Setting Priorities With 5 Rules

Herding Cats & Chopping Trees

During a recent conversation with my wife I mentioned that it felt like I was herding cats when it came to organizing my myriad thoughts, ideas, and tasks. I found myself struggling each day to prioritize my to-do list which was slowly paralyzing me into inaction as it continued to grow longer with few items getting checked-off.

I finally decided last week that it was time to revisit the process of setting priorities before things get out of control.

As a longtime John Maxwell fan, I instinctively turned to the variety of resources I’ve collected from him over the years and landed on his Rule of 5 for setting daily habits leading towards success. This was exactly what I needed.

The Rule of 5

Simply put, John’s Rule of 5 states that if you do just 5 things everyday, consistently – then you will reach your defined goal of success.

As an analogy, John uses the act of going out everyday and swinging an ax at the base of a tree exactly 5 times a day. Every day. Just 5 times. 

How long it takes that tree to fall depends on the size of the tree, but eventually, it will fall.

With the Rule of 5, the process and principle is set, but defining the goal of success needs to be established by each individual.

Being an author, John has decided that the 5 things he needs to do every day to succeed are:

Read, Write, Think, Ask Questions, and File.

According to him, he’s been doing this ever since he received some sage advice from his father at the young age of 17. And John has in fact become a successful author, speaker, and leading authority in his field.

Defining My Success.

Maxwell’s insight was inpiring and provided me with a plan of direction. I’ve learned over time and through experience that the first step is almost always the most critical one when setting out to accomplish something new.

A rock solid foundation is always the most important part of any building.

With this in mind, I first had to narrow my focus from all the stuff floating and swirling around in my brain, down to the core set of goals I really wanted to accomplish. The 80/20 or Pareto Principle comes into play here, while also recalling that Stephen Covey encourages us to ‘begin with the end in mind’.

One of the things that made this exercise a little more challenging was that I wanted to come up with a Rule of 5 that would have a more lasting impact. Something that would endure with me till the end. I didn’t want to have to revisit this again, no matter what phase or season of life I was in.

Perhaps age and experience are finally beginning to pay some dividends for me, but I was surprised at how quickly I was able to definitively state what I believed to be success – and that felt really good.

Leif’s Rule of 5

Having successfully set a goal, it was now time to establish the path. Two questions immediately popped into my head: Exactly how big was this tree I wanted to chop down? And how heavy is this ax going to feel after a few swings everyday?

Again, I was surprised at the relative ease I experienced when compiling my list. Without much fanfare, this is what I came up with:

The alliteration helps me remember the list without having to look at it each day. But let me explain further what each action entails.

Breaking It Down

The Rule of 5 doesn’t ask: “What are the five things I would like to do.” That’s a question related to passion. Nor does it ask: “What are five things I should like to do? That sort of inquiry uncovers your values. Rather, the Rule of 5 asks: “What are the five things I MUST LIKE TO DO in order to be successful?” Posing this question cuts to the heart of the daily behaviors necessary to win in your chosen profession.

-John Maxwell

Before elaborating on my list, I need to make clear that the two absolutely required ingredients for this to work are intentionality and consistency. These are non-negotiable when it comes to establishing habits. You’ll notice below that I’ve called out where my challenge will be when it comes to these two items for each rule on the list. This is there in order to remind myself where the emphasis will need to be concentrated.

Read

I’m already an avid reader, but there are specific types of media that I want to consume because some are more valuable than others when it comes to having it fit into my defined goal.

The easiest thing in the world is to get lost in scrolling through the endless headlines on the screen in front of me, chasing links down endless rabbit holes and tunnels. Before long, it will suddenly hit me that precious time has now been wasted with nothing to show for. That’s time I won’t get back.

This has been a major source of frustration for me, so I am being harshly intentional with myself in this area. There is little room for compromise.

In order of importance I am focusing on reading the following:

• Scripture (daily quiet time)
• Headlines (scanning with time limits)
• Articles
• Books

Challenge: Intentional

In one of his letters, the Apostle Paul talks about ‘beating his body into submission‘. He’s not talking about physically abusing himself (there were plenty of other people already doing that for him), but being brutally disciplined in certain areas for specific reasons. He used language like ‘I crucify myself‘ to articulate how deadly serious he was about getting rid of the wrong things and replacing them with the right things in his life.

I suppose I’m taking the same approach here when it comes to mastering my time wisely, especially online.

Write

The key here is not in focusing on length – setting amounts in time and/or words – but in consistency.

I’ve written plenty of content for websites, but personal writing for pleasure has never really been a large part of my life because of the time and discipline it takes to do this. Yet, I realized that I often take nearly the same amount of time to ruminate upon and digest what I read and watch. So why not process those thoughts in written words?

The few occasions when I have taken the time to write out some organized paragraphs of my thoughts have resulted in positive feedback. So last year I felt encouraged to start intentionally writing each day about what I had read during my early morning quiet time. Listing this as one of my Rule of 5 items will continue to embed this discipline even deeper into my daily routine. And frankly, I am coming to enjoy it more each day. Why didn’t I start this sooner?

