Dear Zuess,

I’ve been reading your recent blogs on essentialism and I get it, but even when I focus only on what is essential to my life, I don’t have enough time to get it all done. I am still frantically busy and frustrated with the number of things on my to do list that don’t get done. Between my family, my community commitments, and my real estate business there are just so many competing priorities.

How can I get the focus I need to be excellent at Real Estate?

Sally

 

Dear Sally,

Essentialism is different than prioritization. Much has been written and taught about prioritization and yet, the word priority was singular until the later 1900’s when we pluralized it and sent our lives into chaos. In fact, the word prioritize didn’t exist until the 1974 US presidential elections.

Essentialism is not about getting more done in less time. It’s about making deliberate decisions to focus on what truly matters. Ask yourself, “Am I investing in the right activities?” There will always be thousands of activities and opportunities vying for our time and attention, but if we do not reduce those to the vital few, we will continue to be a whirling dervish of ineffectiveness.

Doing the laundry or responding to comments on your blog will often seem more appealing than making a difficult phone call to a challenging prospect, but if providing for your family is an essential, then make the deliberate decision to do the vital work.

Non-vital work has a way of disguising itself as vital. And vital work has a way of making itself non urgent. Of course, these are our own head games and by establishing what is truly essential to you, you can eliminate this ongoing internal negotiation and get on with creating the business and the life that you deserve.

Sincerely,

Zuess