We’re nearing the end of the year, which is a great time to set goals, evaluate what you are doing, and see if things can be done better. The following are four questions I’m using to do just that.

1) What Do You Do?

What do you spend your time doing?

Make a list. Be thorough, but not so thorough that you paralyze yourself.

Here’s some examples:

Sleep, eat, exercise, seek God, read books, work a job, marriage, parenting, dating, writing, church, pastoring, friendship, house work, entertainment, consume social media, watch TV/movies, surf internet, shop, play sports, create, play an instrument, live in community, counseling, etc.

For some, just answering the first question and being able to physically see a list of what you spend your time on, can be life changing.

2) What Do You Do Well?

Read through your answer to the first question and pick out the things that you do well.

Be honest.

Some of you, if you’re honest, may answer, “Nothing.” This question on it’s own can be life altering, because in our busyness we are becoming a culture of people that do many things, but nothing well.

Others of you may find that the things that you do well are not the things you want to do well, or that the things you are currently doing well are keeping you from doing some other things well that you’d like to be doing – which brings us to our next question.

3) What Do You Want To Do Well That You’re Not?

Go through your original list from the first question again. Don’t just look at all the things in this list that you don’t do well. Some things are not done well because they’re not important and time is limited. That’s fine.

What are the few things that you’re not doing well that you’d like to?

Don’t pick too many. Take into consideration what you are already doing well. You may be awesome, but realistically, you can only do a few things well.

4) What Are You Going To Do Less Of So You Can Do What You Want To Do Well?

Look at your original list again. Time to do some pruning.

In order to realistically do a few things well, you’ve got to eliminate certain things that drain the resources necessary to do them.

Don’t be distracted by the good. There are a lot of people that do a good job at a lot of things, but if you want to make a significant impact in a particular area of life, you must do a great job at a few things.

Good is the greatest enemy of the great.

What things are you going to spend less time doing good or poorly so that you can focus more time doing a few things well?

(Image Credit: Photographic Collections)