Tackling 4 High-Priority Missions Simulatenously

Recently I was starting to feel a little overwhelmed by my projects. I had a lot going on, was working hard, but felt like I didn't have a good grasp on the sheer amount there was to do. Let me assure you, this is nothing new. I often give myself way more than I can handle, and then try to figure out after the fact how to do it all. I don't recommend trying to manage numerous critical goals at one time; in fact, having a single goal at one time is often more than enough. But if you're running through life at full speed and need some way of taking charge of it all, this guide may be of some help.

So I decided to stop and think about what I was doing, what was of high priority, and figure out how to focus on those things.  I was able to break them down into 4 "missions:" Get Married, Go Home, Find a Job, and Learn Japanese.  I'll save you the details, but I wrote a Japanese blog about them here. :p

Out of all the crazy things in my life, these are the ones I determined needed the most attention.  In doing so, I replaced two of my previous somewhat-vague goals of Language Teaching and Psychology, and kept Japanese.  After narrowing them down, I thought about how I could utilize the time management techniques I know to make things easier.  There's nothing fancy here I haven't already explained.  I decided not to make a Goal Calendar for each mission (except for Japanese which I'm using already), primarily due to their short timelines of about 2-3 months.  However, I did utilize some principles that you'll find familiar if you read that post.  Well, let's get started.

1. Prioritize missions - this could be a post in itself, but try to figure out what in your life currently demands the most attention.  Not because you have to do it, but because you choose to do it.  Dare I say you want to do it, because this is your life dagnabit!
2. Define missions - what does it mean to say that you've completed that goal?  Where da' finish line at?  One clear, straightforward sentence should suffice.
3. Create mission timelines - decide not only when you want to finish the goal, but when you want to start as well.  Give yourself some time to make the below preparations and look forward to your mission.
4. Commit to missions - make a public commitment that you're going to complete your goals, and it'll be harder to back out later (see this post and the right column on this blog for my example).  You don't have to write it on your blog, or even online, as long as you tell a few people who can (hopefully) give you some support along the way.
5. Prepare mission environments - it can be paper, it can be electronic - whatever medium you use to get things done, use that.  It needs to be something you refer to everyday, or often enough that you won't forget to check.  But if you're already using the below items everyday what's the point of mentioning it?  So you can take full advantage of them; if you don't use them now, I suggest you start.  BTW, my solutions below are all cloud-related.  You're free to use pen/pencil and paper, just think about how much time you're wasting, trees your killing, and liabilities you're creating without a saved backup on the interwebs ready to be used any time and anywhere. :)
1. Notebook - I set up a(n electronic) notebook on Evernote for each mission, and enter whatever comes to mind related to that specific goal. It's a thought dumper.  A rough draft.  It doesn't need to be perfect, just get what you're thinking out of your head, and what you're researching into one place.  Sometimes we get overwhelmed because we simply don't know what we need to do, so this is a way of becoming aware of it all.  After refining your thoughts a bit, begin to come up with a list of general tasks.
2. Folders - any and all files related to the goals go in their own special folder in Dropbox.  Manila folders and regular plastic folders work fine too.  Think of this as another way of dumping things you find related to your goal into one place.
3. Tasks - after coming up with general tasks in my notebook, I made task lists on Remember the Milk for each mission.  When you actually enter the tasks, however, they should be well-defined and very simple, easy to start and finish without requiring many steps.  The most pressing matter is figuring out how to make measurable progress no matter how small; if you need to research something, fine, but that should be a task on its own and the details can come later.  Another thing that's helping me is ordering the tasks sequentially, such that I know the order in which to perform all the tasks.  I then choose about 2 or 3 from each mission to aim to complete before the end of the week.
6. Reward missions - pay yourself for working on each of your goals.  I pay myself every week in hours, as discussed in my schedules post.  My goal is 20 hours a week, and lately I've been racking in around 15 for my 4 missions.  This is enough for me, but consider giving yourself an external reward for progress on your goal.
7. Manage missions - timeboxing, batching, etc.  In particular, timeboxing helps me to keep track of the time I pay myself in, and to start as much as possible.

I've been rolling with Japanese like a motherlover as usual, but I completed revamped the other 3 missions according to the above.  I'm making great progress so far, trying to work on one task from each mission every day.  So on any given day I'm doing 1 thing for the wedding, 1 thing for job searching, and 1 thing for preparing to go home.  Since my environment is set up with the missions plastered all over the place, I'm not going to forget easily, or let others forget either (sorry, honey!).  I reward myself to increase motivation, but the core motivation comes from the discipline of knowing what you want.  That's why they're high-priority missions in your life - because you choose them.  Our decisions are a powerful force in our motivation levels.

Again, not recommending you try 2, 4, or 10 critical goals at once.  But if that's where you are in life, I hope this helped.