you can win the day.
Here are some tricks on how to avoid useless activities, and focus on productive tasks instead.
Maintaining a to-do list of one-off items can be awkward at times. You jot down items as you think of them, and end up with something more like a recorded stream of consciousness than a to-do list. And yet, in order to get more done in a day, you need to use lists.
Excellence means: keep your momentum going
until the very, very, very end.”
Working through your items in the order you thought of them, is a time-consuming and scattered approach. Here are four tips to keep you on track with your task management.
Tricks: Put Your List in Order Of Importance
When you make a to-do list of one-off items, craft it in order of priority. Don’t just look through the list and try to mentally grab which tasks are most important for today. Commit to a prioritized list so that you’re not tempted to waste time on easier or less-important tasks.
Spend a minute putting the items in order of priority — look through your notes, (because a list that isn’t prioritized is really just a collection of notes) and number them in order of importance (or, if you use a browser-based, digital list app, you might be able to simply slide tasks up and down based on importance).
Put a checkbox next to the item if you like. Nothing is more rewarding that ticking a box at the end of completing a task, and seeing your list of items get smaller. It’s hugely motivating, and definitely pleasurable.
Tricks: Set Deadlines for Projects
Deadlines are unfortunately named. “Deadline” sounds oppressive and foreboding. Nonetheless, deadlines are important, especially for projects that require a series of related tasks.
When you are managing your own time it can be hard to stay self-motivated enough to push on through. We all want to be nice to ourselves and give ourselves a break from restrictions like a deadline, but a deadline is actually very healthy.
Remember, a project is always sexiest in its beginning phases. Many people lose interest during the last 30% of a project. That’s when people lose their momentum and urgency, they take too long to complete the simplest of tasks; they stop checking their own work and things fall through the cracks. Excellence means: keep your momentum going until the very, very, very end.
Tricks: Make Your List Unavoidable
Put your list, or at least your priority items, in an unavoidable place. Give it top billing. Make it the star of the show. Shine the spotlight on it!
Use desktop files or a phone reminder. Or print out your list on your desk. Anything short of a tattoo to your forehead, as long as it helps give your list the energy and attention it deserves.
This is going too far for most of you, but I actually created a special easel for my clipboards (see photo above) that I keep right next to my standing desk, so that all I have to do throughout the day is glance up and see everything I need — proudly and accurately displayed. It really helps me to stay on track!
(For those of you who spend much of your time in the car or travelling from appointment to appointment, you’d probably be better off with a smartphone application.)
Tricks: Celebrate!
The Law Of Attraction shows us that what we give our energy, time, attention, and focus to, is eventually amplified. By celebrating your successes and making a fuss over your own accomplishments, The Universe will be compelled to send you more successes. So reward yourself! Too many people can be hard on themselves and choose the stick over the carrot.
If there’s a small, useful item that you want to buy, a restaurant you want to visit, or a new theatrical or speaking event in town, then make it a reward for completing your priority tasks, or finishing that project or getting that bonus!
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I use a notepad as my running list. At the end of the day I place it front and center on my desk so when I walk in the next day it is the first thing I see and the first item I review. This helps me set the tone for the morning.
thanks to Sean Cameron for his help with this feature and video