I’ve just finished a session with one of my clients, looking at how she can be more productive by being in control of her to do list. This is an issue which comes up frequently and, while different methods suit different people, I thought I’d share some of the techniques which work for me.

Rule 1

Anything which you aren’t going to do in the next 5 minutes needs to go on the to do list, even if it’s just a quick phone call. Otherwise it will be lost forever.

Rule 2

Make sure your list is very specific and defined. For example “online marketing” is so wide and vague that you’re never going to get around to actually doing anything, whereas “spend 45 minutes reading the econsultancy report on SEO” is a clear instruction to do a very specific thing. That one is on my list for this week.

Rule 3

Putting everything on your to do list will make it enormous, which can then make you feel dispirited and that you’ll never actually do anything. So you need to prioritise. I use Stephen Covey’s matrix to choose the things from my list which I’m going to do on any particular day, so that I don’t waste my time on trivia or get caught up in firefighting.

Urgent things are the ones you must do in the next couple of days. Paying a cheque into the post or calling a client back would be an example of something which is both important and urgent, but reading a new email about how great the iPad is, might be urgent (because it’s a new email) but it’s likely to be unimportant.

Important things are the ones which will make me and my clients money, maybe now or in the long run. The aim is to get the urgent and important tasks done first and then concentrate on the non-urgent but important things. If something is not urgent, and it’s not important, I just take it off the list and don’t do it. That probably chops out about a third of the list straight away - just don’t do these things.

Rule 4

Each day, before you do anything else (including delving into your email) choose which things you’re going to do each day.

Rule 5

Allow yourself time for people phoning you, getting distracted, eating lunch etc rather than filling your day to the full. Only put on the list for that day the things you can reasonably do, you can always finish off that day’s list, smile, and then get ahead with tomorrow’s stuff.

There are lots of resources to help you with your time management, and we can all do with getting more out of our day. In particular, I recommend some sessions with Clare Evans to support you in developing some excellent habits and talking to Susanne Barthelmes at All Sorted Consulting to make sure that all of your systems are working well for you. And of course, once you’ve done that you’ll be so productive that your business will be ready for the next stage, which is when you’ll want to chat to me about your strategy to develop and grow.