Any tips or tricks how to start and finish all daily tasks?

[Drumdrone]

I have tried lots of strategies how to achieve goals on my "to do list" (business plan). But I am have difficulties to finish all the task. I have tried all the GTD methods...but nothing works.

The best thing what I found is NOWDOTHIS...

Have you got any tips or tricks how to start and finish all daily tasks?
Thank you

 

[simon field]

Yes, I tend to get up earlier and go to bed later.

Or pay someone else to do it

 

[Psl]

Do the task that generate money, then as Simon stated, pay someone to do the other non-paying but necessary tasks.

 

[Talay]

Do the task that generate money, then as Simon stated, pay someone to do the other non-paying but necessary tasks.

Good and simple explanation if workload exceeds the time available.

 

[iwannabe]

This is an issue for me - especially being a full time mum as well. LOADS undone at the end of the day. Exhausting!

 

[Carl Barlow]

We use Trello (sorry i cant link yet) in our business for to do management, it's brilliant as we can share tasks as a team too.

 

[Pish_Pash]

I'm not big on paying anyone to do stuff for me (especially in the embryonic days of a company...everyone wants a piece of you) ...better to spend time putting in some automation. Basically if it's repetitive...automate it.

I'll give you an example...in the early days, I used to had hand write a bulk certificate of posting prior to taking my orders to the post office (name, address, postal class used for *every* order) - it took me 20-30 minutes each day. So I took time out to research how I could address this ...transpired what I needed was a database. So I learnt MS Access, now it takes me about 1 minute to such a thing ...19 minutes saved every day. I then use the 19 minutes(!) to put in place other automation. And because I took the time to learn MS access, I now can see other areas that the program can be applied to save more time (sales projections, data massaging for onwards automated input to accounts software, automated emails of tracking numbers to customers etc) ...these latter things would not come about if I'd just gone "ooh, I'm struggling, I'll just pay someone to do stuff that i haven't the time to do".

So in my opinion, sometimes you have to make/take time (learn something new) to save time....not just throw money at the problem.

 

[Shirlyn]

Hi,
Dedication and interest within your work will help you to achieve the goals. I have created one list of daily tasks and assigned time for it and it worked for me. Before it was so hard, but now at the end of the day I have nothing left for tomorrow.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

Prioritise what is important on that day and set up for the next day . No good flapping over something your wrote on a list if a chance to make a bit of money comes in , Marketing and getting your companies name where it needs to be should always be a priority unless your completely rushed off your feet and they naturally just come to you without effort
This is my third decade and a day has never gone by when I have done everything I should have . Except for today

 

[Annoying Donkey]

Have a "must do" list with no more than 4 items on it.
Set time limits for each item.
Ensure you don't allocate all your day - there's always something that will crop up.
Delegate/Outsource anything that you don't do well, or that doesn't bring in value.

 

[Office Cleaning]

I highly recommend you reading the 4 hour work week by Tim Ferriss. It will sort you out and give you all sorts of other ideas.

 

[Halcyon Yachts]

Prioritisation, late nights and lots of post-it notes!

Pete

 

[Paul Murray]

If it takes less than 15 minutes to complete, do it straight away. Chances are though, you won't finish everything you need to do in a single day, so just reside yourself to the fact and prioritise the essential stuff. Even if you do clear your list, you'll probably find other tasks to add to it anyway.

I'm not big on paying anyone to do stuff for me (especially in the embryonic days of a company...everyone wants a piece of you) ...better to spend time putting in some automation. Basically if it's repetitive...automate it.

I'll give you an example...in the early days, I used to had hand write a bulk certificate of posting prior to taking my orders to the post office (name, address, postal class used for *every* order) - it took me 20-30 minutes each day. So I took time out to research how I could address this ...transpired what I needed was a database. So I learnt MS Access, now it takes me about 1 minute to such a thing ...19 minutes saved every day. I then use the 19 minutes(!) to put in place other automation. And because I took the time to learn MS access, I now can see other areas that the program can be applied to save more time (sales projections, data massaging for onwards automated input to accounts software, automated emails of tracking numbers to customers etc) ...these latter things would not come about if I'd just gone "ooh, I'm struggling, I'll just pay someone to do stuff that i haven't the time to do".

