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How to Get Your Business Tasks Completed with Less Effort and Excellent ResultsCopyright © 2008 Acey GaspardGetting your most important tasks completed is not always the easiest thing to do. You may even be putting off important tasks for the unexpected issues that pop up in front of you during the day. It's hard to stay on track, especially on demanding days. You may have more tasks for the next day and feel guilty because you didn't complete all your work today. Then you start the next day with a sense of being overwhelmed rather than starting the day fresh and energetic. Janice likes to have her day planned out ahead of time. She would start off feeling comfortable, knowing what to do. Her problem was that she would begin her day by doing tasks such as checking her e-mail, checking her sales, and looking at her finances. Even though she had a to-do list, she didn't get to it right away. She got sidetracked many times during the day with unexpected issues that popped up. She ended up with a lot of work that needed to be done but was not as important as her daily tasks. Self-employed people often find themselves behaving this way. With no one watching over you, you get sidetracked. This article will help you move in the right direction. If you want be on a daily routine, then plan it in advance. If you don't plan, you'll end up getting sidetracked with anything and everything that comes up. I'm not saying that you should ignore those issues, but you have to determine the difference between issues that should be taken care of immediately and issues that can be postponed until later. A simple plan works best Step One: Start by creating a list of tasks you must do every day. Step Two: Set the priority for each of the tasks on your list. Step Three: Rewrite your list in priority order, and leave a space for a checkmark by every item you complete. In the upper right-hand corner, leave space for a date. Step Four: Make copies of your new daily to-do list. Step Five: Each new workday, take a copy of your schedule and write the date in the upper right-hand corner. Step Six: Start on the task with the highest priority. Complete that task in its entirety, or at least all that you can do for this task on this day. Don't start a new task until you have completed all you can of the task you're working on. When you've completed the current task, put a checkmark next to it and go to Step Six. It's a simple procedure, but don't let its simplicity fool you. It's powerful. It keeps you on track. It gives you a new approach to getting your work completed and it works. You don't need to complicate things, and you don't need to overwhelm yourself. All you need to do is stick to the list. After a few weeks of using this idea, you'll find yourself becoming more productive and free from wasted time as well as feelings of anxiety and guilt. What do you do when something comes up and you're between tasks? This will happen and, depending on your job, it might happen every day. Aside from a crisis that pops up, here's what you can do to tackle those issues. You can approach this in two different ways: 1. You can pause between tasks and complete the issues that pop up. I recommend this for issues that only take a few minutes to complete. OR 2. Between tasks, you can have one of your designated tasks as taking care of issues that pop up during the day. For example, you would complete Task 1. Task 2 would be taking care of issues that pop up. Task 3 is then completed. Task 4 would be to attend to issues that pop up, and so on. It's a matter of preference for how you work best and what works best for you. Working with a schedule will help you keep on track and help you complete your important tasks while cutting out wasted time. Try this for a few weeks, and I'm sure that it will help you move through each day quickly and effectively. That's the way I see it. Acey Gaspard A Touch of Business.com Action Steps To Help You Get things Done 1. Create a to-do list. 2. Photocopy it. 3. Keep a fresh copy on your desk for each new day. 4. Complete the tasks as outlined in Step Six. Important Points to Keep in Mind About Getting Things Done About The Author:
*** Digital Reprint Rights *** *** Author Notification *** We ask that you notify the author of publication of his or her work. Acey Gaspard can be reached at: acey.gaspard@thephantomwriters.com *** Print Publication Reprint Rights *** If you desire to publish this article in a PRINT publication, you must contact the author directly for Print Permission at: acey.gaspard@thephantomwriters.com
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