Tag: deadlines

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6 Steps to Quarterly Planning for Increased Productivity

Quarterly planning is a strategic productivity hack that organizes your goals and objectives into a 90-day action. This method is designed to help you accomplish more goals in less time.

 

Here are eight steps to quarterly planning so you can better manage your time and increase your productivity:

 

Step 1: Start with A Clear Vision

Define your idea of success, dreams, and aspirations you wish to achieve for your business. Visualize what you want for your business and life. If you have already developed a business plan, then this should be pretty easy to get started.

 

Step 2: Set Your Dates

Choose the quarters you want to work in. Ideally, these quarters or 3-month periods should be set to make sense to your business and its processes. Keep in mind your busy seasons, when your customers have the most revenue or problems to solve, or any other important information that could affect the flow of business.

 

Most businesses and organizations use the quarterly schedule as following:

 

  • Q1 – January 1 to March 31
  • Q2 – April 1 to June 30
  • Q3 – July 1 to September 30th
  • Q4 – October 1 to December 31st

 

Step 3: Outline Your Main Objective

Now that you have determined your quarter dates, you need to develop three main objectives you wish to work on for the next three months that each can be accomplished within three to four weeks. These main objectives should get you close to your vision and idea of success that you set in step one.

 

Step 4: Create Action Steps, Deadlines, and Set Priority Levels

Develop three to four action steps that allow you to accomplish the main objective you set for that month. Be clear of the resources you need, what values and morals you need to instill for success, your strengths, and weakness and what obstacles may get in your way.  Then set deadlines and a priority level of high, medium, or low. This way, you know which action to take to get you where you need to be and on time.

 

Step 5: Be Mindful and Keep Track

Be mindful of your actions, practice discipline, and track your results for real success. Be realistic.

 

Step 6: Stop, Evaluate and Repeat

You can’t have a successful plan if you don’t take the time to evaluate. You need to make sure it is optimized for your goals and business success. Ask yourself open-ended questions and reflect on the actions and goals you accomplished. Keep in mind your emotions and feelings while doing it too. All successful plans change and grow over time.

 

If you haven’t already changed to a quarterly schedule yet, then use these six steps to get started in no time and reap the benefits before it’s too late.

Outsourcing: The Key to Success for The Life Affirming Entrepreneur

 

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How to Create an Effective To-Do List

To-do lists are the most popular and widely used time management strategy and essential productivity technique adopted by many successful entrepreneurs and business owners.

Lists

It is even a great way to achieve your own personal goals. However, not just any to-do list will do. Each to-do list you make must be designed appropriately and strategically to be successful.

 

Here are six tips and tricks to implement when developing an effective to-do list:

 

Tip #1: Choose the Right Medium

Choose the proper medium you enjoy, such as paper, a phone application, or simply a word document. What you pick doesn’t matter as long as you understand it and enjoy the process to inspire your creativity and get you working. The medium you choose only frustrates you or has a high learning curve. It won’t be helpful.

 

Tip #2: Use Your Schedule to Guide Your Day

Before you make a list, look at your schedule. Do you have any important meetings or assignments that must get done first? For your to-do list to be effective, use these times or important objectives to guide you. Therefore, don’t make a to-do list for a goal that requires more of your time if you know you will be interrupted.

 

Tip #3: Make It Clear and Precise

Don’t use too many words or go overboard with the tasks. While breaking it down is necessary to highlight the actions required, you can go overboard and overwhelm yourself. Be a realist and make it scannable.

 

Tip #4: Make Deadline or Time Limits

For each task on your to-do list, make time requirements or schedule deadlines and add it to your calendar. This way, it becomes a commitment, and you won’t forget about it either.

 

Tip #5: Limit Your Daily Tasks

Remember being busy doesn’t mean you are productive. In other words, you don’t want to break it down so much that each and every little task is highlighted. This can overwhelm you and require too much time to set up in the first place. Highlight the most important information such as times and what exactly needs to be done. You don’t need to include every time you might go to the bathroom, for example.

 

Tip #6: Add Ways to Keep Track of Your Progress

Seeing the work that you finished is a great way to motivate yourself to get even more done. This way, you can get yourself back on track if you notice you are not getting the work done.

 

As long as you make your list clear, direct, time-driven, and aligned with your goals, you’ll improve your productivity exponentially.

 

Hope you are having a very productive Day!

Here is a Great Speech from Art Williams. Very inspirational.

You must be Tough and Never Quit!

Just Do It Speech….