At this time of year, I see so many coaches trying to set their goals for the New Year, and hustle to ‘get ahead’ before January runs away from them. But, how do you prioritize work, when everything feels like a priority?
You know that prioritizing tasks is the best way to get shit done, but it’s still really easy to get caught in the weeds, trying to do all-the-things… especially if procrastination is an unwelcome guest at your holiday party.
WRITE IT ALL IN A MASTER LIST
Whilst I don’t like to-do lists, I think it’s important to write a master list of everything you have whizzing through your head, especially when you feel totally overwhelmed.
Don’t worry about editing or trying to organize the list, just get everything out of your head and onto paper, a Google Doc or Asana.
Now that you have this list, you can categorize them into:
- Client Work, which is always THE most important and urgent task as your clients are paying you and you’ve entered a contract with them. Prioritize client work over everything else.
- Dial Movers, these are tasks that you can measure and move the dial in your business i.e. sending an email to your list about an upcoming webinar or sale because you know that your email list converts at 20%.
- Safe Tasks, we all have them, they are tasks that we like to think are important but they’re not… they don’t move the dial, they keep you in your comfort zone and could easily waste hours. I.e. checking emails, changing facebook covers, scrolling social media.
PRIORITIZE YOUR GOALS
It’s easy at this time of year to get a little lost, as you start to set your new goals… you lose sight of your current one(s).
Always prioritize your longterm strategy, so when you look at your ‘Dial Mover’ list focus on tasks that are aligned with your current goal/strategy.
BE REALISTIC WITH YOUR TIME, AFTER ALL, THERE’S ONLY ONE OF YOU.
If you constantly feel like you’re running out of time each week to get everything done, this is usually down to one of these 3 things:
1|You’re working on projects instead of tasks
2| You’re underestimating how long a task takes you
3| You’re planning to complete too many tasks in a day/week
This is really common, especially when we get fired up and suddenly think we can beat all parameters of time and do more than actually possible.
But, then we get super frustrated and think we’re rubbish with time, disorganized or a procrastinator. Guess what? We all have days when time is not on our side when everything feels like a hot mess and we’d rather sit on the couch with a whiskey (or wine) and watch Heartstrings on repeat.
You can squash this cycle by changing the way you approach your to-do list… actually, you should just lose your to-do list altogether.
To-do lists kill productivity.
Take Franklin Covey’s ‘Big Rocks’ time management method as a metaphor;
Your client’s work is the big rocks, you should place those in the jar first. They should take up the most space.
Your dial-mover tasks are the pebbles. They are smaller, but still very important and you should be spending your most productive time each day working on tasks that move the dial in your business.
Your safe tasks are sand. They are not as important or urgent, you can easily fill your time with these tasks, but if you do, you won’t have the time to work on dial-movers or client work.
When you prioritize safe tasks you will constantly run out of time for the more important work. Rocks. Pebbles. Sand.
But, when you prioritize your client work and dial movers you will feel instantly more productive because productivity isn’t about doing MORE in less time… it’s about doing the RIGHT things in less time.
Ready to kick your to-do list to the curb, and feel more organized in your coaching business so that you can get shit done every single week? Grab your free copy of The Get Sh!t Done Content & Productivity Planner, and you’ll feel like a productive badass with more time and freedom.