So how (and how often) do you do your to-do list?
Do you...
- make a bullet pointed list on paper
then scratch thing off - A digital list on your iPhone Notepad (or popular apps Any.do or Astrid)
- Perhaps categorize?
- Or Color Coordinate?
I really am curious of your habits around this practice (that I think most people do, right?). So many options and so much TO DO! Each having different places, priority levels, and time commitments. And of course, there is always that one thing (or 10 things!) that inevitably get pushed to the next day or week. I'd like to offer a best practice I started using a few months ago. It has helped me prioritize, understand where/how/when/why I'm spending my time, and procrastinate less.
DO THIS: Next to each task, simply write down the number of minutes you feel that task will take. So it may look like this:
5 Call Bob about Intro
10 Email CCR about Contract
10 KRD Follow-up
30 CRM Rollout Notes
25 Call Mom
20 Update Pipeline
5 Call Jennifer F
20 Prepare ABC Proposal
(I make the list, then go back and jot down the number of minutes) I then circle the number of the most urgent task(s). In this list above, I know I need to carve out roughly two hours to complete this to-do list. Knowing this total time is key, as it allows me to budget my time appropriately through-out the day and save certain tasks for certain times (such as making my follow-up calls during my commute).
More importantly, it keeps me on task. After those two hours, do I have all those to-do's crossed off? How efficient was I? What am I wasting time on? White space in our calendar is so valuable; this simple practice will help us respect and cherish those little windows even more.
Give it a whirl and see if helps. As always, I'd love to hear your best practices in the comments below or via email at salesdrummer@gmail.com. Happy Selling!
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