Let me tell you this: I thought I was smart when I decided to start Insanitek while I was in school. I figured I could do all the planning and bootstrapping when I had spare time. It was a great plan, really, as I thought I would finish up my homework and work on Insanitek for a couple of hours a week for a few years until I had all the details figured out, the business set up, and the finances rolling in. Then reality set in.

The reality is when you’re an “average” student like myself and you have to study and work hard to get where you’re at there’s no time for a lot of things. To do well in school I had to accept reality. I had to accept that I didn’t really have time to go to the gym, go out and have anything even close to a social life, enjoy hobbies, or even start a business like I wanted.

However, I’m stubborn. I didn’t just “give up”. I prioritised my desires. I didn’t lie to people saying I could do something when I really didn’t want to. I made hard choices. This is what it takes to get anywhere in life.

Here’s what you do:

1. Stop lying to yourself. That’s right, you need to face the music. Face the facts of your life, your situations, and your immediate limitations. Be brutally honest with yourself. If you’re not ready for the hard truths of life, don’t even go onto step two.
2. Make a list. Now that you’ve come to an uneasy truce with reality, it’s time to write a list of literally all the things you want to do. Use a macroscale here because there is no point in wasting time on things that you don’t have time for.
3. Prioritise the list. With the list you just made, put the things you want to accomplish in order of highest priority. This will help keep you focused on what matters most to you, no matter what obstacles present themselves.
4. Create a strategy. I’ll go into more detail in another post, but you’ll need a strategy that works for you. This strategy will have to see you through projects to completion so you can get through tough times as well as good times. Learn balance while you’re at it. Each person is different, so you’ll have a threshold for what you can take. Balance progress forward on a specific goal with distractions to make sure you don’t forget about life. Include your needs in your strategy, and plan for them. You’ll be thankful you did.
5. Get ready. Need specific things to meet your goal? Go get them or figure out ways around them. Workaround will be part of your overall strategy, but so are the things you need to have to accomplish them. For example, you can’t really get a degree without an intuition to grant it, and for that you need money. But, you can learn from Wiki in the meantime while you find a funding resource so you’ll be well prepared.
6. Go. There is no “get set”, because that’s just more procrastination. Unless you need it to psych yourself up, skip that step and head right to the “go”. And then go all out for those things on your priority list.

I’m not going to lie to you, either, nor am I going to sugar coat it. It’s hard to do multiple things and stay to task. It’s not easy telling people no when you are sticking to your priorities. However, don’t be ashamed to say, “Thank you for the offer, but that’s not on my priority list right now.” They’ll respect you more for your honesty in the end.

Your turn. What’s your #1 priority? Any idea how you’re going to achieve it?