Make Every Minute Count: 3 Proven Steps to Achieve More with Less Stress

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Holidays, vacations, conferences, stay-cations—no matter which it is or how long you’re gone, if you’ve stepped away from your office and your email Inbox for a stretch of time, you may have dreaded the “re-entry” period when you returned. Hundreds of emails probably poured in while you were out.

You may take a break, but email doesn’t.

Email never stops. It’s the most ubiquitous (and troublesome) form of communication we use and while a lot of tasks and follow ups arrive through email, it’s not the ONLY source of tasks in your workday.?

You’ve heard me say it before and I’ll say it again (and again)…

There are more than 10 different sources of tasks in your workday. These sources include phone calls, texts, meetings, social media, hallway conversations, IMs, teams software, project software, the papers and files on your desk, and many more.

You may feel the burden of this even if you hadn’t counted up the many places tasks are coming from.

On top of this, you might be feeling frustrated as you try to keep track of all of them. You might be stressed out about how to prioritize. You might be worried about forgetting a follow up or missing a deadline, too.

Without a safe, central place to put tasks—where you KNOW you can stay in control—you’re likely to worry that something (or many things!) will slip through the cracks. This is when uncertainty and stress both go up.

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An Average Approach to Productivity Yields Average Progress and Results

To stay on top of tasks, you might grab the nearest legal pad, notebook, or steno pad to get tasks on paper so you won’t forget.

Unfortunately, however, when a to-do list is written on paper, it becomes ONE more source of tasks that has to be juggled with all the rest.

Like many of the old task and time management methods, the to-do list on paper is NOT the answer for the most efficient, effective management of tasks and follow-ups.

It’s an average approach to getting things done that will yield only average progress and average results.

Yes, paper gives you temporary safety, because you can get something out of your head, but paper is a tool, not a system, and a to-do list on paper will NEVER bridge the gap where an effective task management system is needed.

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An Optimal Approach to Productivity Yields Optimal Progress and Results

Instead of settling for average progress and results, there are 3 simple steps you can take to manage tasks MOST effectively so you can optimize your time and make bigger strides in your workday.

As a result, you’ll gain more clarity and control of tasks, increase confidence that you’re spending your time wisely, and feel accomplished at the end of the day.

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CENTRALIZE

Tasks you find should be added to a central, digital Task List, which is the ONLY kind of list that can contain ALL of your tasks. And I don’t mean that little task app on your phone. I mean a FULL task list on your computer where you have plenty of space for descriptive action steps and you can see more than just today’s tasks. THEN you can synchronize it with your phone.

Your goal is to achieve 100% awareness of ALL responsibilities. Leave no stone unturned when you start looking for tasks. Look for every action step, to-do, follow-up, idea, and reminder.

Review, question, and make decisions about everything you find while you’re looking. Which items are for future reference? Which items are reminders for action or follow up? What do you want to read, delegate, give away, or toss? What information do you want to save? You’ll be able to streamline and organize while you look for tasks.

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REALIZE

When you “realize” what your tasks really are, you’re bringing them to life and making them real. They’re not just an idea rolling around in your head, a project on the back burner, an email stuck in the Inbox, or a can you’re kicking down the road because you don’t know how or where to begin.

Your mission is to recognize a task when you see one and then describe it so it’s easy and achievable. How do you do that? By identifying the FIRST action step to get something started or the NEXT action step to keep something moving forward.

Here are a few tips…

???? ?? ?? Make your tasks reflect SMALL action steps, not multi-step tasks or projects.

Not to be an under-achiever… ?? …but because research shows that when you take small action steps, one after the next, you’ll get steady forward movement in your day—every day—and that’s progress!

It’s the opposite of trying to do too much or tackling something too big, which only causes you to hesitate or procrastinate.

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???? Add plenty of detail when describing your tasks.

Include the “why” behind the action step you’re taking. Why are you making that call? Why are you reviewing this report? What are you looking for? What’s your end goal?

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???? ?? ?? Each task should get a specific target date of action.

Before you start feeling trapped by action dates, let me assure you, these are not set in stone. You have to have a place to start—a PLAN. But it’s CHANGEABLE. ?

???? ?? ?? Make each day’s list of tasks short and sweet.

You can’t do everything today, so plan a few important tasks for today and plan action for the rest on future days or in future weeks or months. This is another great reason to be as descriptive as possible when describing tasks. You’re not going to take action on everything this week.

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PRIORITIZE

There are two important parts of a task that generate progress. One is knowing WHAT you need to do. The other is knowing WHEN you need to do it.

This is where paper to-do lists get most people into trouble. A list on some form of paper—and even in a task app on your phone—only contains a brain dump of WHAT a person can think of, but not WHEN they will take action.

Deadlines are important for sure, but what matters most to your PROGRESS are the action dates for each of your tasks. Think DO Date, not DUE Date.

Make decisions about WHEN you want to take action on each and every task. All of a sudden, it’ll be a piece of cake to prioritize tasks.

You’ll have all tasks all in one view and then you can easily compare them and make smart decisions about how to spend your time. You’ll know what needs action today or this week and what must wait until next week or next month.

No matter how far out you want to take action in the future, you can rest assured that your tasks are there on the list and ready for action, complete with all of the details and descriptions you need.

And when your day changes and priorities shift, you’ll have the power to pivot very quickly, make new decisions, reprioritize, and keep making progress—all without missing, losing, or forgetting anything.

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Want to make your workday easier and more efficient??

Be sure to join our Productive Day? community so you don’t miss our upcoming webinars and programs. Stay tuned for more details.

In the meantime, be sure to take advantage of the Free Resources on our website so you can take control of your workday starting NOW and make more progress with a LOT less stress: https://productiveday.com/#welcome .

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