by Mandy Green, Coaching Productivity Strategies
I want to share a great way to eliminate running around like a chicken-with-your-head-cut-off and always feeling busy. It’s as simple as creating a proactive way to set up their to-do list.
A daily to-do list for coaches I’m finding with the coaches that I work with tends to be a reactive list – it’s based on what has just recently come up and is in your immediate area of concern for that time.
As you are working through your reactive list, by the end of the day you have worked hard, done lots, but achieved very little.
Sound familiar?
It makes for a “busy” coach – but not necessarily an effective coach. It’s like you’re always chasing your tail!
So, how can you make your To Do list work for you?
Getting organized so you can be less “busy” means creating a proactive system that works best for you and saves you time and effort.
I believe being proactive begins by making a master list of everything you can think of that has to be done over the course of the year as a coach. To do this, take out a piece of paper, or turn on your computer, and as they occur
On a piece of paper or on the computer, record all the “must-do, should-do, gotta-do” tasks that pop into your mind. Whenever you think of something new that you have to do, write it down on your master list.
This Master To-Do List holds all of the tasks that need to get done over the course of the year–and gets them out of your brain until you’re ready to act. This list then becomes the central control list for your coaching life.
I have my Master To-Do List organized by the month that I should work on it. That way I already have a list that covers everything that I can be proactive on in the coming weeks so I can avoid rushing to do it last minute.
At the beginning of the month, I pick a few things from my Master List and put them into my daily planning pages in my Green Time Management System for Coaches that I created.
Having this list allows me to:
- Free up my mind so I don’t have to remember everything.
- Be proactive with my schedule and get things done in advance so I can avoid a lot of running around frantically trying to finish a lot of last minute things. There is no more “oh crap, I forgot we have to do this” for me…for the most part ☺.
- I can plan ahead which tasks I NEED to do and which tasks can be delegated.
- Being proactive on my to-do list has made it easier to meet goals, it has reduced a lot of busyness, and I have been able to work more efficiently.
If you are interested in hearing more of the details of how I do this, please email me at mandy@mandygreencps.com. If you want to read about How to Restart a Bad Day and get other productivity advice that is applicable to what we do as coaches, go to www.mandygreencps.com and sign up for my newsletter. Have a productive week!