January Tip of the Month – Before Coffee

A few weeks ago I noticed on twitter a tweet declaring: 

“Many people spend more time preparing their coffee than planning their day.”

I was guilty of this when I was fresh out of school. I would show up for work minutes before being late, tucking my shirt tail in, combing my hair and wiping the sleep from my eyes. Never once thinking about planning the day ahead.

If you fall in this category, I have 7 things you can do starting today to help you begin to plan and organize your day.

This is my routine:

1. Before going to bed, I think about the things I did not get done or any unfinished tasks that I need to finish. (I guess this should be last on the list but my planning starts the night before.)
2. I allow a few minutes first thing in the morning to again think about what I did not get done the day before and start deciding whether those items still need to be on my to-do list. I do this while preparing my morning coffee. (Who said I couldn’t do two things at the same time.)
3. Before jumping into the day’s work or opening emails, I review my calendar and begin creating my to-do list for the day. (I will usually look at my calendar right before shutting my computer down the day before as well.)
4. Next, I go ahead and create a list of things I need to get done today. (I’m old fashioned and write this list on a yellow legal pad.)
5. Finally, I identify the must-do tasks and put a star by those. If possible I do those things first.
6. As I progress through the day I scratch off the tasks when completed.
7. Before heading home I review the list for things yet to be done and as I mentioned above look at my calendar to see what I have coming up.

It’s really that simple!

I have found that if I don’t have my day planned first thing in the morning, I usually end up getting nothing done or feel completely out of sync for the day.

But that’s just me!

If you would like, please leave a comment below or you can email me at feedback@wewaonthenet.com.

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Thank you for taking the time to read this article.

Now let’s get out there and over-deliver!