052: How to Identify the Three Things That Will Move You Closer to Your Goals

Episode 52: How to Identify the Three Things That Will Move You Closer to Your Goals

Have you ever reached the end of the day feeling incredibly busy... yet wondering if anything you accomplished actually moved you closer to the business or life you're trying to build?

You're not alone.

Many entrepreneurs, business owners, and professionals spend their days checking off tasks without making meaningful progress. The problem isn't a lack of motivation or discipline-it's a lack of clarity about what deserves your attention most.

In this episode of Sustainable Success Tuesday, Fredricka Davis introduces two practical tools from her Sustainable Success Framework™ that will help you stop spinning your wheels and start creating real momentum.

You'll learn how to use The Focus Filter™ to identify your highest-impact priorities and The Rule of Three™ to simplify your week, reduce overwhelm, and focus your energy where it matters most.

If you're ready to stop being busy and start making measurable progress, this episode will give you a simple framework you can begin using today.

In This Episode You'll Learn:

• Why being busy isn't the same as making progress
• The difference between motion and momentum
• The three questions inside the Focus Filter™
• How to identify the projects that deserve your attention first
• Why The Rule of Three™ helps eliminate overwhelm
• A simple exercise to clarify your priorities this week

This Week's Challenge

Write down every project currently competing for your attention—not every task, but every project.

Then run each one through the Focus Filter™:

• Which one creates the biggest result if I finish it?
• Which one can only be done by me?
• If I only completed one this week, which would make everything else easier?

Finally, choose your Rule of Three™ and protect those priorities before allowing yourself to get distracted by everything else.

Connect with Fredricka

Join the Limitless Living Facebook community for women who are becoming, where we continue these conversations, answer questions, and support one another on the journey toward creating a life and business by design.

To learn more about the Limitless Reset Method™, coaching opportunities, speaking, and upcoming programs, visit FredrickaDavis.com.

If this episode encouraged you, please consider following the podcast, leaving a review, and sharing it with someone who needs a little more clarity and a little less overwhelm.

Because sustainable success isn't built by doing more...

It's built by focusing on what matters most.

Grab Your Free Reset Guide and more at www.fredrickadavis.com

Continue the conversation inside the here: Limitless Living community.

If this episode resonated with you, you can also send Fredricka a message through the Fan Mail link in the show notes. Your questions may be featured in a future episode.

And if you know someone who needs to hear this conversation, please share the episode with them.

