Some days when I get in to the office, I take one look at my to-do list and shudder. Sometimes there may be 10-20 things that I need to get done in a day. While there are many out there who say that you should simply whittle your list down to the three most important things to do in any given day, sometimes that’s just not a possibility (especially when you have a boss that insists you get the ten things done already on your to-do list as well as an additional five that pop up during the day).

So what do you do if you can’t eliminate all but three items? Simple. You have to prioritize. Then you have to throw those priorities out the window.

Sounds a little backwards, doesn’t it? Well, the strategy that works best for me is to pick the three most important things I need to get done during the day. I mark them on my to-do list (I usually put a dot next to them). I then start on one of the tasks. After a few minutes I generally decide to move on to something else instead (structured procrastination). I keep doing this until I get everything on my list done. I’m also not afraid to move something up to the next day if I don’t complete it. I also sometimes delegate (but unfortunately that’s not usually an option for me since I’m really the only person in my “department”).

Some other techniques that I use:

I’m a “burst” worker, not a “busy” worker. I might sit and do virtually nothing for a half hour or more, and then get an hour’s worth of work done in the next half hour. This is how I stay sane at work. I have a lot of varied job duties, and this method allows me to change roles without feeling like I’m going to go crazy.

I keep a Moleskine notebook for my to-do list. I also use it as my “inbox”. I started my to-do lists in the front of the book, working my way back. My “inbox” and ideas I started on the last page and am working my way forward. This way I won’t end up wasting pages in the middle of the book if my “inbox” fills up quicker than my to-do’s or vice versa.

Use Firefox. One thing that I generally have to do for both work and my blogging and business activities is keep up with the blogosphere. I use a mix of iGoogle (with different tabs for different topics) and Firefox. In the morning when I get to work, I open a new tab with each blog post that I want to read. Then I go through all of them and as I read each one I close it out. I also at this time bookmark anything that I want to blog about later, or email things to coworkers and my bosses that might be of interest.

So, while narrowing down your to-do list to only 3 things can work wonderfully, sometimes it’s just not feasible. When that’s the case, you have to create other strategies for dealing with tasks.

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I came across a very interesting essay the other day written in 1949 by Robert Benchley entitled How to Get Things Done. The essay basically focuses on the art of structured procrastination.

The breakdown of this technique is pretty simple.

1. Make a list on Monday morning of the things you need to get done during the week. Put the most important things at the bottom of the list. Put the least important on top.

2. Start at the top of your list. If the first thing on your list is to write some cornerstone content for your blog (or Mr. Benchley’s case, to write a newspaper article) sit down at your computer and start.

3. Here’s the brilliant part. As you’re sitting there staring at your blank screen, you’ll inevitably get distracted by something lower down on your list (like responding to all those emails in your inbox), and complete that task instead.

4. When you’ve finished the distraction, then you need to go back to writing your cornerstone content. Again, you’ll probably end up distracted and go on to something else and finish that instead.

I’m guessing at this point you’ve probably gotten the point of the essay. When you finish everything but the cornerstone content, you just need to add something above that on your list, and that will get done too.

The original essay is a really interesting read!

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A lot is said nowadays about setting goals. You have to have goals in order to get ahead in life, and if you don’t have goals you’ll never amount to anything.

But, are goals really necessary? If you don’t set specific goals, will your life simply stagnate where it is now? Will you ever get ahead?

The short answer is ‘yes’. Not having specific goals does not mean that you’ll never do anything. In fact, having loosely structured goals, or no goals at all can actually make it easier to get more out of life. If you aren’t constantly making decisions with your long-term goals in mind, you have the freedom to do things you want to do. If you simply do the things that make you happy, at the very least your quality of life will improve, and in a best-case scenario, you’ll be incredibly successful on top of being happy.

If you do feel that you need to set goals (I generally do), try to set goals that are somewhat loose for the long-term. If you insist that you have to have specific goals, limit them to one or two weeks in the future, and anything beyond that should be more loosely defined.

Let’s say that you’re unhappy at your current job, and decide you want a new one. If you know that your long-term goal is loosely defined as being “get a new job”, then you can simply set a goal for the current week of “apply for three new jobs”. The biggest advantage to this is that if you don’t have an entire plan set out, you can easily change your strategy at any time without feeling like you’re abandoning your plan.

Being able to change your strategy quickly is important in any project that you’re working on. By not having a complete structured plan, but instead just a general direction of where you’re going, you can adapt as new challenges crop up (which, face it, they always do), and you can better react to new opportunities.

Learn to set goals that enable you to get more from your life. Don’t set goals just for the sake of having goals. When you do set goals, only make them as specific as they need to be. You don’t have to have a plan for your entire life, and you’ll probably have a lot more fun if you take things as they come!

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