I lost a day last week. Don’t get me wrong - I was busy all day. I made sure to update my Facebook status, read a few tweets, chat with people in the office. I took phone calls and got the small, easy things checked off my list.
By the end of the day I looked at my list and noticed projects to work on for clients, preparation for the next day’s meetings, and business development calls to meet my weekly sales goals didn’t get completed that day. Why? I thought I had plenty of time!
Sound familiar? It happens to all of us. When we don’t take the time to plan out our day or our week, we get caught up in what is happening to us rather than making things happen for us. If I had taken the time to plan my day and scheduled in those projects or specific times for business development calls, it would have been a much more productive day.
Here’s a tool that you can use to help you plan. (Click here to download a 2009 weekly template for Microsoft Word.) Every Sunday night, print out this calendar, write in major to dos like meetings, important projects, and business development down to the hour or half hour. Keep in mind that schedules will shift a bit, however your projects will be on your calendar so you can visually see their importance and shift them as well. This way they don’t get pushed out of your calendar completely.
Try it for three weeks in a row and note your productivity increases. Let me know your results!