Do you ever wonder HOW you really spend your day? Do you ever say to yourself, "I was busy all day, but did not seem to accomplish as much as I had hoped". Why is that? Each day you set out to accomplish tasks, have meetings, run errands and be successful, yet at the end of the day, just don't feel you accomplished a lot. Here are some ideas to help you use your daily planner so you know what you did and how productive you really were.
Schedule your activities, appointments and meetings for a specific time. If you are in business and have appointments or meetings put those on your calendar in the time slot that they are scheduled in the hourly breakdown section. Start setting specific times for meetings with people you need to see. Instead of saying, "Let's meet sometime in the afternoon", schedule a specific time to meet. For instance "Let's meet between 2-3pm". Then you can put the meeting on your schedule and work everything else you need to do around it. If you are in sales, stop saying "I will call you next week" or "Let's talk tomorrow"; instead set a specific time to talk and set up who will make the call. Then put in on your schedule. Effective people schedule what needs to be done.
Sit down the night before and fill in all the things you want to do in the "To Do List" section.
Write your appointments in pen. Let the person you are meeting with know that you have no plans to cancel the meeting, because the meeting is important.
Purchase a daily planner that fits your personal style. A large 81/2' X 11" may be too big and bulky for you to carry, so choose a smaller 5" X 6". Whichever size you choose make sure it has several different sections: (1) a daily to do list, (2) an hourly breakdown and (3) a section for notes.
Use 3 colored highlighters to color code all of your #1, #2, and #3 items. Use green to highlight all of the #1 items; use yellow to highlight the #2 items; use red to highlight the #3 items. Make sure to assign a priority code to every meeting you have scheduled on your calendar as well. Using the highlighters you can see at a glance how you are spending your time each day.
Prioritize your daily activities. Clearly identify on your "To Do List" what are important priorities and what are not. Use a numbering system. Mark a #1, next to an item that is High Priority to accomplish; mark a #2, next to an item that is Important to do, but not a High Priority; mark a #3, next to an item that, you want to do, but if you run out of time, can get done the next day.
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