A very wise friend of mine (Ms. Erin Baker from Baker’s Breakfast Cookies) recently shared one of her secrets to keeping on track and on target with goals.
A notebook and a list.
It’s that simple. Ms. Erin plans out her day every evening before leaving the office. She estimates how much time it will take to get something done fills out her day, via the notebook and the list.
She says that if she can’t get it done, it doesn’t go on the list. And then, she stays focused, going down the list and checking things off, not getting distracted. If it wasn’t important enough to get on the list to start with, it doesn’t need to be
done – not that day at least.
I’ve tried various productivity methods (‘4 Hour WorkWeek‘ and ‘Getting Things Done‘) and they haven’t quite worked for me. They don’t have quite enough flexability for my zany, madcap work flow.
But, I do need something to keep me in line or else the ‘zany’ takes over and nothing productive really gets done.
The list is working for me. I’m on my 2nd Chronicle Books Hammerpress Notebook (love it!), try to use special pens (pink, bright green, fun colors!) and derive immense satisfaction when I cross something off the list. The concept doesn’t have a book to explain it and there’s no daily blog to explore it. But, simple is good. And, it works.
