Time Management Tip: Make A List

As simple as it sounds, making a list can make a huge impact on your daily productivity, and help you sleep better at night.

To help us deal with added responsibilities to our daily duties, our boss hired a Dale Carnegie trainer to help us with time management.  The sessions are 2 1/2 hours long, and we meet once per week for 3 weeks.

One of the questions that the instructor asked our group (there were about 15 of us in the room) is "how many of you do NOT use a daily task list?"  When 13 of the 15 raised their hand, the instructor developed a look of shock and disbelief, but only for a moment (he is a professional, after all).  THAT look on his face spoke volumes to me, and made me realize just how vital it is to proper time management to keep a task list (or a to-do list, or a priority list, whatever you want to call it).

So, to keep this new leaf as green as possible, I have started to keep a list.  I am to put 5 things on that list each morning (things I must get accomplished that day).  Whether it is work-related, home-related, or a personal task, I must make a list each day.

Wish me luck in my new-found desire to have more time to do the things that I need to get done in my life!!

Oh, here's the first list (remember, baby steps!!).

So the first two on the list weren't that lofty, but the instructor said "that's okay.  The most important thing is to get into the habit of making a list."

The only one I dread is washing all 3 dogs.  More on that tomorrow...