I kid you not when I say that there are 58 things on my to do list!

I just did a “brain-dump” last night and it seemed to never end. Now I understand why I felt like I was going crazy having to keep it all in my head. Doing the brain dump at least helped me relax (I felt a bit more organized).

However, the madness is just getting started as I stare at my list (where over 60% of the things qualify as “urgent”).

I came up with a fun “to do list template” to get myself better organized and I’m seeing TREMENDOUS results. So here it is…

My To Do List Template – Step 1:

Do a brain-dump. Just sit down with a piece of paper and pen and start writing down EVERYTHING that comes to your mind.

It doesn’t matter how small or big it is. Just write it down…don’t worry about ranking them or organizing them.

Whatever comes, you write…

My To Do List Template – Step 2:

Create Projects. After I’m done with the brain-dump, I go through the list and see what “category” or “project” they have to do with.

For example, I found that a lot of my to-do list had to do with an upcoming product launch my company has in May (we’ll call it launch X). So, I now need to create a project called “Launch X.”

Next example, I found quite a few of them had to do with making travel arrangements. So, I created a project called “Travel Arrangements.”

Do this until you have a shorter, more digestible ”project” list rather than a TO DO list.

My To Do List Template – Step 3:

Prioritize Your Projects. Don’t bother with your “to-do” list yet. Just go in and first prioritize your PROJECTS. Which ones are the most important/urgent/need to be done the soonest.

I also like to keep the concept of “lowest hanging fruit” in mind. 

For example, the project “travel arrangements” is much easier than the others. I can either just delegate this to someone OR I can even do it myself in about an hour (the other projects may take days even).

My To Do List Template – Step 4:

Assign Tasks To Projects. Now it’s time to go back through that to do list and actually assign each action item to a PROJECT.

This is the part where you get some clarity on what you need to do, finally. You’ll start feeling a sense of ease come over you.

My To Do List Template – Step 5:

Start with Project #1. That’s right, now it’s time to start with whatever project you found the most important (and lowest hanging).

So, now all you need to do is the group of tasks in that PROJECT and focus 100% into it.

The keyword here is FOCUS…

The Power of Organizing By “PROJECTS…”

I have found that this has recently changed my life and really helped me SPEED up my efficiency and the raw amount of work I’m getting done (you’ll even see that I’m more active on this blog)!

You see…the TRICK here is to dedicate yourself 100% (not 30% or 80%, 100% only) to just ONE project and go at it non-stop until you finish it. Then, simply take a short breath/break and take that same energy and funnel it to the next project…

Why? Walk through this exercise with me…

Let’s assume you’re working on 10 projects at the same time. Now, let’s assume it takes you 100 hours to finish. If you decide to work 10 hours a day, you can work 1 hour on each project.

This means, it’ll take you 100 days (@ 1 hour a day) to finish each project.

Now, let’s look at it ANOTHER way…

What if you “screw” 9 of the projects and put 100% of your energy into just ONE of the projects. Now, you’re working 10 hours a day on that same project. If it still takes the 100 hours, you’ll be done in just 10 days!

So, in the prior example it would have taken you 100 days to finish all 10, but before then, nothing would be “done” and the entire time you’d be overloaded.

But, NOW…you’ll finish them ONE by ONE – never feel overloaded and you’ll see at least SOME results within 10 days (instead of 100)!

Really think about that concept, it’s simple but quite earth shattering – changed the way I think about “focus” completely.

You see, the biggest change I’ve recently made is that I realized I can’t do too much at one time.

I’m now focusing in on just ONE project at a time – it’s all I think about day and night and I work as hard as I can to finish it up. The MINUTE I finish it, I move onto the next project.

This is my “Project To Do List Template” – use it and prosper! (faster)

Popularity: 7% [?]

Tags: time management, to do list, to do list template

This entry was posted on Monday, March 23rd, 2009 at 1:27 am and is filed under time management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.