Have you ever looked at the clock and thought to yourself that it cannot possibly be 6pm already? Your brain then starts to register that only about two of the 15 items on your to do list for the day have been completed: the list that started out with 15 items in the morning and to which another 10 items were added during the day.
Here are 6 easy to implement, actions that will keep your to do list more manageable:
Keep A Master Action List
- Keep a master list in a separate worksheet on your desktop or in a big book. As new actions arise, add them to the master list.
Transfer Action Into A Weekly Calendar
- Select the 5 most important actions for the week and transfer these into your calendar.
- Allocate enough time within a day to complete each action.
- If one or more of the 5 actions require extensive time, reduce the number of actions for that week.
- If you achieve one important task for every day, you are effectively creating 365 small steps towards reaching a goal in a year. This is significant progress when looking at the bigger picture.
Celebrate Completed Actions:
- Reward yourself for the actions that have been completed.
- Do not lose sight of the importance of the bigger picture as mentioned above.
Review The Master List Monthly:
- Ensure that all important actions are being addressed in order of importance.
- Remove items that have been actioned, but that you did not transfer into a weekly calendar.
Mark Actions That Can Be Completed By An Assistant:
- You really do not need to do everything yourself.
- Mark actions that can be completed by an assistant.
- Schedule these actions in order of importance, and communicate effectively to your assistant, what you ideally expect from them and by when.
Schedule Assistant Follow Up:
- One of your weekly actions should be that of following up on your team.
- Ideally this should be a fixed action in a weekly calendar.
Now that you have read what needs to be done, make sure you get the system into place. Forget the small lists all over the place.
Next week we will be looking at the subject of virtual assistants.
Thank you for reading,
Claire
getorganised.org
