Do you arrive at work in the mornings frazzled because of how your morning went from the moment you woke up? Do you struggle with work/life balance? Do you feel like you were busy all day, but you didn’t get anything done that needed to get done? Are you running on autopilot with no real focus or purpose?

Would you like to create a more stress-free environment that will allow you to be a high performer? Would you like to simplify your life while at the same time, get better results? Would you like to learn ways to be more productive and stop wasting time?

There have been many great ideas written about how to be more productive. There are many theories, techniques, and good books on the subject. I’ve been very surprised to learn how few people are aware of them. So, I’m going to spend some time writing about those that I’ve learned about in my career in hopes that you find a process that works for you.

There are many great ideas on the subject, but you have to ultimately learn what works for you. Sometimes that means trial and error or combining several different items to find the perfect formula for you. However, they say it takes 21 days to create a new habit, so when you try something new, give it about 3-4 weeks before writing it off as not working.

Use a Planner

Back in the 80’s my employer provided training on how to use the Franklin Planner system and my life changed forever. This was the first time I’d been exposed to this type of concept and I loved it!

Having a schedule is a fundamental part of time management.  You can imagine your schedule as a road-map.  It provides important information about where you are going and how you can get there.  Without it, you may take a wrong turn somewhere and find yourself lost.  Once someone is lost, it may take some time before they get back on track, and they usually arrive to their destination a bit later than they would have liked.

When you have a schedule, you can look at it and see what you need to do each day.  It helps to provide clarity about your priorities, keeps you on track, and helps to get you back on course if you fall away. Having clarity about what you need to get done, and how you’re going to get it done, you’re able to focus on what’s important so you get more done in less time.

One of the first things to do when making a schedule is to make a list of all the things you have to do.  Some people keep separate work and family schedules, and if you decide that would work best for you, you can divvy those tasks up later.  For now, simply list everything that needs to be done on a monthly, weekly, and daily basis.

Create and Prioritize Your To-Do List

Once you have everything out of your head and in front of you, it’s time to start sorting between the common themes. You can do this by assigning a highlighter color to each theme (such as family, work, daily, monthly, weekly) or by creating columns and sorting all the tasks into the appropriate column.

Now that you have all of your tasks sorted by theme, you’ll want to sort them by importance. When everything seems urgent, you need a proven system to prioritize your tasks. This will help you stay focused on the high-value important  tasks instead of just reacting to the urgent. Use this coding method:

• Place an A next to the things that must get done today;
• B next to those that need to be done soon but not right away;
• C next to those items that would be nice to get done when you have time.

Now go back to all the items you marked with an A, B or C and for each one, place a 1, 2 or 3 next the letters as such:

• 1 = most important, must get done today, has a high-level consequence if it doesn’t get done;
• 2 = medium importance, can wait until this afternoon, has a moderate-level consequence if it doesn’t get done;
• 3 = low importance for the day, can wait until later in the day or tomorrow, has a low-level consequence if it doesn’t get done.

Schedule Your To-Do List In Your Planner

Once you have your tasks listed and prioritized, you can start planning your schedule.  Block out time on your calendar with your items so that you know that time is allocated to a specific task and only that task. Obviously, start with your A1 items first, A2 items next, and so on. This will help you minimize distractions and keep you on track. See my post on limiting distractions here.

To this very day I still use some of the techniques I learned during my training. Specifically, the ABC/123 technique of prioritization of my to-do list. I also still use the symbols that the system teaches (arrows, checkmarks, Xs, and dots). Learn what all these symbols mean in this video:

YOU are the one in control of your schedule and YOU are the one responsible for it and how productive you are. Make sure to schedule your day so you are most productive and learn to minimize things that interfere with it. This alone will help you with the feelings of overwhelm and developing a sense of control in your life.

Take The 21 Day Planner Challenge

Franklin Planner is having a 21 Day challenge which can be purchased for only $5. It’s a fantastic way to test planning before you commit to buying a planner; try a new planner format before you buy it; or hone your focus on a specific goal and track your progress to completion.

This planner contains 21 days of planning pages in both weekly and daily format, a Master Task List, Monthly Index, and Monthly Calendar—along with explanations of how to use them. Plus, it teaches why and how to use your Prioritized Task List, reveals the secret of the Time Matrix, and gives a brief explanation of the Productivity Pyramid. Try it for 21 days and see how your life changes!

Additional resources you may be interested in:

actiTIME – a time-tracking app that helps you keep record of your time expenses and analyze your productivity. The app allows manual entry and automatic calculation with a timer.

A Powerful Way to Improve Your Productivity

Six Things To Do Instead of Multi-task

“Being busy is not the same as being productive.”  ~ KORY  KOGON

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