A Million Little Rocks

You have the planner, you have the pens, you may even have a brand new sticker pack; so what now?

How do we use this thing in real life?

That's one of biggest challenge for newbies; understand a realistic way to implement a planning system to benefit your every day life.

When I speak with beginners, the first thing they ask for is a calendar to keep track of all of their meetings and appointments, which is a good starting point.

But what about everything else that you have to do?

The big rocks.

My husband frequently has to present to the board. His "to do list" simple states work on presentation, the big rock. But there's several other steps that go into completing the presentation; the little rocks.

Most people create their to-do list based solely off of the big rocks that they need to complete. It's the little rocks that need to be planned out.

What does that look like?

1. Breaking down big rocks. - List all the small task that go into creating a bigger task, identify which of the small rocks are your responsibility and which ones belong to someone else. Everyone needs to have a clear understanding of their part and so do you.

2. Plan backwards. - In order to make this more manageable and less stressful for you, give yourself enough time. Start with the end date and work backwards to assign dates for the small rocks to be completed.

3. Time block the small rocks. - This is how you plan your day. Set aside time to work on each of the small rocks, don't multitask. knock one rock down at a time.

4. Track your progress in your planner. - At the end of each day or after task completion, reassess where you are and adjust your schedule for tomorrow, to ensure that you are planning effectively and hitting each deadline.

Increase your productivity, free your mind, decrease the stress, crush the little rocks and plan accordingly.