Again, in order of priority I plan to place hands to keyboard here:

• Journal/Devos
• Blog
• Website Content
• Brainstorm Ideas

Challenge: Consistent

Unlike reading, which is somewhat passive, writing requires both thought AND action. Initially, it will take some time to figure out how much time I will need to take from reading and allot over to writing. But as my writing process becomes more finely tuned, I anticipate this will become a little more second nature and routine.

Record

Maxwell calls this particular ax swing, ‘filing’, but I’m moving that term into something more meaningful for our modern, digital era, even though we still use electronic documents and folders. Having worked many years in real estate, the Recorders Office or ‘deed recording’ has a more familiar and official ring to it in my ears. There’s also some sense of permanence when something gets entered into the official record.

On the internet, webpages get indexed, and I’m on the internet a lot. Without even trying, I believe I’m indexing my own search engine because I save too many bookmarks on my web browser. However, it’s because of this that I have developed a pretty decent system of folders and categories. Working with WordPress for over ten years has also helped me to think of organizing information in the taxonomy of ‘tags’ and ‘categories’.

Here’s how I plan to continue storing and indexing my digital records of links, quotes, and articles:

• LinQd Out (a weekly post of aggregated headline links)
• Excerpts (locally, from articles, books, etc)
• Browser Bookmarks
• Website Pages

Challenge: Intentional

Record all the things! Yeah, that’s a meme waiting to happen. Sifting through the troves of information that one can gather online, and discerning which ones are worth keeping, is going to require some narrowly focused intentionality.

I suspect that I’m going to have to dive even deeper in this area to refine and strip down the strict parameters that merits something worth recording and indexing. Not having to physically store records makes this challenge even more intense.

Relate

Of the many thousands of quotes attributed to John Maxwell, there is one that I find myself re-quoting and reposting to whoever might benefit from it. That quote is…

"You cannot give what you do not have. 
But get, so that you can give."

-John Maxwell

I realize there may be some variations of this quote, with all the speaking and writing that John does, but it remains true to the principle message. And that is what I am aiming for with this rule.

In my view (and from what I gather is the view of many others) the only point of hoarding up resources is to give it away. To share it with others.

So as I gain insight and new information each day, I also want to share some of it right away. No need to wait for a perfect opportunity. In this day of social media, blogs, chat, instant messaging, and email, there is no excuse not to share.

In order of priority, I will primarily share my writing and records daily with:

• My Wife
• My Tribe (family)
• My Qommunity (network of close friends/fam)
• Share Publicly (outer sphere of influence)

Challenge: Intentional

Because we live in the era of the information super highway, communicating everyday will not much of a challenge. Deciding what to share and how much of it to disseminate is often where things can get problematic. Hence the spam problem.

There is a thin line between sharing and spamming. I do NOT want to cross that line. I think many would agree with me when I say that spamming is immoral.

Recharge

I was searching for a set of particular documents yesterday when I unexpectedly happened upon a handwritten page I had apparently written fairly recently. I say ‘apparent‘ because I honestly have zero recollection of writing it, or the context in which it was written. And before you think it – no I was not inebriated, but completely sober – as always.

In this note, I expressed a deep need for getting back to all the enjoyable outdoor activities that used to drive my existence. Things like surfing, mountain biking, hiking, snowboarding, tennis, and basketball to name the important ones. These sports used to to be a core part of my identity. What stood out to me on this note was a word artfully sketched out in large letters at the bottom corner of the page: Lost.

I had already written out this list of 5 rules before rediscovering that note. Seeing it spelled out so passionately – and not remembering when or why – only makes this last daily activity even more critical to my success.

The easiest way to make this happen daily is going from the least to the ideal:

• Stretch
• Trails (walk, hike)
• Boards, Bike, Ball

Challenge: Consistent

Without a doubt, being consistent on a daily basis is going. to. be. hard.

This is why I’ve decided to place the one thing I can at least do everyday at the top: stretch. This is something that was once part of my daily morning routine anyway, so it won’t be a stretch to get back into it. See what I did there?

I know that stretching everyday will keep my body somewhat limber and, theoretically, primed for even more strenuous activity. What I have found is that it also places me in a mental state of actively pursuing time slots to paddle out or go for a hike.

Conclusion – or Commencement?

Going through the process of creating this list and figuring out ways to implement my rules is definitely satisfying and gratifying. The cats are finally herded into the corral – but now what? They’re just waiting for the first opportunity and -bam! – they’re out!

Sometimes, we can lull ourselves into thinking that the act of creating goals and plans of execution are equal to achievement of those goals. They're not.

The hard part is taking those first steps. Every day. And getting up the next day after falling down the day before. The important part is to keep moving forward intentionally and consistently a little bit each day.

Now, let’s pick up that ax and head out to our tree.