Successful people take the future into consideration in daily decisions. – Chuck Goetschel

Chuck Goetschel began his leadership lesson to thousands of independent business owners by sharing insights gained from sociologist and respected conservative thinker, Dr. Edward C. Banfield and renowned business consultant, Peter Drucker. “Let me take you back to 1970,” said Goetschel, ”there was sociologist by the name of Dr. Edward Banfield.” He was a Harvard University professor and author of Unheavenly City, published in 1970. In this book Goetschel continued, “He described a profound study and success and priority setting. What he was doing was trying to determine what it was that made certain people so successful.

“When the research began, Dr. Banfield expected to find clear links between financial independence and things like how you’re raised, education, socio-economic benefits, family contacts and other concrete things. It was really interesting because what he said the answer as to why someone people always seem to be more successful than the other people boiled down to one thing. He said that answer was what he called ‘long time perspective.’

(Click to hear Audio Excerpt – Chuck Goetschel, Vision/Destination)

“A lot of us have heard the phrase long-term perspective today, but he said long- time perspective. He said that most successful in life, he said, were those who took the future into consideration with every decision they make in the present."

Edward C. Banfield

Edward C. Banfield (1916-1999) was a distinguished political scientist, best known as the author of The Moral Basis of a Backward Society (1958), and The Unheavenly City (1970). Banfield was one of the leading conservative scholars of his generation. His views were controversial, and The Unheavenly City sparked much debate. Banfield’s Harvard colleagues described him as “an individual with a strong and distinctive character that impressed itself on all who met him. ”

Source: Wikipedia

“And I was thinking that’s what we’re talking about this weekend, launching a leadership revolution. I went into Orrin and Chris’ book Launching a Leadership Revolution, they say that the entire cycle of achievement begins with vision. Vision is tomorrows realities expressed as an idea today. That’s straight out of their book.” And that’s a long-time perspective.

The key to success in setting priorities is having a long time perspective. You can tell how important something is today by measuring its potential future impact on your life’s vision or destination.

Chuck Goetschel explained, “Now you can set your priorities to be in line with that destination. Peter Drucker said that ‘Efficiency is doing things right. But effectiveness is doing the right things.’ How do you know what the right things are? Set your priorities. How do you set your priorities? I do it by into the A through E system: A, B, C, D, E. Its very simple. I love it. It works really well.

“What I recommend you do is all the different things you feel like you’re being overwhelmed with first thing you do no a regular basis is put them down on a piece of paper and then put an a, b, c, d or e next to each them.

A,B,C,D,E

“A” means that this is an absolute must. This needs to be done if I don’t do it consequences are huge. This is a priority. This is important.

How do I know its important? It’s in line with my mission. This is very important. I know I need to do this.

“B” stands for “important; should do; but not as important as my ‘A’ tasks, and only minor negative consequences if not completed.”

“C” stands for consequences. A “C” is nice to do; but not as important as ‘A’ or ‘B,’ and there are no negative consequences for not completing.”

“D” stands for “delegate, or assign to someone else who can do the task in my place.”

“E” stands for “eliminate, whenever possible.”

When you use the A-B-C-D-E method, you can very easily sort out what is important and unimportant. This then will focus your time and attention on those items on your list that are most essential for you to do.”

Once you can clearly see the one or two things that you should be doing, above all others, just say no to all diversions and distractions and focus single-mindedly on accomplishing those priorities. And if you’ll put an A through E on those items, because you know how they play into your purpose (destination/vision) you’ll have more clarity on what you are doing.”

Much stress that people experience in their work lives comes from working on low-priority tasks. The amazing thing is that as soon as they start working on the highest-value activity, stress can disappear. Business researchers report individuals have an increased sense of personal value and inner satisfaction. They experience a sensation of self-mastery and self-control.