Last night I couldn’t sleep, thinking about everything I had to do and everyone I had to do things for. This is a clear (and exhausting) message that I need to get my “to do” list under control; get everything out of my head and onto paper (or PDA as your case may be).
As with every other type of Organizing, there are as many ways to write “to do” lists as there are personal styles. But, there are two major types:
Type 1: “My head is spinning. I can’t think straight. I have so much on my mind. I have to get it down on paper so I can function.”
Type 2: “My time is out of control. I’m busy but not getting anything important done. What am I doing with my life?”
Because you need to be able to think straight to do Type 2, we’re going to start with Type 1. There are at least 50 ways to prioritize your to do list.
I’ll share a couple of ideas with you, but it will have to be a personal solution that ends up working for you.
Choose your media. Do you like to write on paper or type into your electronic gadget? Do you need a large piece of paper / screen or a small one? Don’t like lists and like to move around? Maybe you need a large white board.
Personally, I like a large lined paper pad. I write big and like lots of room for sections.
Create separate lists for Personal and Work.
Personal would be you, your family, your home and your friends.
Work would be your business, your job and your volunteer work.
If you are so stressed you can’t think about categories or priorities, just do a brain dump. Write down everything that’s bouncing around in your head and get it out of there. Once you clear the mental clutter out of your head, you will be able to think about priorities.
For each list, Personal and Work, chose a way to prioritize. Here are some ideas:
Numbers:
A client who is a math teach likes numbers. He separates his list into sections labeled 1-5 and gives each task a number.
You might like letters:
A B, C, Z
Colors?
Red for “very hot task; have to do it right away”
Blue for “not urgent, but want to do it soon”
Green for “can wait a month”
Yellow for “nice, but the world won’t end if I never get to it”
Date driven?
Give each task a date for the next step. (You might like a ticker file, a kind of upright calendar made out of folders.)
Where you do it sections:
Phone calls
Office / Laptop / PC
Out in the Car
In the House
(these are not priorities, so you would have to prioritize within these sections, a little more complicated)
People Person?
This is my type of list. Here’s an example of my list sections by priority.
Personal:
Me / health and wellness (wishful thinking puts me on top) Try to take care of yourself.
Family
Friends
House
Work:
Current Clients
Current Speaking Engagements
Newsletter and Website
Networking
Admin/ Finance / AP/AR
New Ideas /workshops /articles etc.
How to get it done:
Those are some ideas on how to WRITE your “to do” list; how to execute it is the next step.
The reason you identified priorities is because you can’t do 50 things at once, so FOCUS on your top priority tasks. There is no such thing as spare time, so if you want to get it done, schedule time in your calendar for your top priorities. “Calendar” assumes you have a master calendar that can travel with you. Choose your calendar media (paper or electronic gadget). Have one master that you sync up with others each Sunday evening.
This is a start to unclutter your brain and get your thoughts organized. I’ll address the Type 2 “to do” list (“My time is out of control. I’m busy but not getting anything important done. What am I doing with my life?” in another article on Time / Life Management.
Need help with this process? Call me and we can walk through it together or schedule a personal Time Management session.
