If you’ve ever read a book on time management then the idea of starting your day with your most important task isn’t a new idea. But, here’s the big question: do you do it? Do you routinely begin your day by making progress on the most important task or project on your to-do list?
If not, why not start today? Here’s how.
First, identify your most important task. For example, this could be one step forward on your most important goal or project. Once you have that important task in mind, post it in the comments, and then, write it down at the top of your daily to-do list.
Next, go do that task! Do it before checking your email or connecting with friends on Facebook. Do it before your first Tweet of the day, or ahead of reading the newspaper. Go do it now.
Then, tonight before going to bed, identify tomorrow’s most important task. Put it at the top of tomorrow’s to-do list, and do it first thing! Repeat this process every day until it becomes a habit.
By starting your day with your most important task, you start your day with a win. You instantly feel more productive, and that feeling will fuel your productivity all day long. Give it a try, and see for yourself. Then, let me know what you think.
How do you do this if you work outside the home? I already get up at 445am in order to get ready and get my kids ready, drop them at the babysitter and then drive about an hour to work…I would love to be able to exercise, scrap or any number of “me” tasks…would love some ideas!
Printing maps and directions for invitations. That will be my main project for tonight. Hopefully, that won’t take long. If it goes as easy as I hope, hang art and a shelf in our living room.
These are two big projects I wanted to get done over the weekend that just never happened. I think it’s because I did too many other projects first. Not tonight though!
Thanks for the push!
I agree with you, 100%, both that it’s important to do your highest priority task first and that it’s hard to do. It’s so much easier to be distracted.
I write down my most important task at the top of my Daily Task List at the end of the day before.
Then, the next morning, there’s a clear plan as to what I need to do first. It takes practice, but it’s a habit worth cultivating.
Over the past month, I have made exercising my first priority–not a huge time commitment, maybe a 15-20 minute cardio blast DVD or yoga. If I don’t do it then, before I take a shower, I won’t exercise at all. By exercising first, I make getting healthy a priority, and I am more energized to do everything else I need to do for the rest of my day.
So helpful! I get bogged down sometimes and making a list of 7 things helps greatly! 7 seems to be my limit. Any more and I get overwhelmed…less and I don’t feel productive.
I thought of getting a head start on my current work project first, but when reading through the comments, I realized that starting my day with exercise would be really, really good as well. So here’s my plan: As the work project will take quite a while and some pondering along the way as well, I’ll start with that and take a break for exercising. Let’s see how this works out!
Love this – thanks for sharing….can’t wait to see how you keep track of your ‘to do’s’….I need another idea rather than 10 different lists…..
I try to do the most annoying task first- the one I do NOT feel like doing. Like right now my kitchen garbage can needs a good washing — ugh– but I’ll feel much better once i simply get up and do this.
I love this. Even though I am fairly organized and take time to plan my day the evening before, I *still* have a hard time making myself do that one most important thing before I get sucked into e-mail, social media, etc. I tell myself “Oh, I’ll just knock a few other things off my list first while I’m getting centered” and then, of course, hours go by before I realize what I’ve done. Then I feel guilty. I only have three work days each week and despite years of trying, I still have a hard time forcing myself to focus and make the most of my work time. I manage to get the work done, but not in the planned, careful way that I’d like to do it. My work life often interferes with family life because I’m bad with boundaries.
When the most important task is something that you don’t “feel” like doing, and there’s no boss breathing down your neck (you’re the boss), where does the self-discipline come from? I wish I were a bettr grown-up, sometimes…
I realized when I read this article that I had been using this type of time management at my desk but had not really applied it to the rest of my life. I’m going to make myself a list and see what I can accomplish. Thanks for the nudge. I’ve linked this article to my blog so my friends can benefit too.