camo – i haz it

I write out six things I want to accomplish the next day.

Sometimes it is something specific, like email Kyle about the DFW Writers Workshop Conference fliers. Sometimes the goal is more general, like research horse-drawn carriages. Whatever it is, it is written down before I go to bed, and left on the kitchen counter so I can review my list while I have breakfast the next morning.

As I go through my day and accomplish each goal, I drawn a line through it on the list.

When I first started out, I didn’t always clear the list, so anything left over at the end of the day got moved into a slot for the next day. I’ve been using this system for about a month now, and am clearing my list more often than before. It’s usually the weekends when things slip to the next day, but I make it a point to do everything on the list on Sunday so I can start the week with a clean sheet of paper.

If you also want to try this out, you can download a copy of the 6 Daily Goals worksheet (PDF, 18k) I created to keep track my own goals. It’s two pages which cover Monday-Sunday, so if you print the PDF double-sided, you’ve got one piece of paper to keep track of each week.

Here are a few things I’ve learned

1. Try to put the first thing you want to accomplish as #1, but be open to getting the other things done if the opportunity presents itself
2. When you are working on a goal, focus all of your attention on it – it’ll get done a lot faster
3. If a goal gets moved more than twice, take a moment and think about why you keep putting it off and do something about that or take the item off your list – it’s just taking away an opportunity for you to get something done

This is just one of many time management \ productivity systems out there. I’ve tried several, and some I still use. This is one that has made it past the one month mark, so signs are it’s a keeper. By the end of the week, I have a list of 38-42 things I have accomplished. I may have done them anyway, without using the 6 Daily Goals Worksheet, but this way, I can see it writing. And that feels pretty good.

Barney Stinson: Good. That way I can cross two things off my list.
- How I Met Your Mother, “Something Borrowed”, 2.21