Great Tool / Resource for Entrepreneurs
November 30th, 2007
My husband emailed me this link to Mind Tools-Essential Skills for an Excellent Career. Specifically, he sent me to the “Time Management” pages (I won’t get into whether or not that was a hint ! ha ha), which is the section I’ve gone through.
I found the site to be an incredibly great reminder of ways to ’stay on track’. I’m already great about To-Do lists, but now, I’m applying the priorities and then re-writing the list so that only “Important” items are at the top. And then I work down the list.
What I saw immediately is that some of my most important tasks have stayed on my To-Do list the longest. By having them buried somewhere in the middle, I’m able to excuse them by not really ’seeing’ them. Now these things are at the top and have to happen first. I can also see that I “skip” over them lightly because they are tasks I don’t like doing.
We’re working on tracking how long all of our tasks take, and that’s also a real eye-opener. I spend a lot more time dilly-dallying during the day than I thought I did. But this is good news (and not to be mistaken with IMPORTANT brain breaks and kid-time). It’s good news because it means I really DO have more time in the day to get stuff done. A lot of emails can be accomplished in a “found” 15 minutes.
The best by-product of this is that by the time I reach my night, my stress levels are down because I know I took care of the most important stuff for that day. If I keep working after the kids are in bed, it gets to be on some of my more enjoyable tasks - like DESIGNING!!!!
By the way - Project Runway is back on Wed. nights!!
Entry Filed under: Design Project Schedules, Planning beyond the collection, The Tools You Need
2 Comments Add your own
1. Amber at RuffleButts | November 30th, 2007 at 9:53 am
Thanks for passing this along! I have struggled since starting my business with how to best organize my day. I have found that if I take 5 minutes each morning to think through my to-do list and priorities, writing them in my notebook, I get so much more accomplished.
Your post made me laugh, because I am also guilty of procrastination on those tasks that I just don’t feel like doing. If I highlight the priorities at the beginning of the day, it is nearly impossible for me to put them off. The guilt of passing over a highlighted task gives me the motivation I need to just knock it out. I have also found it helpful keeping these daily lists in my notebook for future referrence.
Isn’t it crazy how quickly a day can go by, especially when you allow yourself to get off task!!
2. amanda | April 15th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Thank you for posting this great resource - Anything to help organize my day and all the “to-do’s” in my mind is a gift!! Thanks!
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