Since this Sunday is New Years Day, I’m going to be sharing several tips this week to help you prepare for an incredible 2012! Today is all about preparing your productivity and time management plan. I’m sharing 5 of my best tips that, if followed, will help you get organized for the New Year and be as productive as you can be each day.
#1 – Set Weekly Goals
Every Sunday, I create a list of goals I want to accomplish that week. Then I break those goals down into smaller, daily tasks that need to get done in order to accomplish my goals. My smaller weekly goals are usually parts of my larger monthly goals. For example, one of my goals next month will be to blog daily as part of my blog challenges strategy next month. So each week I will create a editorial (or content) calendar for that week with blog post ideas and a very basic outline of what each article will cover. I use the WordPress Editorial Calendar plugin to create and manage my content each week.
#2 – Use a checklist for your daily tasks
As I mentioned above, after you set your weekly goals, break down your goals into smaller daily tasks and then use a checklist each day to ensure everything gets done. There is something very satisfying about checking items off a checklist to signify their completion. A few months ago, I started using Toodledo to manage my daily To-Do list. It allows me to organize tasks into folders so I have my business and personal items separated. It also allows you to set due dates for each task and assign a priority to each one, so you can focus on the ones that need to get done first. My favorite feature is the ability to setup repeating tasks because I have several items that I do every single day. Toodledo keeps track of them for me now!
#3 – Focus on Your Income Producing Activities (IPAs) First
If you’re a Network Marketer, that’s going to be exposing your business to people. So, depending on your company, that could be sharing your link online, it could getting people to a daily conference call or webinar, it could be setting up one-on-one meetings with people or driving people to a weekly opportunity meeting. If you’re an Internet Marketer, your IPAs probably include different marketing campaign components, such as content marketing objectives, email marketing, and or link building tasks. As an Internet network marketer, I have a combination of IPAs that feed my Internet home business. Whatever your IPA is, it should have the end result of making sales or recruiting new team members.
#4 -Set Reminders for Your Meetings & Important Obligations
This is a huge one for me! I use Google Calendar to keep track of all of my appointments, meetings, and my kids’ schedules too. I also use it to keep track of weekly conference calls and webinars. For each appointment, I set a reminder for each one to email me or text me. This helps to accomplish two things: 1) I have peace of mind knowing that I won’t forget anything important, and 2) I get to “mind dump” these things so that my subconscious no longer feels responsible to remind not to forget them. My mind is clearer during my productive hours and I’m able to focus on the tasks at hand.
#5 – Use Google Voice to Filter Your Calls
I love Google Voice because it provides you with a free phone number that you can use exclusively for your home business. Plus, Google Voice offers many other intuitive features that are very Internet business friendly. You can do things like set office hours to keep your phone from ringing at odd hours and it even allows you to blocks spam callers. It’s a “must have” service, in my opinion, especially because its free. 
Start your productivity and time management plan using these 5 tips to get your day in order and to be more productive each day that you use them. If you’d like to learn how to make a “One Minute To-Do List” and how to “Work Less and Accomplish More,” subscribe to my mailing list using the form below. My “Exclusive Downloads” section provides free copies of my favorite productivity ebooks, a daily schedule template, a marketing checklist, and more. You’ll also gain access to my “7-Day to Success Blueprint” so subscribe today.
To Your Success and Prosperity,
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