We want to do it all and we very often want or have to do it right away but we also want to make sure to get the right things done. Not only the things others want us to do. Since I work only three days a week, I feel myself get overwhelmed with tasks at work but also on my days off. I just plan too much for one day and get disappointed in myself when I haven’t managed to do all the 20 things on my to-do list instead of seeing the 10 things I did.
I am always looking for new ways to structure my work or projects in a better way and want to share the two things that have made a huge impact on my way of working.
The two things I now do to get the right things, or to be honest, to get anything done, can be found in the book Eat that Frog by Brian Tracy.
1. Monthly, Weekly and Daily plans
I always have a yearly bucket list. Things I want to do in a specific time frame and sometimes I do not know how to make them all happen. A few weeks ago, I took 30 minutes, and I promise you that it won’t take longer than that, and I’ve done the following to make sure I am crushing my goals this year:
- Finalised my master list of goals for 2019.
- Created a monthly list for the remaining months of 2019. This means I have created a list for each month. I looked at my yearly bucket list and wrote down the projects/things I want to do/work on in each month. Some projects take several months and are never finished.
- Create a weekly list. I then took the monthly, rather global items and divided them over the weeks of the respective months. I made sure that all items are scheduled at one point in the month.
- Create a daily list. I took the weekly list and divided all the items there over the seven days of the first upcoming week.
Example of lists
You can find my master list of goals for 2019 here. This list is the basis for the monthly, weekly and daily list.
Monthly list August 2019
- Stitch 5 portraits
- Spend a weekend without my mobile phone
- Found a magazine
- Visit more provinces of the Netherlands
- Start a power network
- Be able to do a push-up
- Host an art night for my friends
- Try 5 new recipes
- Create one new book lover city guide
- Journal for a month straight
- Try courses at the gym
- Declutter our guest room
- Create cross-stitch design and put it on Etsy
- Start my happiness project
- Work on my blog
- Grow my Etsy shop
These are the goals I am focussing on in August. So, let’s see how I broke them down for the first week of August.
Weekly list
29.07-04.08.2019
– Stitch two portraits
– Create to-do-list for my magazine
– Work on push-ups
– Host art night for my friends
– Try one new recipe
– Journal
– Tidy up guest room
– Happiness project
– Blog
– Instagram
– Sport
– Reading
– Power network
In the first week of August, these were the things I wanted to focus on. I created such a very global list for every week of August making sure these lists cover the goals I wrote on the monthly list for August.
The weekly list then turned into a list for every day of the week, making sure I cover all the things from the weekly list over the course of the seven days of the week.
Daily list 30.07.19
- Read the book on how to publish a magazine for 30 minutes in the morning
- Instagram post and reply to comments
- Write blogpost
- Make a list of blog post ideas
- Continue with to-do-list for my magazine
- Send doodle for art night to my friends
- Tidy up guestroom
- Set date for power network
- Ask favourite book shop if they want to sell my pin
- Stitch one portrait
- Journal before bed
- Read before bed
Why the lists work well for me
I am less stressed because I have a clear overview and know that all my projects and things I want to do have their time now. I set priorities without leaving other things behind. At the end of each week, I look at the things I managed to do and also at the things I didn’t do. They are either moved to another upcoming week or I will make a recap/review at the end of the month and see how I can improve for the months to come.
I can only recommend to try it yourself and have created a printable you can use to structure your monthly, weekly and daily things you want to do.
Now, let’s talk about the second thing I am doing that helps me structure my work-load better.
2. Divide tasks into A/B/C-tasks
Brian Tracy suggests that we think about the tasks we have to do. And question ourself if it is a task we really must do (A-task) because it has consequences if we don’t or if it is a task that we should do (B-task). Undone B-tasks have only mild consequences. You can further divide your tasks into C-, D- and E-tasks. C-tasks are things that are “nice to have”. It doesn’t have any consequences if these tasks get done or not. D-tasks are things you can delegate to someone else, while E-tasks are tasks you can just ignore and not do at all.
How I use the ABCDE-method to get the right things done
At the beginning of the week, I take a notebook and write down the things I want or have to do this week. Then I decide if the tasks belong to category A, B or C. After writing the responding letter in front of the task, I start making a daily plan. I make sure to also plan in some buffer-time because at my work it often happens that spontaneous things are coming up.
Once I am done with planning out my week, I put the tasks with the A, B or C letter on my trello-board and map out the week there. This takes maybe 10 minutes at the beginning of the week but it really makes a difference in how I work and how much work I get done. I also make sure that I never start on a B or C task before my A-tasks of the day are done. Whenever I get a new task, I add a card on my trello-board and immediately put the right letter in front of the task so I know which tasks to focus on. Since I adapted this system, I get all my tasks for the week and even more done and that makes me just feel proud and organised.
How do you organise your projects and things you have and want to do?
Download the lists for your goals below and get the right things done.