Hi there again,
Came across the famous ‘List 5 things to do tomorrow’ idea a couple of weeks ago. I used to do this all the time but ended up giving it up as the 5 things I choose turned out to be actions that took more than a day each so were never done. Bad plan.
This time round, I have restricted the list to 5 things that I can actually do during a day where the phones ring constantly and emails pile in. The results? Well I am getting through more of the big stuff that is important than just reacting to the latest call or message. Having help is good too, as at least you can look at what you do and decide if you really need to be the one to do it.
The way I have been looking at this is to decide what actions are the ones that only I can do – all the rest can be delegated. If not, why not? Writing this Blog needs me to do it – so far.
What is worth doing when writing your list, is to do it at the end of the working day – and write it down. Just by doing this, you will end up pondering some of the issues and hurdles involved in actually completing these tasks by the time you get to them the next day. It’s a classic case of sleeping on it and seeing what happens. Since I started doing my own list, I have managed to sort out some fairly complex issues, mostly by not thinking about them too much but at least having them there and mulling them over until some solutions present themselves.
The extra advantage of making your list in this way, is that if you don’t get all 5 items done, all you do is carry them over to the next day and then you have more time to come up with solutions.
It’s worth giving this a go – what have you got to lose?
All the best, Roy Lewis