"What should I do first?”
“There are so many things to choose from.”

Too often, days are spent fighting fires instead of making real progress. Firefighting feels productive, but it’s one of the worst ways to prioritize.

With a limited amount of time, knowing what’s urgent, what’s important, and what truly matters requires clarity, preparation, and intentional decisions.

Hot fires are a good way to get burned. The better prepared you are, the less intense the fire, and the faster it can be put out.

I Know, This Sounds a Little Backward

Most people plan by guessing how much time or effort something will take and then wonder why they’re always rushed or behind.

Planning backward flips that on its head by starting with where you want to end up and mapping the steps needed to get there. Whether you’re managing your time or building toward a major business goal, this approach puts you back in control. Start with the outcome, work backward, and take action today.

There are certain moments in life that split everything into before and after.

For me, one of those moments came after my accident in 2012.

Before then, I had concluded that my bland, ho-hum life was simply what it was. I was just trudging through life with little hope that things would ever be different. Mentally, I felt stuck in a rut with no way out.

That feeling of being stuck was real, but it wasn’t the end of the story.