Time is a precious commodity; especially if you’re studying for the CPA Exam while going to school or holding down a full-time job. Prioritizing your goals will help you efficiently spend your limited time, making you a goal-achieving machine.
The first key is to write your goals down. All of them. Everything from small, daily tasks to year-long, critical projects. This gives you a total scope of everything you need to accomplish. From here you can choose the best path to reaching your goals. Here’s how you can get started.
1. Don’t sweat the small stuff
Which goals have the most impact? Ranking your goals by their importance may seem obvious, but can easily be overlooked due to smaller projects getting in the way. Giving priority to your critical goals lets you focus on what’s important.
2. Start small
You can also take the opposite approach. Focus on the low hanging fruit and plan to complete the easy goals first. This is a good way to achieve your simpler goals and get motivated to tackle your larger projects.
3. Timing is everything
Organizing your goals by due date is a great way to gain perspective. Is it important to concentrate on the project due six months from now? Or is the project due in two weeks a higher priority? Ranking your goals by deadline keeps you aware of when you need to act.
4. Two goals enter; one goal leaves
Turn your list into a tournament bracket and compare your goals head-to-head against each other. Start with the first goal listed and compare it to the second. Whichever one is more important gets compared to the winner between your third and fourth goals. Continue the process down the list until you have your top priorities.
5. Narrow your focus
Once you have your top priorities, focus only on those. Cutting out your lesser objectives can save you time and help you accomplish your most impactful goals. Trying to devote resources to too many tasks at once can have you spinning your wheels on projects that aren’t critical to your success.
Now that you have your goals in order, it’s time to take action.
Create a detailed action plan on how you’re going to achieve your top goals and get to work.
If passing the CPA Exam is in your top goals, it’s never too early to start studying. Find out more about the CPA Exam and get ready to work hard. Passing the CPA Exam is one of the most significant and time-consuming goals you can set for yourself. But if you learn to effectively prioritize your goals, you’ll better manage your time and get a head start on your path to becoming a CPA.