"Clear and powerful goals set priorities. They narrow the wide field of options and choices to those few activities that leverage our limited time and attention. They keep us focused on finding the shortest, most direct route to our destination."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Goal Setting Can Limit Our Flexibility and Learning"

"Break big jobs into little pieces and set small, incremental goals. Terry Fox was an inspiring young Canadian who lost his leg (and eventually his life) to cancer. To raise money for cancer research, he ran over three thousand miles on an artificial leg. He ran a marathon (about twenty six miles) a day. When he was running, his short-term goal was 'to run to the next hydro pole.'"

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Personal Goals and Priorities Pathways and Pitfalls (Part One)"

"If you have activities of equal priority, start with those you hate to do most first. That will remove the dread and procrastination factor from your day's work. It also guarantees that you won't keep putting it off and having it eat at you. Once the unpleasant work is done, everything else is easier."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Personal Goals and Priorities Pathways and Pitfalls (Part One)"

"What are you so busy doing? Are you working on high leverage activities that will catapult you, your team, and your organization toward your vision? Or are you just busy? In First Things First, Stephen Covey, Roger Merrill, and Rebecca Merrill write, "People expect us to be busy, overworked. It's become a status symbol in our society — if we're busy, we're important; if we're not busy, we're almost embarrassed to admit it. Busyness is where we get our security. It's validating, popular, and pleasing. It's also a good excuse for not dealing with the first things in our lives."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Personal Goals and Priorities Pathways and Pitfalls (Part One)"

"From all our long-range options, alternatives, and possibilities we've got to establish short-term goals and priorities. There are as many things we've got to stop doing, as there are actions we've got to start taking. Some actions will drive us forward, many will hold us back, and some won't matter much either way. But without clear targets and a strong sense of what's most important, I -- and everyone on my team or in my organization -- won't be able to tell the difference."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "The Tyranny of the Urgent Can Cause Priority Overload"

"Unsuccessful organizations are often beehives of activity and hard work. Reflecting on the performance of his struggling company a departmental manager observed, "We have lots of projects, goals, and priorities. We're constantly making lists and setting action plans. But we seldom see anything through to completion before some urgent new priority is pushed at us. Our division manager's thinking seems to be 'random brain impulse.' He's like a nervous water bug that flits from one half-baked strategy to another."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "The Tyranny of the Urgent Can Cause Priority Overload"

"Effectively establishing goals and priorities has both strategic and tactical components. The strategic decisions are what goals and priorities we choose to pursue. Tactics are how we get organized and manage our time to reach those goals."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "The Tyranny of the Urgent Can Cause Priority Overload"

"It's the management of attention. There is only so much we can all give our attention to. So we need to ensure that we're aiming at high improvement targets that really matter. The faster the pace of change and improvement, the clearer our goals and priorities must be. Otherwise, we'll overwhelm and confuse our organization with the volume of activities and changes to be made."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Use Strategic Imperatives to Set Improvement Priorities"

"A key component of providing focus to an organization calls for leaders to identify "strategic imperatives" or "must-do's." These are the team or organization's critical leverage points. Strategic imperatives are those vital few 12 to 18 month goals, priorities, and improvement targets that — when reached — hurl our team or organization toward its vision, values, and purpose."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Use Strategic Imperatives to Set Improvement Priorities"