Planning makes a difference
I wrote this booklet when my life was simpler. I was an entrepreneur and had more control over my schedule and workload. For the last year, I have been working at a very busy nonprofit organization and commuting to work, spending 2-3 hours a day commuting! I am often out of the house from 7:30am until 7:30pm. On the days when I socialize or exercise after work I don’t get home until 9:30pm or 10:00pm. Needless to say, my life has become a lot busier in the last year.
The good news is, I have found that my ABCs and 123s of Getting Stuff Done technique still works even though my life and work have been put on fast-forward. What makes the biggest difference is taking making the time to plan. If I set aside just 10 minutes a day every morning before I start working my day goes by so much smoother and I am WAY more productive. It makes a huge difference.
There are just too many things coming at us these days. It is nearly impossible to stay focused and remember what our priorities are. Each morning I sit down and write down everything I want to accomplish today or this week. I also look at yesterday’s to do list, anything I did not complete gets moved to today’s to do list. I then prioritize my tasks. No matter how many “emergencies”, distractions, or interruptions happen during the day, I always have my to do list to refer to that gets me back on track.
On those very stressful days when I feel like I have accomplished nothing I am often amazed when I look at my to do list and see just how many things have been crossed off the list.
Do you take the time to plan and prioritize your day?
If you need help getting started check out the little booklet I wrote. It only takes 10 minutes to read.