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Ann Latham's Tips for Peak Productivity - #1 Create a Friday List
Feel like your weeks are slip-sliding away? Not satisfied with what you accomplish each week? The secret to a successful week is two-fold:
- Identify what would constitute a successful week
- Make it happen
If you have too many priorities, you have no priorities. You must identify the top few that will make a difference and leave you feeling satisfied with your week.
On top of that, you must protect the time you need to spend on those critical few to make measurable progress. You can't let distractions and interruptions suck up valuable time.
This is the first in a new series of techniques to help you take control of your time, feel great about each week, and watch those weeks add up to impressive results.
Peak Productivity Tip #1: Create a Friday List
A Friday List is where you record all the administrative tasks, all the unimportant tasks, and especially all the little things that pop up during the week threatening to distract you from your top priorities.
Forget the "two minute" rule ("if it takes less than two minutes, just do it"). Don't even waste time deciding whether it will take less than two minutes. Instead, add it to the Friday List and get back on task.
A Friday List won't end all interruptions, of course. You can't ignore customers, employees, and emergencies, but it will allow you to dramatically reduce interruptions by safely parking them on a Friday List, Pile, Favorites, and/or Folder.
You'd be amazed at how many things can wait until Friday!
If at some point during your week you have a break, perhaps while waiting for a return call or for a meeting to begin, feel free to dispatch an item or two off the Friday List, but don't get sucked in.
So what happens on Friday?
You get to see the whole pile of "extras." Are there clusters of items that should not even be landing on your desk? Is this an opportunity to resolve a bigger problem, clarify responsibilities, delegate, or outsource? How important are some of these and what would happen if they were permanently dropped? A few minutes of weekly reflection might replace hours unwittingly sucked up by these tasks and interruptions over the course of your week.
And then you can set about swiftly conquering the Friday List:
- You will likely find several semi-urgent items that you can knock off quickly and efficiently.
- You can race through the mini-tasks in a hurry, giving them only the time and energy they deserve.
- You will find that many in the Friday Pile can be transferred directly to the recycling bin in well under two minutes. "Interesting distractions" have a way of becoming less interesting on a Friday afternoon.
- And, yes, you may have to schedule some time next week to finish up other items, assuming they meet the priority test.
And if you do amuse yourself for an extra hour or two processing the Friday List, you won't feel guilty or frustrated because it comes on the tail end of a successful, productive week!
Watch this website for more of Ann Latham's Tips for Peak Productivity!
© 2010 Ann Latham. All Rights Reserved.