You know the feeling. It’s Monday morning, and you look at your schedule. There are no breaks. The days look long. You already start thinking about which nights you’ll work after hours just to catch up. Being underwater is an understatement.

Companies in constant motion find themselves cruising so far below the surface; they can’t see where they’re going. When do you think about strategy? How do you make time for marketing? Do you have a vision for your company?

Here are 3 ways you can think above your work and keep yourself on track:

Set Goals

There are countless articles about goals, their importance, and criticism of the various methods of goal setting. When setting a course for success, your big vision goals should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely.

The process of achieving revenue goals falls into this category.

For example:

Company A has a revenue goal of $1M for 2017. If their average deal size is $50,000, they’ll need to close 20 deals a year– or one deal every 2.5 weeks.

You can reverse engineer the necessary tasks to achieve this:

If it takes 20 calls to get 1 qualified new business appointment, and it takes 5 qualified new business appointments to get one close, you’ll need to make 100 calls. To stay on pace, you’ll want to close a deal approximately every 13 business days. Thus your goal should be:

“Make 8 calls a day”

Your model will be different, no doubt. Make your goals to fit your company’s needs and shape them into realistic and achievable tasks.

Make A List

Yeah, yeah, we’ve all heard this one before. Make a list and cross off items as you achieve them. But what happens when your list becomes as much a cause for concern as your normal daily tasks? If you are like most business owners, your list doesn’t fit on one page. Even worse, your list becomes a confusing mess once you’ve scratched through a handful of items.

Here’s a tip: your daily list should be no more than 5 Most Important Tasks that need to be achieved before close of business.

We recommend less – like 1 or 2 items, if you can swing it.

For example:

“Make 8 calls today”

“Prepare and deliver SOW for ABC Widget Company”

Your day will be filled with the standard distractions and mandatory daily activities. If you have an orderly list of clear, achievable priorities for the day, you will be able to make sense of your schedule and your business.

Prioritize Your Most Important Tasks

That thing you absolutely have to complete today? Do it first when your mind is fresh and you’re most likely to solve problems better. [nbsp_tc]All the minor irritants of the day can wait (like those emails piling up in your inbox). By placing your most important tasks first, you allow yourself the opportunity to focus on the activities that will lead to greater success and mentally pause all the other tasks of the day that will drag you underwater.

But what if your most important task of the day truly needs to come later in the day? Or what if you feel the most refreshed after your lunchtime walk? Then schedule that time in your calendar and stick to it. Do not make excuses or reschedule this task. It is the priority of your day around which all other tasks can occur.

Here’s a bonus tip:

Call For Help.

Don’t be afraid to delegate your low priority tasks. Don’t hesitate to bring in your assistants. Open yourself to the idea of hiring a coach or leaning on a mentor to keep you accountable to your goals. When you are underwater, your support team will keep you afloat and give you the extra insight to keep moving forward.