11
Jan

Daily Intentions vs. To Do Lists

Daily Intention vs. To Do Lists

I recently read an article in the Wall Street Journal by Mike Michalowicz called Five Tips for Managing Your To Do List. His pressing question was is your to-do list long enough to wallpaper your office?

Entrepreneurs have a special challenge.  The balance of life, work and family and how to manage their out of control to-do list.  It often seems too lengthy to manage.  Even organizing everything by priority can be difficult.

One way around the thought of the to-do list is to not call it a to-do list.  I find that this sounds and feels negative.  The list includes things that I have to do and if I don’t get them done, I am a failure.  The feeling of being a failure doesn’t build your self-esteem, provide encouragement or send positive reinforcement.

When I email my accountability partner every morning, I send her my intention list.  These are the list of things that I intend to do every day.  Of course, the list always includes scheduled appointments and to make it easy for me to determine exactly how much I can get done in a day, I give each intention a time-frame.  Answering a client email is an intention that may only takes 10 minutes to accomplish.  This time frame breakdown allows me give a good estimate of what I can accomplish every day.  As I go through the list and check everything off, I can feel inspired at accomplishing my goals.  A sample of my daily intention list can look like this:

  • 7:00 – 8:30 Prepare for the day – drop off baby at sitters
  • 8:30 – 10:00 Networking meeting
  • 10:30 – 2:30 Client meeting
  • 2:30 – 4:30 Set up mobile office at local coffee shop
  1. Answer email (15 minutes)
  2. New client contract (45 minutes)
  3. Return phone calls (30 minutes
  4. Follow-up with VA (30 minutes)

I always allow for wiggle room in the schedule.  Should the phone calls, VA follow-up and client contract get done before my 2 hour time frame, I always have an inspiring, motivational or business related book to read to fill in the leftover time.

  • 4:30 Leave to pick up baby from the sitters
  • 5:15 Dinner and family time

Anything that doesn’t get done today will, of course, go onto the list tomorrow but typically there is enough wiggle room to allow me to get everything done.  Another factor to consider is that if there isn’t enough time in your day, delegate items that take too much of your time.  The first thing that I removed from my weekly intention list was my newsletter.  I found a virtual assistant to put it all into the proper format to be sent out.  My responsibility is to proof it and approve it to be sent.  This relieves me of the stress of this deadline,  and more time for other things that I really do enjoy.

The key to making a schedule like this work is to not be distracted by the phone or email.  I stick to my allotted time for phone calls and email (unless I know that it is extremely urgent).  Getting sidetracked and loosing focus of your daily plan can results in disaster, stress and overwhelm.  Stick to your plan and enjoy the results.