3x5 TO ENSURE A PRODUCTIVE DAY

By Dave Oshlag, President Project Marketing Associates

The story goes something like this. At either end of the Ross Park Mall in the North Hills of Pittsburgh, are two established purveyors of perfume. Kiosk “A” @ the north end of the mall displays and sells a total of 24 different products, while kiosk “B” @ the south end of the mall sells just six. Which kiosk has more sales (i.e. is more productive) at the end of a busy holiday week and why?

Hint: B > A
For most of us, more variety and more choice is most desirable. However, when it comes to making decisions, deciding what needs to be done, too many choices can lead to an unnecessarily long and drawn out decision making process driven by too many points of comparison.

So it is with making your “to-do” list for each day. Stop and think about how you start each day and what you need to accomplish to have it be “productive.” If you have a long of things to get done, how do you choose what to work on first and in what order? For a lot of us meetings, planned or otherwise, take up an inordinate amount of time. For others, some projects are so large, they will be the only thing we work on during the course of the day. That leaves a precious few hours to get “your work” done.

Solution: 3 x 5

An easy-to-implement solution is to list on a 3x5 index card what you wish to accomplish during the course of the day. To make your goals achievable.

Start by dating the card in the upper righthand corner, then writing the numbers 1 through 6 down the left side, skipping a line in between.

Before writing anything down, check to see if you have a deadline that needs to become your top priority for the day.

Review your list from the prior day(s) to see which goals were not completed and may need to carry over – surprisingly not all of them will make today’s list.

Pause: Think about which tasks are easy vs. harder to accomplish. Most of us like to start with the easy and work our way up to harder, however if you work better in the morning when you’re fresher, start with the more challenging and finish your day with something easier.

Now after each number write what you wish to accomplish and in what order.

Use the blank line in between the numbers to denote any sub steps which will make it easier to accomplish the goal.

Get to it
As each goal is worked on and completed, be sure to either put a check mark beside it indicating you worked on it or cross it off the list if completed. Productivity hint: after working on a particular task for two hours, take a 20-minute break. Psychologists tell us our brains need to recharge during the course of the day.

Final thought: Creating your “tomorrow” list @ the end of each day gives you a sense of accomplishment for what you achieved and provides a pre-set starting point for the next day.

If you have a product, service offering or a book that makes SMB’s more productive by saving them time and money, email daveo@projectma.com to schedule a review via telephone or over coffee.

Dave Oshlag is President of Project Marketing Associates (www.projectma.com) and CEO of W5Templates (www.w5templates.com). He offers a practical and results-oriented approach to Project Management and CRM based on 25+ years of business experience.