Sunday, January 06, 2008
Preparing to be Productive
I recently read that any well organized person is a person obsessed with lists. It makes sense and I do my fair share of listing, though my lists are not very well thought out. A list is great if you know where to find it... ya think?
As I enter into the first full week of the year, I find myself overwhelmed with the number of things I need to get done. From writing letters to making sales calls, the next two weeks are going to be very busy. Throw in a couple of websites and getting my truck back from the body shop, I’m feeling a little overwhelmed.
A lesson I learned many years ago was to write down a complete list of everything that needs to be done as you think of it and in no particular order. Once you have the master list, take a sheet of paper and draw a big plus sign from top to bottom and side to side. The top left box is for those items that must be done now and above all else, this is the important and urgent box. The box below this one is the urgent not important. Then on the right top, list those items that are important but not urgent, and yes, you guessed that the bottom right box is for items that are not urgent and not important.
Note: At 5:00 A.M. on Sunday morning, writing a blog is not urgent and not important but something I just want to do. This brings up another good point, this method of organizing priorities can also be broken into “roles and goals.” It tends to complicate the process but basically, there are personal, business and other categories that can be created and items can be listed there.
Oh; I do recall that the Urgent/Important concept came from Franklin Planner training (yes I went to a class) and the Roles and Goals concept came from 7 Habits training (yes I went to a class) that I received many years ago.
I have a plan to reach several hundred businesses in the next two weeks, with that in mind, I must prepare to be organized or I will lose control of the information streaming in. Taking time (making time) to consider the day before it starts as well as the day as it ends will help me keep track of all of the new items that will invade my to-do grid.
Another tool that I like to use is a “contact card.” It is something that I have used in the past and it works for me quite well. Basically, I take a stack of 4x6 index cards and run them through my printer. Simple lines for date, time, names, places and a block to staple a business card is all I need. The main areas are for notes and follow ups.
Using the contact cards allow me to physically sort the contacts that need attention, or to put them in follow up piles for later reference. It provides me some assurance that I won’t forget a contact while allowing me to forget them for now so I can concentrate on the urgent/important and new items on my list.
As an experienced application developer, I have been working on a contact manager that would accomplish much of the same tasks but having the pile of cards seems to be more manageable than an obscure database of information.
No matter how you decide to organize your priorities or required tasks, discovering a method that works for you that will allow you be more productive and can bring you more peace, more time and more money.
Labels: planning, small business, tips and tricks
