A great way to make sure you don’t get distracted from the tasks that are most important is to keep a todo list. I used to keep three todo lists, one for today, one for this week and one for “someday.” My technique goes something like this:

The Technique
At the beginning of the week I outline all the accomplishments I want to make for the week then I prioritize them and put the most important (ranked by impact) at the top, and least important at the bottom.

At the beginning of each day I select the number of items off that list (and sometime break them up into subtasks) that I think I can accomplish during that day. As my day goes along I can refer back to this list to know the next thing I need to accomplish. I never have to question whether or not I’m working on the most important thing because I’ve already prioritized my tasks at the beginning of the day.

At the end of the day or at the beginning of the next day I look at my list and if I haven’t checked each task off I try to figure out why and what I could change to ensure I get better results the next day. Reasons may include: I under estimated the amount of work each task was going to require; I wasn’t feeling well and didn’t have the amount of energy I thought I would have; I got distracted by another task.

If the issue was that I under estimated the amount of work each task was going to take I try to learn from that mistake so my estimation can be better for tomorrow or next time.

I understand that some days I will be more focused or have more energy than others, and that’s OK. If it becomes a chronic issue though, there may be something else to blame. Am I lacking the inspiration I need to be excited about this task? Are there other external factors at play (sleep, stress, summer sunshine, winter powder)? If I lack the inspiration I try to find my “why.” If it’s an external distraction that’s keeping me from focusing I try to reset my focus by carving out time to dedicate to those things.

The last reason I don’t get everything done I want to is usually the most common. I got distracted by another task. If I see that I didn’t accomplish everything I wanted to accomplish that day because I was distracted by some other task I have to ask myself if that was the correct decision. Was that task more important than the thing that I didn’t get to? If I can honestly answer yes, then it was the right choice, and I did what I should have done. If it was less important than what was dropped I reassess my prioritization and make sure the task gets done the next day.

I use a similar technique to ensure that I’m staying on tasks at the beginning and end of each week. Assess what I accomplished (either on the list or not on the list) and analyze what I did not accomplish.

The Tools
In order to use this technique you must be absolutely diligent about keeping track of your tasks and results. This means that if you do something that’s not on your list make sure you write it down for later assessment.

I started this technique with a basic pen and paper approach. My office mates would often laugh at my notebooks that had lists and lists written all over them each item scribbled in and crossed out. I get great pleasure out of crossing items off my list, but keeping my list in order is very difficult, and usually requires rewriting the list or keeping the list double spaced so you can squeeze items between. Additionally I’m a nerd, by any measure, so I seek digital solutions that will give me the most efficiency, so this is clearly not the ideal solution.

I burned through many task list applications, web sites all met with greater or lesser success. I’ve tried Remember the Milk, Evernote, and Google Tasks Lists. I liked Google Tasks the best because of its blazing speed and ease of use. Remember, for a todo list to be useful it has to be nearly transparent to your daily work, or you won’t use it.

My wife turned me on to teuxdeux which I really like. It’s fast and easy to use, but it adds the ability to add tasks to different days of the week. This lets me plan a little better and lets me offload tasks that have specific deadlines early so I don’t have to think about them before they’re done.

No matter which tool you end up using the important part is to assess your progress through the tasks you outline for yourself and to write down every task you accomplish during the day. The great thing about writing down everything you do and crossing it off is that you have a beautiful list of accomplishments. Exactly what I need after a long day at work!

Labels: productivity