Are you someone who feels like they are overwhelmed with their to-do list?
Yep – me too!
I have a very simple way to streamline my to-do list so I know what I am working on, why it is important, and to make sure everything is getting done at the right time and in the right sequential order.
You may be familiar with the phrase. “Do. Delegate. Delete,” – an old strategy to use when you are looking at your to-do list. I added a 4th component of this list of options that most people overlook.
Docket.
Okay, maybe I may have been a paralegal in a past life, but sometimes do, delegate, and delete isn’t enough. Sometimes that thing – that dangling task – still needs to be done…even if I can’t do it and it can’t be delegated out. IT STILL NEEDS TO HAPPEN.
That is when the dangling task goes on the docket.
Do. Delegate. Delete. DOCKET.
The docket is your planned schedule. Simply add the task to your calendar, your planner, your Asana, your bullet journal, your ANYTHING.
For me, I add those dangling tasks to Asana, my project management system of choice. I also add a deadline for the task for a week that it needs to be done. Then, when the week comes, I can put the task in the right order within my to-do list to ensure that it gets done.
DOCKET is a forgotten part of the do, delegate, delete system. Adding a task to your docket doesn’t mean you’re lazy – means you’re scheduling something in the future for when you have the time, the energy, or the support.
So as you are thinking, “How can I streamline my to-do list to make it easier for my life, my business, and for my well being?”
Do. Delegate. Delete. Docket.
Don’t be afraid to schedule something out into the future. It doesn’t make you terrible. You don’t suck as a business owner. It is okay to push something out and do it later, maybe at a time that makes more sense.
What to do next…
If everything lives in your head, you probably feel like you don’t know what to do next in your business. Take this very simple 9-question quiz to determine if you are on the verge of burnout. Because there is so much happening and you don’t even know what to do next because everything feels so important, everything is jostling around and you don’t know what is happening.
