What will you do today?

"Wait a minute and I'll get back to you after I check my to-do list..

If only it were that easy or if only someone would create our daily action lists for us breaking down our deliverables into actionable tasks aligning them with not only the best time to tackle them but what's more important. We get paid big bucks to deliver what we’re assigned. We usually know what to do and how to go about. Sometimes we get distracted by all there is to do.

One might consider their to-do list to be all the things that they have to get done.

Every thing.

Personally, I think that’s a really big list. I’m all for listing everything you’d like to accomplish, but to be effective, I suggest doing a little more personal strategic thinking to understand which tasks are dependent upon others and what items are more important than others.

You might have twelve weeks to complete a project with many of your daily tasks tied to each other. You certainly wouldn’t list all of these in your Monday planner; you’d space them out allowing time for meetings, suppliers to get back with you, and for your own personal brainiac time.

You likely have two to five projects and they are all at different stages. You likely have other tasks due unrelated to these projects.

What do you work on?

I remember being given a very tricky choice by my first employer when I was eighteen. They asked if I wanted to be paid hourly or on a weekly salary. My first thought was to jump at the hourly rate thinking that would pay out better in the long run. The guy countered that I was probably so efficient that I wouldn’t need more than forty hours. Since then it has gotten me thinking that if I could be so efficient to be able to leave the office for the week when my work was done, wouldn’t that counter those other weeks when heavy workloads required longer work hours?

When you go on vacation and leave say.. on a Thursday, isn’t it true that you get done that short week what might have taken you five days if you hadn’t planned the time off?

With some companies shortening work weeks to save on salary payouts and energy costs, do you think the work volume has changed? If anything some of those same companies have experienced layoffs and those left behind in the office have a heavier workload.

You will get done what you have to do in the time you are allowed.

You will get done what you have to do in the time you are allowed. So, my question to you is:

What would you do with more time?

My message to you is this: Consider what is imperative to get done this week to move your projects forward and do those tasks early – like by Wednesday afternoon. Use the rest of the week to be creative, start another project, or simply have more personal time.