I recently read an article about Jim Collins’ advice to managers. Collins is the author of several management books, including “Good to Great and the Social Sectors.” One of his sayings is, “If you have more than three priorities, you don’t have any.” I agree with him.

I have a “rule of three for planning” which states that you should always have, know, and focus on just three priorities. Most of us have more than three things going on at one time, but every morning I took time to make sure I knew exactly what my top three priorities were. As I budgeted my time and added or subtracted from my calendar every day, those priorities were always reflected.

I encourage people to have a list of priorities for a week, a month, three months, and finally a year. Checking these periodically helps you to prepare for a priority out further in time. You may need to gather information, hire talent, or raise funds.

The right way to review this list is to make sure all your activities every day are moving you past short-term priorities and toward long-term goals. Don’t let the urgent constantly rob time needed for important long-term priorities.

Another common mistake is to put off aligning every day’s activities with a long-term goal, as if the long-term goal is what you plan to “get to” in a year.