Your reviews mean the world to Fredricka and help other women discover the show.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Hello, and welcome back to the Sustainable Success Tuesday episode of the Limitless Living Podcast. I'm Frederica Davis, creator of the Limitless Reset Method. And every Tuesday, we're going to focus on one practical framework, one system, or one strategy you can implement right away so that you can create more sustainable success in your business, your career, and ultimately your life. Because insight is powerful, but implementation, that is what really changes everything. Today, let's continue building your sustainable success framework. So I'll ask you this: have you ever reached the end of a really busy day? And you look back on the day and all of the things that you checked off in your to-do list and on your agenda and your schedule, everything that you accomplished, because chances are you really did accomplish a lot, and still you feel like somehow none of it actually moved you closer to the business and life you're trying to build. Can you relate to that? I can absolutely assure you, you are not alone. I've had days like this too. Every entrepreneur I work with has days like this. And these are the days where you feel like, okay, I have to answer these emails. I have to work on the social media, I have to update a website, I have to follow up with clients. I've got clients to see in person. I'm trying to redo a menu. I need to focus on my finances and review those and look at my KPIs and think about hiring and planning future workshops and mapping out retreats and recording podcast episodes. And oh my gosh, the list goes on and on. And if you haven't noticed, those are some of the things from my to-do list. So, you know, you start new ideas along the way, and before you know it, you're in this day. You get to the end, you're checking off your boxes, box after box, and you feel like, okay, I got some things done. Even it wasn't everything, I did get some things done. But yet you look back at the end of that day and you think to yourself, oh, I honestly can't say I made any meaningful progress towards my biggest, most important goals. I feel like I'm spinning my wheels. Now, if you have experienced this, as I have, as has every other entrepreneur and successful human being on the planet, experienced where you're feeling busy all day long, and somehow the really important things they still didn't seem to get done. So here's what I've learned. The problem usually isn't that you are unmotivated or even disorganized. You're definitely not lazy. The problem is actually more likely that all those things on the to-do list start to feel like they have equal importance. When that happens, we naturally start working on whatever is easiest, whatever is quickest or feels urgent, or whatever gives us the fastest sense of accomplishment. Before we know it, we're exhausted. You know, if you've gotten to the end of the day and you've checked off all these little things and everything, and you're exhausted, and your brain's a little fried, yet nothing moved forward, you know exactly what I'm talking about. This does not build businesses. This does not build a thriving career. Busy does not build, focus does. I'm gonna say that again. Busy does not build businesses, focus does. And that's exactly what today's episode is about. And that's exactly what today's episode is about. So today, what I want to do is share one of the simplest tools I use whenever I start feeling pulled in 10 different directions or getting that shiny object syndrome. Can you relate to that? Where, oh, well, wait, let me start this project. Oh, let me go down that rabbit hole. Oh, let me brainstorm these ideas, right? If you've experienced that, you know that shiny object syndrome, most entrepreneurs have. I call this what I'm gonna give you the focus filter. Now, by the end of today's episode, you'll know exactly how to decide which three things actually deserve your attention this week so that you can stop spinning your wheels, checking boxes, and actually start creating real momentum where it matters. Now, motion is not the same thing as momentum. One of the biggest mistakes I see entrepreneurs making is confusing motion with momentum. They're not the same thing. Motion is answering another email and another email. Motion is tweaking your website for the 15th time. Motion is reorganizing your office. Motion is making another Canva graphic because it feels productive. And motion is checking the boxes. Momentum is doing the work that actually changes the direction of your business. Now, those are two totally, completely different things. Now, don't misunderstand me because those smaller tasks really do matter. Eventually, all those smaller tasks are likely to contribute to building your business as well. But they don't deserve the same level of attention today. And that's where so many entrepreneurs get stuck. And when we get stuck there, everything starts to feel equally important, and nothing gets the attention it truly deserves. And then we feel overwhelmed and we lose focus and we're not quite sure what to do next. So the focus filter, I created this for whenever I begin feeling overwhelmed. I stop asking myself, what should I do next? And instead, I start asking myself three questions. These are the questions that make up my focus filter. Question number one: which one of these creates the biggest result if I finish it? That's what you're gonna ask. That's your filter number one. And it's not which one is the easiest? It's also not which one do I feel like doing? It is which one creates the biggest impact? Which one moves the business furthest forward? Now, question number two: which of these can only be done by me? You're looking at your to-do list, you're gonna be asking yourself, which one of these things on my to-do list can only be done by me? This question has changed everything for me. And I still catch myself trying to do everything. I'm betting if you're listening to this, you are a high-achieving woman, even if you don't feel like it. Those days when you feel like you're just not and you're missing the mark, even though you probably got a whole bunch of things done. When you start asking this particular question, you start looking at things differently. And there are countless things in your business, your life, wherever, that someone else or even technology can start to help you with. And that's going to be scheduling, formatting things, researching things, data entry, some of your graphics, your administrative work. There, there are many, many, many, many things. Those are some examples of things other people or tech can help you with. Now, there are also things that you and only you can do. So it's likely that only you can really build the relationships the way that you do. And it's likely that only you can make the strategic decisions. And it's likely that it's only you that can lead your business. Those deserve your focus. All right, question number three if I only finished one thing this week, which one would make everything else easier? Now, this is often the breakthrough question because really certain projects, if you get them done, you finish them, they unlock everything else. Finish that right project, and suddenly you can have five other things become easier. Now that's momentum. So let me put this into practice for you. I want you to grab a notebook. If you can, do it now, not later. Don't write down every single to-do and task. What I want you to write down is every project. Now there's a difference. Stick with me, I'm gonna show you why. A project might be like a project might be hiring, marketing, launching your course, writing your book, improving your health, client acquisition, organizing your office, updating your website, financial planning, building a membership, planning a vacation, purging your home, weeding your landscaping the front of your house. Okay, those are projects. So you get the picture. Now, what I want you to do is I want you to circle the three projects that will create the greatest forward movement if you make meaningful progress in them this week. Not the easiest. This might not be the most fun project either, not the loudest project, but the most impactful. Now run each one of them through the focus filter. Which project creates the biggest result? Which can only be done by you? Which makes everything else easier. Now, when it comes to the which ones can only be done by you, it's really common for us as doers and as women to say, well, I have to do it because you know somebody else might do it wrong, and then I'm gonna have to redo it anyway. And we often take responsibility for things we don't really need to. And it's a story we have, so be careful you don't get caught up in that. When you're asking yourself which ones can only be done by you, be really honest about it. And then which ones make everything else easier. Your answers will almost always reveal exactly where your attention really needs to be. The rule of three. Now I want to leave you with another principle that has become part of how I work. I call this the rule of three. Every week I choose three major projects that need me to work on them. Sometimes I choose actually less than that. Uh depends on what's going on, but no more than three. And then every morning I identify three needle movers. Now, I'm gonna go one step further. I actually really like to do this the night before because in the morning, that's not my time to shine. So the night before, when I identify that, I wake up in the morning and I know exactly what I need to do. Even if it's what I don't really want to do, I know what I need to do first. And it's three. Three needle movers, not 15, not 20, just three. Now, if your time to shine is in the morning and not so much at night, then you can do this in the morning. Now, if you complete those three priorities, you have already won the day. Every single thing else on your list becomes a bonus. You can keep all the other stuff on your list. That's fine. But don't beat yourself up when you don't get it done. Just keep staying focused and get to those when you have time, when it allows. There's all those extra things. And just stay focused. So imagine how different your week is going to feel if you are intentionally protecting your attention for doing the work that really matters the most, instead of constantly reacting. That's how sustainable success is actually built. It's not by doing everything yourself, it's really about doing the right things consistently. So here's your challenge this week. I want you to take 30 minutes and list every project currently competing for your attention. Run each one of them through the focus filter. Choose your role of three, and then commit to protecting those priorities before you allow yourself to get distracted by everything else. I think you'll be surprised how quickly your momentum begins to change. So remember, success isn't built by doing more, it's built by focusing on what matters. And if today's episode helped you, I'd love to invite you into my Limitless Living Facebook community for women who are becoming. You can ask questions, we encourage each other and continue these conversations throughout the week. About you can also learn more about the limitless reset method and my sustainable success coaching programs by reaching out to me. Visit my website at wwwfredrikaDavis.com. If this episode encouraged you, do me a favor, share it with someone who's working hard but feeling a little stuck, and give us a great review. It helps other women find the show. Because sometimes one simple shift in focus changes everything. So until next time, be rooted, be resilient, and be limitless.