Over the past week, we sent out a request to our subscribers asking them to respond to a brief survey about their greatest To-Do List Challenges. If you were one of the respondents, then thanks!
We got some great information that highlighted the most common task management related issues for many of our clients, colleagues, and friends. And, in the spirit of sharing, and letting you know that… YOU ARE NOT ALONE… I wanted to share some of the resulting themes with you.
Here are our Top 5 Themes:
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1. Priorities– Far and away this was the winner and the most common word or issue raised by our respondents. How do I determine my priorities? What happens when priorities change? Some of you referenced the classic Stephen Covey distinction of urgent vs. important. Regardless, the common theme was how do I decide what to do today?
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2. Motivation– While expressed in various words: staying motivated, having the energy, following through, accountability, and procrastination. This was the second most common theme that arose in the survey. Essentially, once I determine what my priority is, then how do I make sure I get it done?
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3. Tracking Actions– There were many questions about the best way to use to-do lists, technology, and generally tracking the actionable information on your plate. A desire to find the “right system” for me, and minimize the amount of time spent working on the system rather than doing the actual tasks themselves.
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4. Feeling Overwhelmed & Frustrated– Feeling like there’s constantly too many things to do is also a common experience for many people. In fact, in our second question we asked how frequently respondents felt “on top” of their tasks, and almost 70% of respondents said they felt “on top” of their responsibilities only occasionally or less often. How might life be different if we felt that we were “on top” of things consistently, or at least frequently?
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5. Breaking Down Projects into Manageable Tasks– Sometimes the items on our To-Do list are just too big to tackle today, which I believe is part of what leads to the challenges of procrastination and feeling overwhelmed mentioned above. However, the skill of figuring out how to break that project down into something more easily accomplished feels confusing for many people. Here I can give you a very simple and valuable question to help… What is the smallest, specific next action I could take today that would move me forward toward this outcome? The answer to this question might be to collect the necessary paperwork, research options online, send a quick email, find the phone number for the guy you want to call, or many other small first steps, but by asking the question you’ll focus on making some progress today.
This one guiding question is only one example of the useful tools and solutions that will be incorporated into the Inspired Action videos we’re creating, and the feedback we gathered on this survey was immensely valuable in guiding me to develop the content that we will be covering both in the initial videos and beyond.
So, here are my questions for you…
Which of these five themes been showing up in your world?
What has been YOUR best solution to address it?
Join the conversation below by leaving a comment below with your answers to those questions. Let’s get started learning even more from each other, because the solution to your biggest challenge will certainly be found in someone else’s wisdom, insights, and experience.
If you haven’t yet… CLICK HERE to SIGN UP to receive our free video series on “To-Dos” Done Right which will be launching in just a few more weeks. We will begin addressing many of these themes in those videos. This video training series is essential for your productive future!
#3 has been my latest issue. I grew up on using the Franklin Planner and although I’ve now trained myself to use my electronic calendar, I still struggle with how to prompt myself on tasks without making 35 sticky notes and constantly rewriting my task list. I’ve tried a couple of creative ways (using small stickies and moving them around a big calendar etc.) but haven’t found something that works consistently for me yet.