Being behind on your work isn’t a fun place to be.
Stress from unfinished tasks. Looming deadlines. Unprepared meetings.
You spend more time day-dreaming about being caught up, than you do actually working on it.
What would it take to get one step ahead of your work?
Playing Catching Up Isn’t a Game
Living your day in a reactionary mode can be stressful.
Chasing the latest forgotten task. Rushing to meet deadlines.
Always bouncing from one urgent item to the next.
It’s ironic that we call it “playing” catchup. It’s anything but a game.
“Playing catch-up isn’t a fun ‘game’ to play.” (Tweet this Quote)
To get ahead, you need to plan your work. You may even need to slow down before you speed up.
But, it can be done. And with some hard work and discipline you can get ahead of your work.
Here are 8 Tips to Stay One Step Ahead of Your Work:
- Plan your day before you leave the house.
- Finish the project ahead of the deadline. (Set an early deadline if you must.)
- Review your todo list, and do one task you were going to put off today.
- Take one step to start that new project. (The first step is always the hardest.)
- Do your workout before you go to work. (Don’t believe your promise that you’ll do it after work…)
- Prepare for the meeting before you arrive at the conference room.
- Empty your email inbox weekly. (You can reach inbox zero!)
- Do tomorrow’s work today. (Hint: look at your calendar)
Always Stay One Step Ahead of Your Work
You don’t have to live on the edges of your deadlines and urgent tasks.
Make a conscious effort to stay ahead of your work.
Get one step ahead today… and stay there.
It feels great.
Question: What can you do to get one step ahead of your work today? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
A recent story filed by the Baltimore Business Journal listed the top 5 venture capitalist firms that invested in Maryland-based companies. The list relied on data gathered from the National Venture Capitalist Association (NVCA), a national organization whose mission is to “empower its members and the entrepreneurs they fund by advocating for policies that encourage innovation and reward long-term investment.” Business valuations
Superb idea
http://www.alltechabout.com
I organized my calendar, scheduled bills and balanced my checkbook. I have a conference next month that I started pre-packing for. This piece was right on time. I also have some work that I can get ahead of which I have to present for a meeting tomorrow afternoon.
Good job, Craig! My favourite tip is about doing tomorrow’s work today. I write my to-do list every evening before going to sleep. And sometimes it so excite me, that I catch up myself on preparing article in 00:00 pm))
I can`t suggest more useful tips, like yours. But I can suggest you a couple of great tools, that save my time: Asana.com and https://casual.pm/ (helps to plan your tasks like visual maps or workflows, so you can do your work faster). One more step to being ahead of your work 🙂
Sometimes we need to find a sense of urgency, These Tips are great, I recently wrote a similar piece http://thinklikeaconsultant.com/2014/07/04/how-to-find-your-sense-of-urgency/
The tips definitely helps people from all industry, any typical role you work on! This is my regular routine and you actually put the words down…