Daily List
Have you ever looked at your to-do list and said that there's not enough time in the day to get it done? I'm here to share a very short tip that will help you keep that list in check. I call it the "Daily Five."
Here's what you do:
- Look at your to-do list
- Choose five things that can be done within an hour's time
- Set a timer for one hour
- Get those tasks done
Even if you aren't able to do anything else that day, you will have done five things already! The great thing about this strategy is that you can repeat it as many times as you need to. In addition to this, learn how to use any downtime that you have in order to get things done.
Downtime is important
As I often tell my clients, one of the reasons why we run out of time when trying to get things done is because we don't recognize downtime.
- For example, what are you doing while you're sitting in the waiting room at the doctor's office?
- Waiting for your kids to come out of school or practice?
- Standing in the line at the grocery store?
One of my workshop attendees emailed me recently to let me know that he was using the time between baseball innings to respond to text messages and emails. The next day, he ended up selling a car and earning a rather nice commission. Why? It was because he used the downtime he had during the baseball game and came across this customer's message! What will happen for you when you learn to recognize and use downtime and incorporate the Daily Five regimen into your business day?
How to utilize your downtime
Learning to recognize and take advantage of downtime can also yield results in your family life as well. The five or ten minutes in between conference calls or meetings could be used to...
- Send a group text out to the family asking about everyone's day
- Send a message to your spouse or significant other
- Order dinner
- Order a gift for a special occasion -- anything at all!
If you work from home, using those minutes to interact with the family goes a long way and may even lead to you having more peace while you work as well as giving you something to look forward to after you're done for the day.
Another advantage of recognizing and using downtime is that it helps you to get through the day faster, giving you more time to get other things done. Growing up, one of my teachers told me that the key to getting my homework done was to start with the work that took the shortest amount of time. Listening to that advice kept me from spending three hours a night on homework!
It's all about prioritizing your tasks to see what you can knock out quickly so that the bigger, more demanding jobs don't seem so ominous. The same principle applies in business as well.
Helping others & Seizing opportunities
Not only that, recognizing and using downtime allows you to help others around you to complete the tasks they have as well. When you finish, you can help someone else who is under the gun to complete their tasks on time, thus fostering a collaborative relationship that could yield dividends in the future. Although you may want to take your ball and go home once you're done, sticking around to help someone else could be noticed by the right person at the right time. That could create an opportunity for you in the future! It's all in how you look at your time.
A final thing that recognizing and using downtime can do for you is free you up to take advantage of any opportunity that you turned down due to not having the time to do it. Now, this isn't always the case as many opportunities we say no to disappear as soon as the word leaves our lips. However, there are those golden moments in time when the person we said no to holds on to the project because they are holding out to see if things change because they genuinely desire for us to be involved. These favors don't come around often, so if you notice that one is still on the table and time is allowing you to do it because you made downtime work for you, then jump on it quickly!
Combining the Daily Five with recognizing and taking advantage of downtime is a great way to complete those mundane business tasks that we as business owners don't particularly care to spend a lot of time doing. It helps even when you delegate tasks to others!
Once you have dissected your list and assigned tasks to those on your team, you can prioritize your part, get it done, and then use that time to set yourself up for success on the next day. Who doesn't want to go into their business day with a head start?
Effective time management, while sometimes difficult, can dramatically increase productivity and lead to a higher level of personal satisfaction because nothing feels better than getting things done with a little freedom on the back end! Knowing how to leverage the time that you have makes things easier for everyone involved in or affected by the outcome of the work that you do. There won't be unnecessary delay due to them waiting for you to do your part of the job because it will already be done! You can pass it off to the next person and move on with your day.
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