I think that most people would agree that the people who have goals are more successful than those who do not have any.
I often talk about leadership and management. Leadership is about doing the right things while management is about doing things right. Often when we study time management, we study efficiency (doing things right) and make the assumption that we have the effectiveness (leadership) solved.
The first step in any time management system should be to work on goals and as such, I use the following 60 Minute Goal Setting Exercise.
Step 1: at the top of a blank piece of paper write down values and then spend 10 to 15 minutes writing down everything that you value. There is a great website: www.stevepavlina.com/ that has a list of several hundred values to start your mind thinking in the right direction. After the time is up, stop doing this and move to Step 2.
Step 2: at the top of a blank piece of paper write down lifetime goals. This is where you can dream; for example, what places would you like to visit; what experiences would you like to have; what would you like to accomplish within your lifetime. This might include traveling to...