A Five Minute Task – For a More Productive Day

At the end of the day, how many of you look back and feel the satisfaction of accomplishment–or do you feel that the day was “lost”?

In my recent personal blog, I speak about spending the day “chasing and trying to corral the chickens”.  This happens far to often to most of us. How many of you find yourself missing deadlines, family events, or your personal workout times because time gets away from you?

Here’s a tip to set up yourself for a successful, productive day.

Take a few minutes at the end of the day & do this little exercise for the next day:
• Decide what is the most important task to get done that day
• Assign a block of time to completing that task
• Stick to the time limits, focus and get it done

It’s that simple. But it means blocking out that time frame from unexpected calls or someone else trying to steal your time away.

There are always distractions and “situations” that tend to get in the way. So here are some tools to use along with this exercise that will help you succeed.

Make sure you use your “magic time” of the day to accomplish your biggest tasks. This is that time of the day when you are most alert and productive. For some of you it is first thing in the morning, for others of you it’s at night when the house is finally quiet. Make sure you are taking full advantage of this special time of day to get the most done.

Identify what your time wasting habits are. This little next little exercise is great for helping you pinpoint where you get “sidetracked” and lose focus throughout the day. Once you know what those things are, it will be easier to stop falling into the same trap everyday. Try this for two to three days:

Set up a notebook with 15 minute increments, such as:
8:00
8:15
8:30
8:45
9:00
Etc.
Now – just make notes of what you’re doing during those times. It won’t take you long to figure out how you might be wasting time AND when you are most productive.

As business coach, Dan Kennedy, says, “If you don’t plan your day, someone else will plan it for you.”

Of course you will want to plan for relaxing and fun times too. And you’ll have more time to work those in when you are accomplishing your goal for each day.

Remember:
• Decide what is the most important task to get done that day
• Assign a block of time to completing that task
• Stick to the time limits, focus and get it done

I hope you’ll try this formula for creating a more productive day and being more time efficient – I’d love to hear how it works for you.