This was my to do list for the day.

Ask me what I crossed off… zip, zero, nada! I started one… only to be pulled away.

So how did I spend the day you ask?

• Getting pulled into impromptu meetings like one that we  discussed how best to resolve an clients concern who can’t see our vision for their projects FF&E.
• Resolved conflicts with the contractor that had arisen with submittals not coming in right.
• Received a phone call from one of our furniture manufacturers and answered a bunch of questions they had.
• Spoke with an Owner’s project manager saying that the GC’s bidding costs for a project are severely over what he budgeted, and we MUST find areas to cut significant cost in the next couple days.

So why even waste the energy to draft a “to do” list?

First let me say that I am not a guy that makes too many lists. But I learned a long time a go that it is important to make “to do” lists at work. Today was a perfect example of why I do them. The day was filled with so many “now” items that I could forget the smaller items that can creep up on me and become “now” items before you know it. My number one item on my list above still needs to be done and now that it was bumped a day, it MUST be the first item on tomorrow’s list – but with more import and urgency. And the second to last item now required me to reach out to the company and tell them it wouldn’t be until the following day that I would be able to get them the drawings they were waiting for.

The best time to do this is first thing in the morning when you get to work; before you get sucked into reading emails that can sap your energy and send you off in another direction. List those items in a matter of importance. And when I say importance, I refer to those items that need to be done that day,  down to those items that you have a couple days to finish.  Not only does this allow me to do an information dump freeing my brain of worry that I will forget something (for those Harry Potter fans out there, think of Dumbledore using his wand to pull memories in to his pensive,)

photo taken from http://www.mbird.com/2011/06/

but it also helps me see those items that I need to do first over those that I may want to do first (those items that may be more enjoyable over others.) This really minimizes the stress for me in a deadline driven, multiple project balancing world. Then, when the day isn’t so crazy, you go back to your list without much time lost and start knocking them off, one by one in an organized manner.

Sent from my iPad