Getting Critical Things Accomplished Everyday

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a business owners; a mother; a sister; or a brother, we are all time-starved it seems, constantly fighting the daily clock trying to accomplish all the “stuff” we need to accomplish on a day to day basis.

I have learned from failure, that unless I develop “simple” approaches to my daily activities, I just won’t do them and this includes my daily “to do” system.  So, I have used a process or system for the past year in getting more of the important things accomplished everyday.

And guess what?  It has made a huge difference both personally and professionally in getting things accomplished.  So, here it is:

6 Simple Steps To Getting Critical Things Accomplished Every Day

1. At night, list the 6 most important, critical things you need to accomplish the next day. These can be both business and personal.  Stop developing lists with 85 things on it.  Two things occur when you use this approach.  First, it’s impossible to complete a list with too many items on it, making you feel like you didn’t accomplish your goals for that day.  Second, with too many items on your list, too many times you end up doing things on the list that aren’t really that important.  Also, get in the habit of writing your list the night before so you hit the ground running when you start your day.
2. To Do’s must be in writing – When you write it down, it becomes real and you won’t forget what you need to accomplish.  Also, while you sleep, your sub conscious works on what needs to be done.    
   
3. Post the amount of of time it will take to accomplish each task – If you have a meeting that will take 6o minutes, post that on your To Do list, so that you don’t overbook your time.
4. For all To Do’s that have a specific time frame, post and reserve the time in your calendar
   
5. Do all the most difficult things on your list as early in the day as possible – Get them done, before “stuff happens” that will stop you from accomplishing your critical To Do’s. Of course, your scheduled times will be accomplished at the appropriate time.
6. Take Action – Pick a day, the sooner the better, to get started.

The most important step listed above is to Take Action; without action nothing happens.