As we strive for continuous improvements around the office, we thought it would be good to share with one another how we get focused for each day. I’ll be honest – I’ve probably tried more planners and apps than most to try to get myself organized and every method fell by the wayside – until it didn’t! Here are a few methods that may work for you – or share your own with us!! I’m always on the lookout!
1. Wing It!!
Get to work (or your desk at home), sit down and just go at it. Emails on, phone on, calendar buzzing. This happens more than I would like and I usually end up shutting down at the end of the day wondering what I worked on, why I’m so tired and still stressed, and why it feels like nothing really got done.
2. Time Blocker!
I have tried this, but not successfully. This method essentially has blocks of time reserved for every minute of your day. 30 minutes for emails. 1 hour for a site layout. 45 minutes for project scheduling. 5 minutes to see a man about a horse… you get the drift. If you have a very defined job and goals and know your own work pace, this may work for you.
3. List Maker!
Similar to the time block, but with more freedom. Essentially a running list of “to-do’s” is kept and crossed off one at a time. Some people may categorize them by completion time required, by project, priority or even by revenue produced, but the list is ever-present. Things get added as other things get crossed off. Rewarding in that crossing something off always feels good!
4. Apps!
This one could get interesting. I have tried reminder apps, Monday, Ninety.io, Slack, etc. Some just reinforce your list or your time blocking, which is great. Some socially shame you into getting stuff done. Some provide timers. New ones are using AI to pull todos from chats and emails and even prioritize them for you. I have a feeling this may be where we’re headed eventually – virtual assistants on steroids!
5. Combine and Simplify!
Here’s what is currently working for me. Each week I create an overview of progress I want to make and which day would be best to work on it. Then, each morning before I look at emails, I physically write down (not type) no more and no less than three things I want to get done that day. It could be just to reply to an email I had forgotten about or to wrap up a review of a drainage report or to write a blog post! I’ll transfer those to a task in my calendar with an alert for that afternoon. This helps me to stay flexible and handle fires through the day.
So – What works for you? Any of these? A combination of them? Some other magic bullet that I have missed?!?