1. First, separate tasks into categories \u2013 personal, professional, family, admin… Then list the tasks, adding a status against each one. I use a star to signify that I have to perform an action. When I am waiting on someone else to complete their part before I can do mine, I write something like \u201cpending Sophie\u201d next to it. Or I might write \u201cemail sent, chase on X date\u201d. That way, I know that right now, I can only really attack the starred items. The rest are pending. This automatically makes my scope for action a little less large.<\/p>\n
2. Add a red mark of some kind next to tasks that are particularly urgent or time sensitive. If your list is digital, move these to the top. Emergencies notwithstanding, I feel best when I get through at least one item from each list every day. That way I never feel like I\u2019m neglecting work in favour of admin or letting family stuff slip as I tend to clients\u2019 needs. I get a pleasant \u201ckeeping all the balls in the air\u201d feeling.<\/p>\n
3. Apply the 10-minute rule. If you have any tasks on your list that will take under 10 minutes, do those straight away. Your to-do list just got shorter – and this sense of achievement will motivate you to move on to some of the thornier items. The light feeling I get from crossing off a bunch of small nagging tasks makes it easier to focus on a bigger task that requires time and concentration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
1. First, separate tasks into categories \u2013 personal, professional, family, admin… Then list the tasks, adding a status against each one. I use a star to signify that I have to perform an action. When I am waiting on someone else to complete their part before I can do mine, I write something like \u201cpending […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1708,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[333],"tags":[147,105,340,159],"class_list":["post-1666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-tips-coaching","tag-organisation","tag-overwhelm","tag-productivity","tag-to-do-list"],"yoast_head":"\n