Comments on: Need an Energy Boost? Be a Finisher

By: Joy Olson

Joy Olson — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:16:52 +0000

I’ve recently hit upon a motivational strategy that I’ve never seen anywhere else, but works for me. It’s this: rather than make a “To Do” list, I keep a “Done” list. I find I’m usually well aware of what I need to do and/or am stalling about completing. Rather than look at a depressing list of things that need to be done, I like looking at a blank page and filling it up with things I’ve actually accomplished, big or small. It’s a simple tweak on an old technique, but wow–it’s worked wonders for me.

By: Teresa

Teresa — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:19:30 +0000

I’ve always been a list maker. I keep notepads everywhere in the house. My main one right next to my laptop. I love scratching off items with a big OK in red to make myself feel better about accomplishing items and removing them from the list. I do have a slight problem in prioritizing though. Skipping around the list to what might seem a lttle more convenient at the time seems to work better for me.

By: Pete

Pete — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:43:57 +0000

I myself use a white board like Selene – but I use it to track projects and as a ‘parking lot’ for ideas that I want to glance up at and think about from time to time. I’m also with Graham when he says low tech is the way to go. When it comes to planning my day, I’ve tried it all – and even became very proficient using MS Outlook and all its features like Tasks, Projects and Categories, etc. But, I have to say, I’ve never been more consistently productive than this year, when I switched to using a pretty low tech process of using a standalone Excel spreadsheet, marked out with half-hour increments, to plan my day. Personally I’ve found that when it comes to time management, simplicity is paramount… if something is simple it’s much easier to do it consistently.

By: Graham Strong

Graham Strong — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:43:21 +0000

I use Post-It Notes to write down my “to-do” list almost every day. You know, I tried all those electronic to-do list programs, and they were more trouble than they were worth. It took like 30 seconds to open a new entry, type the entry in, decide on a background colour, decide on the order… and then to strike it off the list you need to do it all over again.

Low-tech is the way to go. I write the date at the top, list the things I need to do, and stick it to my monitor. Takes about 30 seconds to do the whole thing PLUS I get the joy of striking off the task with my own pen. And my tasks are always right there in front of me so I don’t have to find that program running in the background…

BTW Steve, I think you’re showing your age here. Not much call for Triple Sec anymore — or cocktail parties for that matter! (‘Course I’ll show *my* age by saying I don’t know what the hell the young’uns have substituted it with, though I suspect it has something to do with fizzy shooters and rap music…)

Great post!

~Graham

By: Selene M. Bowlby

Selene M. Bowlby — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:06:52 +0000

Great suggestions, Steve. What I find most helpful / motivational is to knock out as many of the smaller projects as I can first thing in the morning. It’s an extra boost if I can tackle a larger project or two as well.

Just looking at a long to do list first thing in the morning – and see it dwindle in half (or more) by mid-morning is something I find extremely helpful for my frame of mind.

I have a white board mounted in my office – lots of sections as far as the info I have up, but relevant here – I have an overall to do list with deadlines for the upcoming week. I draw a box next to each item and check everything off as I complete it. I’ve also got a daily to do list (with an hour by hour list) that I try to follow as well. It’s great to see the items get checked off as you go.

Do you keep your completed lists? Mine gets erased daily/weekly… I wonder if having old items to look back at might be more motivational, as you say with the planner or electronic to do list, etc.