Planning your day and your work may seem like a complete ‘no-brainer’, but you would be surprised how many of us fail to do so consistently and effectively.

The more you plan, the more effectively your time will be spent. Being busy and being productive are two completely different things and, the more productive you can be, the less busy you must be! Effective planning is the key to accomplishing your most important tasks.

Here are a few tips to help you plan your work and home life more effectively:

• Set aside some planning time. Just 10 minutes can make all the difference. Most people find that either the beginning or the end of the day is the best time for them. Review your life and business priorities together, and try to do the same on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, to give yourself visibility of your upcoming priorities.
• Know what your priorities are. You cannot plan if you don’t know what is most important at what times. To work effectively, you need to be able to see the big picture.
• Never confuse ‘urgent’ with ‘important’. These are two separate concepts, and most people have the habit of ‘fire-fighting’, always handling the urgent things, regardless of how high they should be on the priority list. Do not let someone else’s crisis or poor planning lose you your focus on what you need to do.
• Expect interruptions! We all have them daily; it’s just that most of us won’t know when they’ll happen. If you ignore the fact that you will be interrupted when you plan, you will end up disappointed that you did not achieve a full day’s tasks on your list. Give yourself some ‘wriggle-room’.
• Keep yourself ‘in check’. As you progress through your day, make sure you are working on the most important stuff right now.

Hi all. Great to be back with you. This month, in our new online coaching group we have focused on priorities. So it is top of mind for this quarterly issue. I hope you find some helpful tips.

A few updates:

•  Our Coaching Group: A rising tide raises all boats. We have launched our new coaching group and its website “Great Points Coaching Online” – join us! We have monthly LIVE webinars for our members. AND you will have access to an exclusive site where you can find self-coaching guidance, mini-courses, guided lunch ‘n learns, leadership development tools, self-development assessments, articles you may use in your organization’s communications and newsletters, and more... Use coupon TWENTY for a 20% discount on our annual membership.
• Mini-courses: Here are some of the mini-courses (under 20 minutes of success boosting) we have developed for our Great Points Coaching Group. Just another teaser to check us out.
• High Performance Goal Setting
• Ten Tips to Manage Your Priorities
• Actions You Can Take to Build Your Sphere of Influence

• Insta! Please follow us at marshadegan for motivating career and success tips. And a few pictures of our rescue Gracie, of course.

Do You Plan to Plan? (20 second read)

Questions You Can Ask Yourself to Clarify Your Priorities (3 min podcast)

Two for One Priorities (30 second read)

The On-Time Success Strategy (2 min video)

“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” –Stephen Covey

“Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work.” –H. L. Hunt

“Focusing on the right priorities can help you do more faster.” –David Cohen