The ability to unclutter your mind is an important time management skill. Your objective is simplification of your very busy hectic life. Storing information in your head and trying to remember it later only complicates things and increases your stress. Writing your thoughts down in more than one place just complicates your life. Record all these thoughts in one place. The best approach is to use a simple, portable, and easy to use system to record all the actions you need to take. An easy solution is a "to do" list.

Simplicity is the idea of this time management skill. When you create daily "to do" lists you’re doing seven time the work you need to do, and it’s a senseless use of your time. In today’s electronic age it’s very easy to create a template for your to do list.

Pre-populate your template with any standing actions you need to take. Don’t just enter project name on your template. List all the actions you need to do yet until the project is complete. You only need to print your template once a week and then fill in the actions for the upcoming week.

Don’t allow your "to do" list to become a list of random and disorganized thoughts. Instead you want your "to do" list to be a list of actions you need to take now and later. Mark off your actions as you complete them. Your "to do" list prevents you from forgetting future actions when the time comes.

Make sure as you enter things on your "to do" list that you state them as actions. Using your time is about actions not ideas. Include a section for future ideas and plans you want to make, but in the actual "to do" section every entry must be made in terms of an action. You wouldn’t write the word groceries by itself on your "to do" list. Instead groceries might be an item on your list with actions listed: make list on Thursday with items for Saturdays party, and go to store on Saturday. Your weekly "to do" list is also a great place to track your progress. On your template you may want to include a section for phone calls you need to make with the names and numbers of those to call. You absolutely want a results section where you track your weekly outcomes.

As you make your phone calls you can immediately track your results and record the number of appointments you make and/or the number of sales you make as you make your calls. When the week ends you already have your numbers, and you immediately see if you’re on target and off target. One simple tool helps you to keep everything together in one place so you aren’t wasting time trying to store things in your head needlessly hunting for information.

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