Last week I wrote a post about about the notion of spending the month of December in a state of preparation so that when the new year comes we hit it running as hard as we can; we’re calling it the #2012preseason.  Recently I stumbled on a book called, Do More Great Work, that provided a simple tool for helping us evaluate if we are spending our time in the best way possible.  I wanted to pass it on while we are developing our gameplan for 2012 (it is also another simple and useful tool for helping us figure out if we should stay in our current jobs).  Here’s how it works:

• Get Started. Grab a piece of paper and draw a circle (or download this one).
• How Much Time Do You Want To Spend Doing Great Work?  Divide the circle into 3 regions that reflect how much time you would ideally spend doing Bad Work, Good Work, and Great Work (if you’re anything like me, I have allocated 0% of my time to Bad work).  You can leverage the video above for definitions of the 3 (Bad Work = Wasted Work, Good Work = Productive/Fruitful Work, and Great Work = Meaningful Work That Matters To You/Work That You Dream About) or create your own.
• How Much Time Are You Currently Spending Doing Great Work?  Repeat the same exercise (draw a circle, allocate time to Bad/Good/Great work) except, this time, the size of each region should not reflect your ideal, but instead it should reflect reality.  It should visually show you were you are now (how much Bad, Good, and Great work you are doing) going into 2012.
• What Do You See (Gap Analysis): Comparing the two charts side-by-side, what can you learn?  How much time are you spending doing great work?  Do you spend more time doing bad work than good work?  How well does your current chart match your ideal?  Does your current job enable you to spend your time the way you want?  Is your job helping you get to place where you can live your ideal (note: if the answer to the last 2 questions is no, you should consider leaving)?

Time is an extremely precious resource.  Let’s not blindly go into 2012 wasting our time on Bad work.  Instead, let’s be clear upfront on how we believe we should be able to allocate our time and, starting today, push to have 2012 reflect that vision.