Now this may seem terribly obvious to some and just totally ridiculous to others. But there is power in actually physically writing down a “To List” or making a “Priority List”. I’ve been doing this for years and let me tell you, when you get older and particularly if a child or two or three has passed through your hips, you tend to get what I like to call “Mummy Brain” or temporary memory loss from time to time. Relying on ones memory to get things done and especially in the current climate of ‘busyness’ just doesn’t cut it anymore.
So I thought I would share some ideas that have helped me over the years. Now firstly you have to understand that I am a Capricorn and Capricorns LOVE lists. Lists for absolutely every little thing. It’s how I survive. What I really love doing is crossing off, ticking, putting a huge black line through stuff once I know it has been achieved. Just the physical act of doing that has a certain power of fulfilment and accomplishment in it. Even if you feel you haven’t been all that productive in a day, you can look back at that list with all the crosses and ticks through it and know that at least some things have been taken care of and you really are still putting one foot in front of the other and that my friend, is progress.
Now I have what is called a ‘Day Book’ and this goes way back to my years spent in insurance. We used to have carbon ‘Day Books’ whereby we had tear out sheets that were numbered. Every time someone called up to obtain a quote, we would write down the details of what we were insuring and write down the price. If the client didn’t take up the policy there and then, we gave them the quote number for them to call back later and we could easily track it and see precisely the details and price so there was no argument. Now please understand I am not quite that anal now with the numbering and the carbon paper but I do still use ‘Day Books’ for both my businesses and for personal use. They are quite simply A4 notebooks that I purchased from my local stationary store – I think I bought 4 for around $7. Each page is able to be torn out so that once I have completely ruled out and ticked off all items on two pages back to back, I would remove the page and bin it. Nice and clean. I find that the more clutter there is around, the more stressed I get – but that’s another blog post entirely! Any ideas I have – I write them down. At the end of each day I write down the next day’s day and date and make a list of all of the activities I wish to complete that day.
Now, I don’t completely worry about getting through it all – that will make you kind of obsessive and crazy. Just so long as I prioritize the important stuff and get that done then I feel pretty good with myself. I also like to take my ‘Day Book’ to any trainings I go to for my businesses. This makes it really easy to transpose my notes over to any action steps I wish to take and then I can either remove the page and file it or bin it once I have actioned everything I need to. I make a note of 90 Day Plans, ideas, strategies, anything at all. In my personal ‘Day Book’ I simply have it on my desk throughout the day and I use it as a tool to not allow myself to become distracted with personal stuff. So if I remember that I need to call my son’s School about that After School Hours invoice or book an appointment with the Dentist – I write it down in my ‘Day Book’ and when I have allocated time to take care of that, I do it then rather than it eating into my work time and allowing it to distract me. What I find works best in my personal ‘Day Book’ is just to make a running list – not categorize it into days and dates. I look back on the list fairly regularly and once in a while I might highlight entries with a highlighting texta to remind myself that there are urgent items that require my attention that particular day.
Of course it doesn’t need to be A4 in size, A5 or even smaller can work equally as well – especially if you are on the road a lot as it is something that will fit nicely into a handbag or briefcase. Just make sure it has a bright colour on the cover so it grabs your attention and you don’t forget about it.
Finally, the other ‘list’ I keep is a “Priority List”. This baby I use when I know I have loads to do in a day and really need to get it all done. I put the day and date at the top and then have notes at the top to remind me of such things as to place business tasks at the top of the list and to number each item according to its importance. For instance, if I have clients to call back, that would be at number 1. Next to each entry I put a time on it. So if it is calling newspapers to submit a Press Release I might allow 1 hour to do that. If it’s checking my Facebook page for any comments, I might put aside maybe 15 minutes for that. Now I will set a timer for each entry and make sure I stick to that time. Otherwise, if I don’t, I know I won’t be able to get through all of the tasks in that day that I need to. Once the timer goes off, I stop that task and move onto the next one. I know it sounds quite military and regimented, but believe me, when you work from home, discipline is KING! Under these notes I have a list of objectives numbered from 1 to 10. I don’t usually have more than 10 on a list as I have found from experience that I tend to become overwhelmed. Underneath number 10 I have a schedule starting at the time I start working in the morning and finishing up when I stop working at night. So yes there will be a double up but it helps to re-focus your time when you are looking at what the time is and seeing where you are on the schedule to visually see if you are getting things done and on time.
This may seem like a lot to those who are pretty cruisy and those of you who are analysts and accountants may love it. It is by no means definitive and quite clearly – what works for one will not be a ‘one size fits all’ solution. I hope you can use this as a guide to assist you with time management and helping you to become more efficient and effective with your time. And particularly if you are Networker and balancing a full-time job, family and your business. I welcome your comments and feedback as if you have a system that works for you, please share it!! You could be saving someone from drowning in their own paperwork.