Why is it that one day you can accomplish the most important tasks on your list – and on another day you can’t even remember what the most important task is?

This was the email (from one of my favorite clients) in my Inbox  a few days ago . . .

Title:  I just let my morning go to h*&^ in a handbasket.

OK… I need to salvage my day.  I woke up at 8am (instead of 5am).  Because I didn’t plan my morning, I took a nice long trip down a rabbit hole.

I need to get the afternoon under control!!!

Has this ever happened to you?

A couple things I want to draw your attention to with this email . . .

  • Notice she said “I just let” vs “I don’t know what happened”.  She took responsibility for the remainder of her day and made the shift from reactive to proactive.
  • She realized she was off track midday vs. the end of the day.
  • She reached out for support

All great things!!!!!!  (Told you she was one of my favorite clients!)

At this point, our approach was two pronged.  A short term solution, then a longer term plan.

First the short term solution.  Here’s my return email . . .

Congrats on recognizing this before the end of the day!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My advice, pick 1 business related task and 1 customer related task to focus on for the rest of the day.  First things first . . . highest priority items only for the remainder of the day  . . . then email catch up at the end . . . sound like a plan?

She was able to choose 1 high priority task in each area – and finished both successfully.

Now, for the longer term plan.

During our regularly scheduled coaching call, we looked at her last 3 days.   Two of them she was highly productive.  But one day (this one) she went down a rabbit hole.  When we explored what she did differently, she realized that on the two highly productive days she set a plan of attack and a schedule the NIGHT BEFORE.

However, on this day, she rolled into her office without a set plan and therefore was reactive to the first thing that grabbed her attention.

[Tweet “Often we learn more from when things don’t work perfectly than when we do. “]

For the next week, she is committing to creating a plan of attack and a schedule each night before she leaves the office.  I’m curious to learn if this is the only tweak she needs to stay on track – or if there are other hidden obstacles lurking under the surface.  Either way, I’ll bet we both learn a ton about what strategies and structures she can use to be the most successful!

We know time management strategies are simple to understand, yet are not necessarily easy to implement.  It is a journey . . . and success is often measured by “is this day better than yesterday”?  And really, isn’t that what we want for our lives in general?

Your turn – how do you stay on track?  Please post below!

Would you like some support accomplishing your goals?  

With a little coaching, you can easily achieve the perfect balance between your business and personal lives.  You can develop a framework and a system that allows you to put first things first -and live a life of purpose, accomplishment, and fun.  You can turn ideas into action!  Take the first step – contact me today for your complimentary Strategy Session.

[su_button url=”http://www.ScheduleWithLisa.com” style=”bubbles” background=”#ef2dbb” size=”6″ center=”yes”]Tell Me More!!![/su_button]

Main Image courtesy of atibodyphoto / freedigitalphotos.net