So in my opinion, sometimes you have to make/take time (learn something new) to save time....not just throw money at the problem.

I see your point, but for many people this wouldn't be a feasible option considering the time it takes them to learn MS Access (or whatever software/platform required), not to mention the cost of buying a license. If it's a long-term solution then I agree it's probably worthwhile, but sometimes it may just be quicker, easier, and cheaper (time is money!) to outsource it.

Paying others to do lower priority tasks may seem like you're wasting money, but if that frees you up to work on something that you can charge your full business rate for, it's money well spent, especially if the cost is less than if you'd done it yourself.

 

[WebCoderPro]

Advice no.1: start saying NO to things. It's hard at first, but it's the only hard way.
Advice no.2: use simple to-do apps, like Todoist, don't overthink the technology or system, use any of them - they all help to deliver results.

 

[Paula Cohen]

The first question I'd ask is whether what you're putting on your to do list each day is actually achievable? For example - are you putting 10 hours of tasks down for your 10 available hours or do you do what I see a lot of people do & expect to complete 20 hours worth of work in 10 hours? So my first tip - be realistic about what you can actually achieve.

Then I'd recommend taking 10 minutes at the end of each day to look back at your day & reflect on what went well, what could have gone better & what you'll do differently tomorrow. Most people have the odd bad habit (if not several!) when it comes to managing their workload so try & identify yours - are you too easily distracted; do you try & work on more than one thing at a time instead of being focused; do you get sucked in by social media or by emails etc? If you can work out your bad habit(s) then you can start to work out how to change them.

 

[garyk]

As pish pash says automation is one way.

Minimise time spent browsing (or on forums like this!) by running a blocker, I use one called 'self control' on the mac which has a list of sites that are blacklisted and you can knock them out for a few minutes or several hours. The Internet is a big time thief!

Write them down the night before and attack!

 

[Guy Ryckaert]

Re-assess first of all what is on your to do list.
for example : write book. This is not an item for a to do list, but a project.
So have a project plan for 3 months, 6 months, a year, whatever timeline you have.
Then break down the project in steps : write chapter 1, write chapter 2,, etc
Once you have the steps you can make your to do list : write 300 words
Is this the latter achievable? Yes.

Each day check that your to do list contains elements of your project plan and you will make steady progress

 

[derick32]

Start your day by listing the tasks you need to do for the day. Then, organize your tasks by priority level. Deal with the hard ones first and set an estimated amount of time when working on each task.

This is what I do that makes me productive and limit wasted time especially when at work.

 

[philbaxter]

I always like the old Eisenhower method based on analysing if something is Urgent and if it is Important, then:

Urgent and important - do immediately
Important yet not Urgent - schedule this into your future calendar (then stick to that date)
Urgent yet not Important - Delegate and reduce involvement
Not Important as well as Not Urgent - trash it

 

[HardlineMedia]

I always like the old Eisenhower method based on analysing if something is Urgent and if it is Important, then:

Urgent and important - do immediately
Important yet not Urgent - schedule this into your future calendar (then stick to that date)
Urgent yet not Important - Delegate and reduce involvement
Not Important as well as Not Urgent - trash it

This method is really good, I learnt it using 4 boxes and then you just write in the boxes your tasks. Helps you with prioritisation. As for a task list, the one I use is called Producteev, a free web based app that allows collaboration between team members as well as colour coding.

 

[tony84]

Im not a fan of doing admin. I tend to go to my local bar or coffee shop and do it there.
The sooner im done, the sooner I can go home.

I write a list of everything I need to do before the end of the day. Anything I dont do I just carry over to the following days list.

 

[titanium]

Some good tips here!
My 2p:
I do the things I like least first. If I put them off, they don't get done until there's not enough time left.
So I start the day by doing two or three "chores" then I can concentrate on doing the stuff I enjoy.

 

[Andriusgr]

We use Trello (sorry i cant link yet) in our business for to do management, it's brilliant as we can share tasks as a team too.

This. Or make a list of things you need to do and just go through that list. Or pay some one else to do that, but i'd rathet do it myself as I learn it and later on it pays off