Someone once told me to be successful you need to do the most productive thing possible at any given moment.

The only problem with that statement is that most people don’t know what their most productive tasks are. I guess you can just create a list of what you need to get done and prioritize that list.

The only problem with that strategy is when I used it; my list would seem to grow throughout the day. I would have more on my to-do list to do at the end of the day than when I started. Just working off a list doesn’t make you more productive.

Here are 3 tips to being more productive…
1. Set Motivating Goals – Without goals there is no way to determine what is productive and what is not. You can’t determine what tasks will lead you to what you desire and what tasks will just be wasting your time. The key to being productive is clarity of what you actually want to achieve or produce. You need to continually ask yourself, will this task move me closer to achieving my goals.

2. Create Monthly, Weekly, & Daily Task Buckets – The problem with most task lists is that usually there are too many tasks and not enough time. We tend to be more productive if we have a list of 4-6 items than 25. The more focused we are the more productive we are.

The first step, create a default monthly task list. These are tasks that need to be completed every month. Each month you add any additional tasks that need to be completed that month. These tasks will go into your month task bucket.

The second step, each week look to your monthly bucket list and see what tasks need to be accomplished in the week ahead. Move those tasks from your monthly bucket into your weekly bucket.

The third step, each day look at your weekly bucket and see what needs to be accomplished the next day. Once you have selected your list for the day, determine an estimated time it will take to complete each task that you need to accomplish that day.

If you can’t accomplish all your selected tasks that day, determine which task is the least productive and put it back into your weekly or monthly bucket. At the end of each day check to see what has not been accomplished and determine if it needs to go back into the weekly or monthly list or moved to the next day.

3. Don’t finish today until you plan for tomorrow – If you wait until the morning to plan your day, you will loose precious time and momentum to start your day. By ending your day knowing what you need to accomplish the next day will allow your subconscious to begin working on solutions and ways to accomplish your tasks faster.

If you follow these 3 tips, you will become more effective, more efficient, and more productive. Each week and month you will be able to look back in amazement of how much more you have accomplished with these 3 simple steps.

Steve Goranson
ActionCOACH Business Coaching
Jacksonville, Florida