Take a look at the day or week ahead and make note of the things that cannot be moved (appointments, working at your 9 to 5, scheduled calls) and based on those, determine what prep you might need to complete. And looking at the remaining hours where you’re willing to work on your designated projects, what are the things you’d like to get done?

Spending time at the end of the day for the next day or just 15 minutes before you dive into your day will allow you to take stock of your day making it so you know what to expect, and where you set your expectations.

If you know that you have 30 minutes of non-designated time you’re not going to put a huge list of tasks to accomplish (or I certainly hope you wouldn’t!) to avoid overwhelm. Once you’ve created this list, you have a map of how to tackle the day! #winning

I see people write crazy to do lists that say things like: Launch a podcast. Unless you’ve done all the legwork and the podcast is truly about to be launched, that’s not something that should be on your to-do list. Breaking a big project into smaller stages and chunks can allow you to feel like you’re making progress.

For example, instead of writing, “hire a virtual assistant,” and heading into a tailspin, you might write, “outline the job duties,” and “put a call out to friends or in an fb group for potential candidates.” Making a big project more attainable in tasks that can be done in one sitting allows you to actually cross things off your list, making you feel a sense of accomplishment.

*Take action: Look at your to-do list now and break down an item into smaller pieces.

I know your kind: you have a lot of ideas and you have lots of them floating around your head. So when you think of something new, you scribble it down and you have post its upon post its, notebooks that have been started but never to be touched again, and memos on your phone.

I recommend a three list system.

This is where you have an opportunity to catch all the ideas. Whether it be a good one or not, something you end up pursuing or not, the braindump is a pool of opportunity. For me, it acts as a parking lot because I don’t have to expend precious mental energy trying to remember something that can live somewhere that I trust I’ll be able to find at a later date. My mentality for this is getting it all out and don’t judge it.

From that brain dump, I create a list of things that really need to get done. But it’s based on my focuses. (In order to determine your focus, take a look at this post where we discuss how to actually get more done.) I put this list in ONE place. It lives in my planner and often gets transposed to my PowerSheets (because the process of writing it in both places reinforces the need to get it done).

The clean list gets me clear on what will move the needle forward and what stuff I don’t need to be putting on the list that I’m allowing to slide. Whenever I have extra time and am feeling motivated to get more stuff done, this is where I’ll come to look at what I need to make progress on. Instead of making up more stuff to do, the tasks are already outlined and I can get a headstart!

From the Clean List, I’ll create a list of priorities for the day (which ends up being #1) so that I can make progress on the bigger goals. But before I can do that, I make a concerted effort to look at my day ahead and make sure I’m setting good expectations about how much work I’ll get done versus how many calls or scheduled events taking place.

It’s the reason why I give myself a lot of grace when I’m traveling: I know I’ll get next to nothing done during the day and I want to be present for the reason why I’m traveling in the first place.

I also have very few things on my to-do list during client weeks during which I know I’m busy taking care of my clients and won’t have the opportunity to focus on my own projects! So look at what’s already on your calendar, give yourself realistic expectations then write out your to-do list!