Getting on top of your to do list

Prompted by my admission on LinkedIn yesterday that it took me 46 seconds to do a job that’s been on my to do list for 4 months, here are my top tips for tackling your to do list.

They’re not all to dos

You need to be realistic about what you are expecting from a to do list.

Not all tasks we put on our list were born equal. These are just *some* of the reasons why you might put a job on the list:

a)?? ?As not to forgetting something (“update the online food shop order”)

b)?? ?Manage to-do items in line with deadlines (“apply for entrepreneur of the year award”)

c)?? ?To give some head space for thoughts you have when you wake up at 5 am (“are we going on holiday this year”)

d)?? ?To delegate tasks to team members (“ask Rachael to send newsletter for Thurs”)

Be clear about this because it will make a difference to how and what you use to manage your tasks.

Main bit of advice? Be dead clear on what is a to do action and what is just a thought. Only put tasks which you can actually achieve TODAY on your day to day to do list.

The rest need to be allocated to a long term project, diary or else where. Or guess what? They'll stay on that list as there is no way you can possibly achieve them!

One size does not fit all

Meaning you don’t have to have one tool / place to manage all of your to-do items:

• Personal to dos may need to go on a shared tool with house members - we love a shared Google calendar in our house.
• Team to do's need to go on a shared Project Management tool (think Trello, Asana, ClickUp, Monday.com)
• Deadlines to meet? Diary or PM tool with reminders.
• Day-to-day to do list - works just as well on a bit of paper if it’s just for your benefit. PM tool if sharing with a team.

If it only takes 2 minutes, just do it!

Nothing is more overwhelming than a massive to-do list, which can make it incredibly hard to work even if many of those things are quick 2-minute wins so…if it only takes 2 minutes, JUST DO IT!

Outsource your to do list

Want to learn how to outsource your to do list?

It’s my quarterly outsourcing workshop coming up on 19th May at 1pm. 1.5 hours to identify exactly how you can successfully outsource the jobs on your to do list - book on here.

Or, if you're drowning in your inbox of to do's or spending hours chasing team members for project updates, pop me a message for a chat about how we can upgrade your business operationally to allow for growth.