some fear or anxiousness surrounding deciding which thing to pursue first: you can’t choose wrong because you always have the option and ability to shift if something isn’t working for you or isn’t quite aligning with your current season. You’re in the driver’s seat of your life so don’t ever feel like you’re stuck. If you try something and it feels off or clunky, you haven’t failed. You can pivot.
So for this blog post, let’s break it up into 3 parts:
01. Why it’s ~ usually ~ better to work on one thing at a time
02. When it’s okay to work on multiple things simultaneously
03. How to decide which goal to work on right now (the main event, if you will)
01. Why it’s usually better to work on one thing at a time
You’re probably not shocked when you hear me say that I’m not a major fan of multitasking, especially when it comes to big tasks and projects. To me, when you multitask with bigger tasks and projects, it’s usually a big waste of energy. It’s like the opposite of work smarter not harder. When you give one big task or project your undivided attention, you’re able to make faster and better quality progress because you’re not spreading yourself so thin mentally. I’ve used this example before but it really does paint the perfect picture of what I’m trying to get across here:
Imagine you have 5 cups to fill with water sitting by your sink. The way that makes the most sense is to grab one, fill it up, put it back down once it’s full, grab the next one in line, fill it up all the way, put it back down, etc. It wouldn’t make sense to grab the first cup, fill it up ¼ of the way, put it down, grab the 4th cup in line and fill it halfway then put it back down, then grab the second cup and fill it up ¾ of the way, set it down then go back to the first cup. etc. If you try to do it that way, you have to use more mental energy because you have to pay attention to which cups you’ve already filled with what, and you have to be mindful of not knocking a semi-filled cup over when you’re reaching around for one of the other cups, and plus it’s just a sloppier way of doing it. We’re all about operating from a place of excellence around here.
If you’ve been around the Hustle Sanely community for a while then you might remember back in 2019 when I was doing ALL THE THINGS at once. Hustle Sanely was brand new and I was so stoked about everything and I thought it was a good idea to do everything at once. I started a digital planner shop, started designing our first paper planner, started a merch shop, offered 1:1 coaching, offered group coaching, and started creating courses – it was a very wild time. I was making small progress in all of these areas but I was SO BURNED OUT and it just wasn’t worth it.
Now I have a yearly outline of projects that I pursue in business and not only am I mentally healthier because of working on one thing at a time, but I’ve seen more sustainability and growth in the business this way, too. HOWEVER, and this leads us into part 2 that I mentioned earlier, I do think there are certain circumstances when it’s okay to work on multiple goals simultaneously so let’s talk about that.
02. When it’s okay to work on multiple things simultaneously
Sometimes, certain goals or tasks require a waiting period so it can make sense to work on something else in between. Example: Creating the paper product line is a VERY long project. It takes a good 6 months of the year but a lot of the time involves “hurry up and wait” moments. So like once I submit my designs to my designer, I have to wait like a month for her to send me the first draft. Then when we submit the samples, we have to wait a few weeks to get them in the mail.I know my capacity and so I’m able to weave other, smaller projects in between the “waiting” periods of creating the paper product line. I’d caution you against filling your plate up TOO much – you know what it feels like to be spread too thin – don’t let yourself get to that point. Another time that I can see it being okay to work on multiple goals or tasks simultaneously is if they all relate to each other, big picture.
So let’s say right now one of your goals is to focus on creating fitness and health routines that support you. It makes sense to work on fitness and nutrition goals at the same time because they work together to point toward the bigger picture of creating a healthy lifestyle that supports you.
See what I mean? You’re smart. You know when you’re trying to do too much at one time. Trust yourself and trust that you don’t need to work on 100 things at once from a place of fear or lack or doubt. You don’t have to compete against anyone. You don’t have to hurry up and do something because it’s going to disappear if you don’t.
Take your time.
Do things well.
Honor your mental health and the important relationships in your life while you work on one important goal at a time.
03. How to decide which goal to work on right now (the main event, if you will)
We’ve made it to the main event - the reason you’re probably here: How to actually decide which goal to work on right now. I have an exercise that I teach in detail in my Dream It. Do It. Workshop called the Dream Dump & Evaluation and that is gonna be your golden ticket for auditing your goals/projects so you can strategically decide which one makes the most sense for you to work on first.
Step 1 is to get all of your goals out of your mind and onto paper. Like literally do a brain dump of all of the things you’re wanting to work on. Then, I have a series of questions for you to ask about each one you wrote down. There’s a pretty little chart in the workbook that comes in the Dream It. Do It. Workshop but for the sake of this blog post, we will do a condensed version:
So for each goal or task or project that you wrote down that is currently competing for your attention, I want you to ask the following questions:
- Does this goal align with my values/vision?
- Do I have the time and energy to pursue this goal right now?
- Am I willing to prioritize this goal in my current season of life? (aka give it the time and energy it requires?)
- Am I financially prepared to invest in this goal right now?
- Does this goal make sense for this time of year?
Once you’ve answered this series of questions for each of your potential goals, tally up which one has the most “yesses” and that goal is probably the one that makes the most sense for you to pursue first.
And I know someone is gonna ask, what if there are 2+ goals with a tied yes score? Do the tie-breaker question: What is my level of excitement about pursuing this goal on a 1-5 scale, 5 being the most excited?
If there’s a tie, choose the one you’re most excited about because that’s important, too!
You know (at least I hope) that we are all about concrete examples here so in this week’s podcast episode, I work through this list of questions with 3 hypothetical goals.
The cool thing about pursuing goals is that we get to do it for as long as we’re on this planet. Sometimes I think we get wrapped up in thinking that we have to have all of our dreams and goals accomplished “by the time we’re 30” or whatever that number is for you, but I’m here to tell you right now that’s BS and I don’t buy it. I would much rather peacefully pursue my many goals over time and actually enjoy the process of each one and then get to enjoy the fruits of my labor for each one than try to do all the things at once, crash and burn, and then not end up completing or enjoying any of them.
If you feel stuck trying to figure out your dream, check out the The Dream It. Do It. Workshop that helps you get clear on your next dream to pursue and create a plan to go after it.
If you enjoyed this blog post, tune into Episode 134 of The Hustle Sanely Podcast to dive deeper into this topic:
