Angela MacAusland - chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses Bath Branch
While many of us make resolutions at the start of the year, for those still in the education system, September heralds the start of a new academic year, and along with it the chance to start afresh and plan for the next ten months.
It is also a time for many people when the summer holidays are a thing of the past, time to start thinking about the next financial quarter, and the run up to Christmas.
So why not make a plan to get yourself organised and learn some new ways of working?
Here are my top tips on creating your own To Do List (TDL)
1) Create a TDL at the end of every day, so the following morning, you have something to focus on before getting distracted.
2) Prioritise your TDL tasks into things that need to be done today, or those that can wait – have a weekly and daily TDL.
3) Split larger tasks into smaller more manageable ones, and tick off your TDL when complete – you gain a small sense of achievement when you see what you have done.
4) Plan in time in your TDL for emergencies or things that crop up unexpectedly.
5) Add a diary note for tasks that don't need to be completed until a specific date, so that you don't have to keep looking at them on your TDL every day.
6) Make a note on your TDL of how long a task took you to complete.
7) Don't get bogged down by reading and responding to all your emails that come into your inbox, not all emails need to be reacted to straight away.
8) See if some of your TDL tasks can be completed together, for example if you have to go to the bank, post office, get petrol and drop off dry-cleaning, save all of the tasks up and do together, rather than as they crop up.
9) Give yourself 30 minutes a day (15 in the morning, 15 at lunchtime) to spend on web-based activities (social media, entertainment, news, shopping, holidays etc) and be strict; this is probably one of the biggest time wasters of the 21st century.
10) Keep your desk and work area as clear as possible, if your TDL extends over many pages, keep the information in a file.
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