Weekly Goal Review – part 3 of 3
In previous posts, I taught you what a List Binder is and how to make one, and a strategy for scheduling your Work Days. But what do you do when you go home?
Weekly List Review – part 2 of 3
How to Schedule Your Work Week.
Last week, I told you about a strategy to organize all the different projects and responsibilities you have going on in your life. Now that you have all the "next steps" that you need to do written down for every project, it's STILL paralyzing. There's so much to do, and you will still be stuck trying to decide what the most important thing you should be working on is.
This week, I'm going to help you break that giant binder full of lists into ONE LIST of actions that you are going to tackle this week.
** Note, this strategy is best for your WORK DAY, when you have eight full hours to dedicate to the tasks. I use a different strategy to plan my PERSONAL LIFE and PERSONAL GOALS, which I'll go over in part 3. If your work is more flexible (if you are self-employed for example and are free to mix up personal chores and professional obligations) your resulting system might be a mix of the two strategies.
The List Binder (part 1 of 3)
Never Let Anything Slip Through the Cracks Again!
Do you ever get the feeling that there's something important that you're NOT doing? There's something... ARGH- it was right on the tip of your brain!
Isn't it infuriating to have a spare moment to think and you KNOW you could be maximizing it to its full potential if you JUST. KNEW. WHAT. TO. DO!
Then the moment passes, and you find something else to occupy the time.
Weeks later you're reminded of a project you were assigned to and - DRAT, the deadline is coming up and now you're snowed under with tasks!
At work and in my life I have a LOT going on. A lot of different projects and responsibilities, all with different tasks, different priority levels, different timelines, different consequences and rewards. It's a lot to keep on top of, and I certainly couldn't do it on my own.
Recently I started using a system I've nicknamed the "One Note Binder" (because I designed it when I was frustrated that I couldn't use Microsoft OneNote at work) or the "List Binder". I thought I'd share my process with you all...
Perfect Project Planning
We all have things we'd like to do: things for work, things for the family, things for professional development or personal satisfaction. Often these tasks can be grouped together into "projects".
A project is a series of actions executed to achieve a certain goal.
This is the process I usually follow to plan my projects. It involves setting a deadline and then working backwards, figuring out everything you need to do and when. As an example, let's use "Planning a trip home for a family reunion".
BIG ROCKS
This story was told to me in a time management seminar. It really stuck with me, and I looked around for a good video or summary, but I couldn't find one. So I drew it out really quickly (and I mean REALLY quickly, like over my lunch break kinda thing, so I apologize for that). It's kind of a third-hand story, and it originally belongs to the Highly Effective Stephen R. Covey.
Get Boring Stuff Done Faster
Parksville, Vancouver Island