BPO: Prioritizing and Accountability

I belong to a group called the Business Professionals Organization for University of Arizona Alumni (aka "BPO"). Here's a link to their/our blog. The group meets every other Tuesday, and what's special about their meetings is that they do a professional development exercise that's facilitated by a professional, and an attendee can start improving their life right away.

As I start posting more of these exercises, you can search for keywords “BPO” or “professional development.”

I'm blessed to be on this facilitator rotation, and that means I get to share my exercises with you. I've done several for the group, (I can't share the other facilitator's exercises, but you should still see what Jennifer Furrier and Jenn Kaye do, because they do great work.)

You're welcome to share these exercises with others. I just ask that you credit my blog or website. Greatly appreciated!

This week's exercise was pretty basic, but very key for most of us in our lives. If you've ever gotten to a point in your afternoon where you realize that you've spent all morning working on tasks that aren't toward your greater goal or larger purpose, then you could apply this technique today. If you don't take the five minutes to do this, you can end up wasting days of things of little value. You will need 3 notecards, a pen, and a friend who would like to help you reach your goal.

1. Identify a goal that you're looking to accomplish within the next 1-6 months (or longer term, if you have it).
2. Identify 3 tasks that you're currently delaying on that would thrust you forward huge steps toward your long-term goal.
   The tasks could just be making that phone call to a potential partner or sending that email to set up coffee with someone or writing 2 paragraphs of the article you need to write. They don't have to be large tasks - they just have to be significant ones. They should be tasks that will have real value to you and your goal when you've completed them.
3. Write one task on each of the notecards.
4. Choose one of the tasks you want to work on this week. Find a visible place to post this week's notecard.
5. Tell your friend about your long-term goal and what you'd like them to do that would keep you accountable: By email? By phone? In-person? And when you'd like them to do it: Each day for the next 3 days? In a week?
   If you're sensitive about how someone asks about your goal, it's entirely understandable - especially, if it's a goal that you care about. Do your friend a favor and specify EXACTLY what you'd like them to say to you as a reminder. If necessary, provide your friend with the script you want to them to use that would encourage you and keep you on track.

I'd love to hear comments on how this exercise worked for you!