Are you ever just not sure what to do? This feeling comes from a lot of places. Maybe there’s so much to do that you’re overwhelmed. Maybe you’re feeling a lack of motivation (it happens to everyone). In either case, you’re stuck and not feeling your most productive self.

I have started about a dozen businesses by now, with my first one being started at the age of twelve. At my current age of 21, I am managing 4.5 businesses, most of which feed into each other in some way.

But even though some of these businesses are complementary, there is so much going on that it can be hard to really peg down what I should be working on at any given time in order to pay the bills.

I’ve read so much about goal-setting, but I always found a “disconnect” between the life-goals that we set and the day-to-day “what to do next” kind of goals that we need to stay productive.

That’s why I have put into place the “Three Things Theory” in my life. This is similar to some other concepts out there for goal-setting and productivity, but this is specifically what works for me:

1. Set 3 goals for your life

The idea is simple, set 3 goals for your life. These are the overarching “vision” goals that may even seem ethereal, especially if you’re young like me. It’s okay if these change, but there’s no way that you can work on setting short-term goals if you don’t have these long-term goals in place.

Here are three examples:

1. I want to be happy and have the mental and emotional ability to spread this happiness to others.
2. I want to have enough money so that my children and grandchildren will have access to unlimited opportunity in their lives.
3. I want the ability to only do the work that I love and give talks to business owners to affect their incomes and their lives.

“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” – Tony Robbins

2. Set 3 ten-year goals

Now, set 3 ten-year goals. These are things that you would like to have accomplished in ten years that will help you achieve those 3 life-goals you set before. These should still be pretty overarching and high-level, but they should be more tangible than your life goals. One example might include, “Be making seven figures a year by XX/XX/XXXX date ten years into the future.”

This ties into each of the goals from the example above, so achieving it will push you farther along on your journey to reaching those life goals.

3. Set 3 one-year goals

Now, set 3 one-year goals. These are the first steps to hitting those ten year goals. Keeping with the income theme from above, one of your goals may be to make $50,000 this first year. This is a scaleable goal, because each year you can increase that number until you get to that date mentioned in your ten-year goals and make 7 figures.

4. Set 3 monthly goals

As you may have guessed, once you have set your one-year goals, it is time to set 3 monthly goals.

You can do this two ways (or do it both ways). You could set monthly goals that will be the same each month and aim to hit those, or you can set 3 unique monthly goals each month that will push you farther along. The only caution I have about the second option is that many people will set 3 monthly goals, work on them for the month, and then abandon them next month for something new.

Personally, I use a combination of both. I have static goals like monthly income goals, goals for how many guest posts I want to write, podcasts I want to record, etc.

“People with goals succeed because they know where they’re going.” – Earl Nightingale

5. Set 3 weekly goals and 3 daily goals

Each week, on Monday morning, I take a relaxing bath and I think to myself: What 3 things could I accomplish that would make this week a success for me and move me farther along to hitting these monthly goals?

Then I write those down. Sometimes I will write 5 goals for the week, sometimes I will write 3. But the idea is that you have a “barometer” for your success this week.

Now each day I am only working towards reaching those 3 goals. I love this because as long as I finish those 3 things, I can feel like a success and relax during my weekend. Too many entrepreneurs get stressed out when they aren’t working, but that’s just not healthy. As long as you’re hitting these checkpoints, you can take a breather, confident that you are headed in the right direction.

The beautiful part of this is that each of these goals are connected to each other, but are broken down into manageable chunks so that you don’t feel overwhelmed or like your goals are out of reach.

When you reach your daily goals, you know those are helping you to reach your weekly goals, which fall in line with your monthly goals, which ensure you will reach your one-year goals, which feeds into the 10-year goals, which finally, helps you to achieve everything you have ever wanted in your life.

Do things always go exactly as planned? Of course not. You’ll need to course-correct along the way. But using this “Three Things Theory,” I can assure you that you will be more productive and more in-tune with your life goals as they relate to your work today.

Which concept for goal-setting and productivity has worked for you? Please leave your thoughts in the comment section below!