Fitting it all into a day, a week . . . a career

How to decide which writing books, courses, seminars, and conferences to invest money and time in:

1. Set three objectives or goals relative to your writing, such as
a. a specific number of magazine or Web sales during the next year, orb. sales to certain magazines or websites, orc. specific book project(s) completed and published, ord. a certain dollar income from your writing business, ore. entering a new writing field, orf. adding a specific number of new clients.
2. Then, when considering books, courses, groups, seminars, conferences, ask, "Will it help achieve one of these goals?" If it will, go ahead with it.
3. If, because of time or money restraints, you must decide on only one of several qualifying books or conferences, determine which will give you the most value per hour and/or dollar invested.

OK, you've set your writing, business, and personal goals for the next year, and you're really trying to reach them, but there's a problem: too much to do, too many goals; not enough time, not enough money. Which projects, purchases, ideas should you pursue?

Answer the following questions about each possibility to help you set priorities:

• 
  Will it help achieve one of my high priority goals?
• Will it contribute significantly (at least 20%) to my income?
• Will it cut costs significantly?
• Will it contribute significantly to better time management?
• Will it negatively affect my income in large amount if not done?
• Will people suffer significantly if not done?
• Will it have a large negative impact on my business position if not done?