Feeling Listless? Make a List!

Many years ago, I heard this wonderful little line. It said, feeling listless. Make a list. You see, when you have a list of things that you're working on, it suddenly energizes you. It's the most remarkable darn thing. Your mind, your ability to think and plan and decide is your most powerful tool for overcoming procrastination and increasing your productivity. Your ability to set your goals, to plan and take action on them. Steady, steady, steady. Determines the course of your whole life. The very act of thinking and planning unlocks your mental powers, it triggers your creativity, and it increases your mental and physical energies. It's absolutely amazing what goals will do for you. Your ability to plan well in advance of beginning your work is a measure of your overall competence. The better the plan you have, the easier it is for you to overcome procrastination, to get started and then to keep going. One of your top goals at work should be for you to get the highest possible return on your investment of mental, emotional and physical energy. The good news is that every minute spent in planning saves as many as 10 minutes in execution. It only takes about 10 or 12 minutes for you to plan out your day, but this small investment of time will save you at least 2 hours, 100 to 120 minutes in wasted time and diffused effort throughout the day. When you consider how helpful planning can be in increasing your productivity and performance, it's amazing how few people practice it every single day. And planning is really quite simple to do. All you need is a piece of paper and a pen. The most sophisticated time management system, PalmPilot Outlook computer program on time management is based on the same principle. It's based on you sitting down and making a to do list of everything you have to do before you begin. Rule Always work from a list. You'll increase your productivity by 25% or more from the very first day that you start to work from a list. When something new comes up, write it on your list and then stroke it off as you get it done. Make out your list the night before. At the end of the workday, move everything that you have not yet accomplished onto your list for the coming day and then add everything you have to do the next day to the list. You see what happens when you make out your list the evening or the night before. Your subconscious mind works on your list all night long while you sleep. Often you will wake up with great ideas and insights and that you can use to get your job done faster and better than you had initially thought. The more time you take to make written lists of everything you have to do in advance. The more effective and efficient and productive and ultimately the more highly paid you will be. Now, there are different lists that you need for different purposes. First, you should create a master list in which you write down everything you can think of that you want to do for the indefinite future. This is a place where you capture every idea that comes to you, every new task or responsibility that comes up. You can then sort them out later. Second, you should have a monthly list that you make up at the end of the month for the month ahead. This may contain items transferred from your master list. Third, you should have a weekly list where you plan your entire week in advance. This is a list that is under construction and as you go through the current week and finally you transfer items from your monthly and weekly list onto your daily list. These are the specific activities that you're going to accomplish that day. As you work through the day, tick off the items on your list as you complete them. This activity gives you a visual picture of accomplishment. It generates a feeling of success and forward motion. Seeing yourself working progressively through your list motivates and energizes you, raises your self esteem and self respect. Steady visible progress propels you forward and helps you to overcome procrastination and get more stuff done faster.