Two weeks ago we looked at the important self and time management tool of learning to say “no.” Our focus centered on former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s reminder, “The art of leadership is saying no, not saying yes. It is very easy to say yes.”
Then, last week, we looked at the answer to the question, “What are some of your best time-management tools?”
In response to these musings on time management, a friend who is an astute and highly regarded Financial Advisor sent this simple reminder that I am passing along. Yes, it's simple, but profoundly practical (and it works). Here you go:
Tom... Thank you! I am a list-maker and I find that my most-productive days are when I use my early morning planning time to write (or type) a list of things to complete on a specific day, stack-rank my priorities for that day, then work on completing each one in serial order.
I get a lot of satisfaction out of crossing out completed items on my phone's task list or on a piece of paper. Good progress feeds my enthusiasm for tackling the next item on the list. I also am careful to do my toughest mental tasks as early in the day as possible when I am less-distracted and my brain is still fairly-rested from a good night's sleep. - Ed McCahill
Great advice, Ed. Thank you for passing it along. As you can see, I decided to pass it along as well...!