Nothing can drain your enthusiasm faster than to start your workday overwhelmed by the mountain of to-do’s that you have mentally logged. Because the majority of today’s work is done in our minds, we often have a hard time knowing when things are done and what the next step is to completing the project. Sound familiar?
If you’re currently procrastinating and are looking for a way out of your to-do list anxiety, here are three quick steps to becoming more productive, today.
Step #1: Do a mind dump
Your mind is like a computer. The more processes you have going at one time, the slower your ability to process new information is. Every time you make a mental note of something you need to do, a call that needs to be made or a bill that needs to be paid, all of these mental notes add up to anxiety. The problem isn’t that you’ll forget, it comes in not knowing what to do next or where to start. The solution? A mind dump. Here’s how:
First, this process could take up to an hour or two. Make sure you have enough time to mentally engage in this process. Otherwise, this will just become another to-do that will add to your anxiety.
- Take out your trusted notebook (paper, electronic, it does not matter, as long as you trust it as the source for information)
- Turn off everything that’s currently distracting you (Twitter, Facebook, email, phone, TV…you name it)
- Now start thinking. For every project or to-do that comes up, write it down. Don’t worry about order or logic, just write it down. If you run out of things to think about, here are some words and phrases that will jog your to-do memory:
- commitments to others, boss, family, customers, phone calls, emails, letters, memos, blog, finances, Christmas presents, event planning, meetings, travel, bank, sales, inbox, things to learn, housework, chores, research, education, and shopping
Step #2: Identify as Task or Project
The next step is to organize your to-do list in a simple and logical way. A key to this is understanding the difference between a project and a task. A project is anything that requires more than one to-do to complete; like Christmas shopping. A task is something that can be completed in one step; like a returned phone call.
- Identify items as a Project or Task
With projects, the best thing to do is start a new page, write the project name down (Buy Christmas Presents), then create your task list (Buy Kyle a Kindle, Buy sister a Starbucks card, Buy mom a new car, etc).
For your Tasks, you can organize them one or two ways:
- By context: work, home, calls, computer, boss, wife, etc
- By responsibilities: Motiveight, Halogen, Help-Portrait, church, etc.
The key to feeling on top of your task list is knowing what you need to do, not guessing.
Step #3: Sort, delegate and go
Using the same sorting method I talk about in “Three Quick Steps to a Zero Inbox,” next, we’re going to tag your tasks and projects. Remember, if you can do it in two minutes or less, DO IT. If you can delegate it to someone else, delegate it. If you’re the only one who can do it, then mark it as follows:
- @Action – Anything that needs to be done by a certain time or date
- @Someday – Things that need to be done, but don’t require a timely response
- @Follow Up – Things you’ve delegated that need followed up
By this point, you should have a much clearer view of what you need to do. No doubt that it won’t take long for you to realize why you are so overwhelmed. That’s a lot of stuff in your head. Your next step is to figure how to organize this information in a way that’s useful for you. Some people use software, others write each task/project on an individual sheet of paper. Others keep it all in a notebook. You decide what’s best for you. My only advice is to commit to your method and don’t change midstream. If you do, it will undermine your trust in the process and you’ll start to log everything mentally again.
Going Deeper
If you want to take your task management to another level, I highly recommend the book, Getting Things Done (Amazon link). I also recommend that you utilize task management software to organize, prioritize and contextualize your to-do’s. My current favorite is Things. You can read about a couple of other software programs I reviewed here.
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