How’s your to do list?

I think one of the most stressful things in business is trying to get everything done.
Time management is one of the keys to feeling in control of your to do lists and being able to balance your workload.

Sometime ago I was diagnosed with high blood pressure and then an aneurysm (enlarged artery) and this was all down to stress. Stress from my work, stress from my workload balancing and stress from ever increasing to do lists.

I would start my week feeling worried about how much I had to get done and to be totally honest this worrying started the night before when I should have been relaxing with my family and enjoying my Sunday night instead of thinking and stressing over my workload.

Having now been given medication for my high blood pressure and been in hospital to remove the aneurysm, I had to do something about it all and fast.
So I decided to create my own system which meant I could have increased productivity but without the stress.

Many years before, an old boss of mine had told me to plan my days the night before – this was always so helpful and something I had forgotten about somewhat. So I started to do this again. It meant I could start each day without thinking what I had to do, because it had all been planned the night before.
I then started to think about how I was during the day and what was distracting me.
How many times does your attention get pulled away from what you’re doing by the sound of an email coming through or a txt message pinging up?
It was all these little things that were driving me to….well distraction.

It is amazing how much time is wasted by distractions and this is a common thing with entrepreneurs. We have the shiny object syndrome don’t we?
We’ll be working away and then something will come through be it via email or social media and we want to go and explore and before we know it an hour has passed by and we’ve done nothing except waste an hour of valuable time.
This is exactly what was happening to me and it meant I was spending longer in the office when I should have been at home with my partner and family.

No one ever said on their deathbed that they’d wished they’d spent more time in the office. Your kids only grow up once and I didn’t want to miss out on this.

So my system needed some other elements to it. I needed to develop a better focus and mindset, so when I was working on a project I was 100% there and not having my mind wander around. I also looked at my goal setting so I made sure I was heading for something and had a purpose.
When you don’t have something to aim for it’s easy to get lost in the day-to-day happenings and again this is all wasted time and effort that you’ll never get back
You can earn more money but you can never earn more time.

After much fine-tuning I had now created a system that worked. 
So much so that I can get more done in just 2 hours than I was doing in a few days before. I now leave the office feeling happy with my day. I am in control of my to do lists and my time management. My workload balancing is how it should be and my business has increased dramatically because of how much more I can now get done each day.
Spending time with the family is also guilt free. When I’m with them I’m not worrying that I should be working because I’ve got all my work done. It’s such a great feeling.
So what can you do to increase your productivity and to take control over your to do lists?
What is distracting you from getting through your workload?

To help you sort out your to-do list and help you become more productive here’s my Day Planner which you can download for FREE. It’s so simple you’ll love it. Click here to download your productivity tool here

Wishing you better productivity and more time with your family.

I’d love to know what techniques you use to increase your productivity, so leave your comments below.

 
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