Hey savvy leaders! Do you need a bit more organization in your work and life? Is there magic in your madness? Maybe you have a difficult time falling asleep at night because your mind is on overdrive. You just can’t turn it off.
Or do you love lists?! Only to love crossing things off those lists even more than creating lists? Yes, is that you? Maybe you’ve completed something, and gone back to add it to your list just so you could cross it off. I know you’re out there!
Today’s episode is about my proven strategy to up your organization and quiet your mind. Even if you’re already a list maker, this episode will give your list-making a fresh makeover. If you’re not a list maker, well, you just may be after this episode.
The Five Most Important Things List for High Achievers in Direct Sales
Here’s how this works effectively.
Every day you’ll make a list of the 5 most important things you need to do the next day.
Now, this is most effective if you’re starting from annual goals, broken down to quarterly goals, monthly goals, and weekly goals. Or, your list can become reactive. More of a ‘to-do’ list than a ‘most-important-things’ list.
Setting Goals as a High Achiever in Direct Sales
If you don’t already have specific annual, quarterly, and monthly goals determined, this is essential. Let’s grab a strategy session together. Click over to this page to discover how this would be beneficial.
Center Your Direct Sales Leadership Focus
For your 5 most-important-things-list, you’ll write down the essential, business building, leadership development, and team connecting things you need to do the next day.
Start by reviewing what happened and what got done today. Then you’ll create those essential things that need to happen tomorrow to move you, your team, and your business forward.
Some days you’ll have to forward something from your current list that didn’t get done. That’s just real life.
Keep your list to no more than 5 items. There’s nothing more defeating than creating a list and never getting to cross everything off of it for a day.
You’ll also get really good at identifying what important thing goes on what day. For example, if you’re making your most-important-thing list there will be people and activities that will pop to mind, that don’t need to be done the very next day.
Go to a future day’s list and capture it there. Don’t let this technique, however, get you in the habit of pushing things ahead. Be decisive and intentional.
You’ll first make your list, simply a brain dump if you will, of the most-important-things. If you capture more than 5 that’s fine. Determine what needs to happen tomorrow and place additional things on a future list.
Direct Sales List Lovers: Are You Using These Impactful Strategies?
Now, if you’re already a master list maker, let’s weigh these next impactful strategies to your list-making. Let’s see if you’re already applying these things. If not, this will take your list-making and your organization to the next level.
Take each item on your list and chunk it down. It’s important to prune down each thing on your list into the smallest, actionable item.
For example, as you brain dump you may capture something like, update my onboarding system, or create an onboarding system. This is an important business development & team development ‘most-important-thing’. It’s not small enough to tackle though.
You’ll need to break it down by determining the steps to take in order to update or create that system. This may also look like a brain dump. Determine what needs to happen first. This actionable item is what goes on your list the next day.
On the flip side of this example, there will be other items on your list ready for action and small enough to be a task for the next day. This may be something like
connect with “so & so” about her progress
organize my needs for my personal assistant & our upcoming meeting or
create my most-important-things list
You get the idea. Those are small enough things that you can put in your calendar.
Allow enough time for each item. Guestimate how much time it will take you to do each of these five things. Write those minutes next to the item.
I used to be chronically bad at determining how much time it would take me to do lots of things. If you chunk your items down far enough and small enough it will be much, much easier to determine how much time it will take you.
Don’t go into work mode. You may be tempted to just knock out one or more of these tasks while they come to mind. Don’t. It’s not the best use of your time. Your task at hand is to create your list.
The benefit of making this most-important-things list a habit is that you will feel more organized because you will be more organized. You’re taking a specific amount of time and a purposeful time of your day to get yourself organized for tomorrow.
This gets things out of your head, in a plan, and on paper. It’s simple. It’s not time-consuming.
Pause for a minute here, take a moment to think about how doing this every day will create a progressive, forward, momentum for you as a leader and your business! Where can you be one week from now, two weeks from now, or two months from now when you implement this every day?!
Ok, next, is there a best time of day to create your most-important-things list? YES! If you have set time, or time blocks dedicated to your business, great. Create your list as the last thing you do during that dedicated work time.
Start by allowing 10 to 15 minutes. As you go, determine if you need more or less to create your daily list as a habit but start with 10 to 15 minutes.
By doing this the very last thing in your dedicated time for your business allows you then to shut off. To have a healthy delineation between business and family or business and anything else really.
Of course, you always stay open to connecting with people and opportunities that pop up any time of day. But your dedicated time for business ends with this activity so mentally you can free yourself up to be present for your family and for yourself.
Ok, when you’re creating your list, there will be things that come to mind that fall into personal things that are important to get done.
It’s important to keep your business list and your personal list separate. Let’s touch on a personal most-important-things list. This list is the same concept.
You’ll do it separate from your business list, but you can do it at the same time, at the end of your business work time. You could also do it at the very end of your day before you start your evening routine or maybe incorporate it into your evening routine.
Episode 19 is dedicated to building your evening routine. Go to crazybigdreams.biz/19 for Why Guarding Your Evening Routine is so Impactful for Direct Sales Leaders.
Write down up to 5 most-important-things you need to get done the next day. Sign the field trip form. Return library books. Pick up dry cleaning. Again, it gets it out of your head and down on paper in an organized fashion that allows your mind to rest. You’ll find you’re so much more present.
And if you have trouble falling asleep at night, making this list and getting these things to stop distracting you as you fight to fall asleep will be freeing! Keep a notepad on your nightstand.
No matter which list you’re creating, the key is to keep it to five. More than five is too many. If you find that your list is complete and you never have to carry items over from one day to the future, do a happy dance. And I know you’ll naturally still find things to accomplish even if they aren’t on your list. Keep your list to five.
Although you’ll notice the mental freedom and sense of accomplishment within the first few days of implementing this most-important-thing list creation, give yourself a month to really let all of this settle in and work for you and your business.
Ensure you’re using all the strategies. Let’s recap the 8 step process to creating your most-important-things list:
- Brain dump your 5 most-important-things list by reviewing your weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual goals.
- Don’t have these specific and in place? Click over to this page and let’s grab a strategy session together.
- Keep your list to 5.
- Prune down each item so it’s a task you can schedule and assign an amount of time to it.
- Allow enough time for each item.
- Don’t go into work mode while creating your list.
- Create your most-important-things list at the very end of your dedicated work time.
- Keep business items and personal items on separate lists.
You have everything you need to enhance your organization and up your list-making skills! I can’t wait for you to experience, not only the freedom this gives you, but also the business building and leadership development that you’ll experience with enhanced organization to your days.
Tag and share this episode with a savvy leader you know that could benefit from an easy, quick technique to up their organization.
Are you a list lover? Click over to Instagram @yourcrazybigdreams and connect!
The best is yet to come, friend! Always.
