There will always be things in life that may seem urgent at the time, so it is important to remember what matters most to you. If you are constantly saying yes to less important things, you will always be saying no to the priorities on your Yes List. Learning to protect your time and say no gracefully will help you to decide what is really important and to make sure those priorities get done.

One great way to meet your priorities each week is to develop a weekly schedule. If you don't plan out your week, rest assured that somebody else will plan it for you, and your top priorities will be left for the next week, and possibly the next... (do you see a pattern?) By saying yes to less important things and doing things you don't really want to do, you are saying no to yourself and placing your Yes List to the side.

To make your weekly schedule, list all your appointments, events, and activities which you have little or no control over. These can be things like a meeting with a client or a big party. Since you can't change them, you need to know where they fall on your schedule, so that you can plan everything else around them and still get things done.

The next step is to schedule your "big rocks". These are the weekly priorities you need to get done in order to accomplish the items on your Yes List. Once you have all your appointments and big rocks lined up where they need to be in your schedule, you'll be able to see spaces where you'll have spare time. And when someone asks you to do something that you'd rather not do, you can simply smile and tell them sorry, but you're not available. You won't feel guilty saying no either, because you know that you've already completed everything that was a priority for that week!

So the next time someone asks you to do something, take a moment to ask yourself if it is urgent or not. By taking a few minutes to evaluate this, you decide whether the goals on your Yes List will be achieved or not. Whatever your decision, be confident that you have made the right choice and stick with it!

Next week, we'll discuss obstacles that may hold you back from completing your schedule!