Photo Credits: Mike Foote

How is it possible to start a new company, enroll over 200,000 new members, run twelve marathons, spend time with family and friends and volunteer with charities all in one year? The answer is in effective and deliberate planning and prioritization. Without a plan, there is no way to have a high degree of productivity and to reach your goals.

Think of your days like a train with twenty-four cars, one for each hour, and you are the engine pulling the cars. To get the highest payout and yield at your point of delivery, you must fill each car with the highest quality materials and capacity. You do not want any cars to be empty or just half full. You do not want any cars to contain poor or contaminated materials. No doubt you have more than twenty-four cars worth of material for any given day. Deliberate prioritization of what materials to fill those cars with will determine your outcome.

Each morning, I go into my day with this concept in mind, knowing that if any one area of my day is lacking, I will not be as productive. This means I have to take into account not only business responsibilities, but also family and life responsibilities. It is extremely important to me to spend quality time with my family, so I purposefully ensure some cars are filled with time for my wife, personal thought, physical activity and time for my children. I don’t work during these hours dedicated to my family. Mixing separate shipments could lead to confusion, poor quality or low yield.

By keeping this metaphor in mind throughout my week, I am able to strategically plan and prioritize my responsibilities and accomplish everything that is important to me.

What strategies do you use to stay productive and reach maximum efficiency? Let me know in the comments below!

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A few months later, I ran the Virginia Beach marathon with bad stomach pains. My time was 3 hours and 31 minutes.  My wife Shawntel said to me one time, “Why do you run these marathons?” to which I responded, “I don’t know how much I have in me, how fast I can run, how many I can do. All I know is I don’t want to be 70 years old and say to myself, ‘Was there more in me that I didn’t discover?’ I want to know that I utilized everything that God gave me.”

In 2008, I qualified for the revered Boston Marathon by running the Berlin Marathon in 3 hours and 19 minutes.  I’ve now run in Boston for four straight years and it never gets old. Today, I enjoy running because it allows me to challenge myself with new goals and it forces me to never give up even when everything says to stop. Running provides me with peace of mind and a healthy body.

This year, I decided to challenge myself to run 12 marathons. And today marks the completion of that goal.

Despite the fact that I had the one of the busiest schedules I’ve ever faced this year, I worked hard to find time to keep running and preparing for the marathons. I implemented a strategic plan to accomplish my goal. This goal setting strategy is successful for all types of difficult challenges, not just running, so I wanted to share it with you here.

1. Define what you want and what is the ultimate goal that you want to accomplish.
2. Clearly develop each step required to accomplish your goal.
3. Monitor where you are along the way continuously.
4. Evaluate what is needed to maintain the course for completion.
5. Work hard and stay focused.Once you have accomplished your goal….
6. Celebrate, celebrate, celebrate! Draw in everyone close to you to share in the celebration of a challenge overcome and a goal accomplished!

Step six is one of the most important elements of accomplishing your goals. This celebration is your reward to yourself for your hard work. It will give you the drive to start on your next major accomplishment! In life, I believe that goals drive attitude and productivity.  Goals that stretch you and force you to overcome obstacles will always increase your capacity to be able to do more next time.  Whether it’s a personal goal or business goal, having and accomplishing challenging goals always keep each area of your life moving forward with positive momentum.

And remember, the word “can’t” does not exist in your vocabulary and the word “YES” always refers to “I will” and “I can.”

The post How to Accomplish Even Your Most Challenging Goals appeared first on Ryan Wuerch.