Stay Focused with A Daily Task Plan
1. I listen to Beethoven or some other classical
composer playing very quietly in the background. If I am home working I
like the TV on very quietly. I never know what they are saying, but the
background noise helps me focus for some reason.
2.Accordion file. I number it for each day of the month. When I have a task to do I print it out and put it in the file for the date I need to address it. Every morning, I sit down, check my email, and pull out that day’s tasks. Once I work through them, that pressure is gone. I no longer have that nagging feeling that I may have missed something important.
3.Exercise. Every hour or so, I get up and walk around. I just need to get my face out of the computer and get the wiggles out. I find that a few minutes away helps me, then it is right back to the grind.
4.Plan B. Under the “must-do” pile, I have other tasks that need to get done. When I am done with my daily stuff, I can transition right into the next group of things to do. I don’t have to hunt for more work and get distracted. If I wait until I am out of things to do for the day to decide what to do next, I will take forever to decide what to work on.
5.Planning. At the end of the day, I get my Plan B things ready for the next day. I find that once I am in my groove for the day, it is easier for me to plan the day before for the next day comes.
6.Just do it. The first task of the day is the hardest to start. Once I do it, the rest just flows. The longer I wait to get started, the harder it is to get going.
7.Communicate. In the past, I would let people pile things on my plate until it became overwhelming, at which point I would shut down and nothing would get done. Now, when I am getting tasked with too much, I just tell the people that they need to slow it down.
8.Be honest. I, unfortunately, have little in the way of a verbal filter. I have since learned to tame it down. However my honesty has allowed me to communicate my unique needs to my managers. This has helped them to understand how to better manage me, to see when I am getting overwhelmed before it starts to build to a destructive level, and has earned me a great deal of respect.
9.Accountability. I made “reasonable and attainable” goals with my management or by myself, but I always told someone else. I found that when I was accountable for things, I would strive harder to hit those goals, even if it meant staying longer.
2.Accordion file. I number it for each day of the month. When I have a task to do I print it out and put it in the file for the date I need to address it. Every morning, I sit down, check my email, and pull out that day’s tasks. Once I work through them, that pressure is gone. I no longer have that nagging feeling that I may have missed something important.
3.Exercise. Every hour or so, I get up and walk around. I just need to get my face out of the computer and get the wiggles out. I find that a few minutes away helps me, then it is right back to the grind.
4.Plan B. Under the “must-do” pile, I have other tasks that need to get done. When I am done with my daily stuff, I can transition right into the next group of things to do. I don’t have to hunt for more work and get distracted. If I wait until I am out of things to do for the day to decide what to do next, I will take forever to decide what to work on.
5.Planning. At the end of the day, I get my Plan B things ready for the next day. I find that once I am in my groove for the day, it is easier for me to plan the day before for the next day comes.
6.Just do it. The first task of the day is the hardest to start. Once I do it, the rest just flows. The longer I wait to get started, the harder it is to get going.
7.Communicate. In the past, I would let people pile things on my plate until it became overwhelming, at which point I would shut down and nothing would get done. Now, when I am getting tasked with too much, I just tell the people that they need to slow it down.
8.Be honest. I, unfortunately, have little in the way of a verbal filter. I have since learned to tame it down. However my honesty has allowed me to communicate my unique needs to my managers. This has helped them to understand how to better manage me, to see when I am getting overwhelmed before it starts to build to a destructive level, and has earned me a great deal of respect.
9.Accountability. I made “reasonable and attainable” goals with my management or by myself, but I always told someone else. I found that when I was accountable for things, I would strive harder to hit those goals, even if it meant staying longer.
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