To review: There are three basic elements to an effective daily plan.  They are Meetings, Calls and Other To Do’s.

Take out a separate, blank sheet of paper (or a 5” by 8” card – whatever works for you) each day and list your meetings first… (the name is enough, as your daytimer, Outlook calendar or PDA has the remaining details).  These are the commitments to others that you have made that will impact their time as well as yours. 

Then, list the telephone calls you need to make (again names only are enough.)  These contacts may include promises you made to others to be in touch with them, so they naturally come second.

Third, you list any other to do’s you intend to accomplish today.

Collectively, this information will not take you longer than 5 minutes each day to complete. 

1. Make sure you put all this information on a single card or sheet.  “But I have my day-timer and a separate to do list.  Isn’t that enough?”  Try this system for seven business days in a row.  Then you tell me.  This system is not designed to replace your day-timer.  It is designed to give you control over how you say your day is going to go.
2. “I have an active priority management system.  This system is supposed to do all this stuff for me.  Yet I feel like I am constantly behind it all.  I guess there is no system that will help me out.”  Actually, too often, people put To Do’s into future days in their system, and if they follow these, they get overwhelmed by the 20 hours of work there is to do when they turn the page and see all the stuff waiting for them.  By planning each day separately, you will eliminate the guilt associated with looking all day at the things you just won’t get done, regardless of how much you need to.
3. In line with number 2 above, don’t plan more into your day than you feel confident that you will get done.  You can always add things at the end of the day if you finish early.  If you don’t, adding more things (no matter how desperately they need to get done) will only make you feel tired and frustrated by day’s end, regardless of how productive your day has otherwise been.
4. Start with your sheet blank.  You be the author of your day.  Don’t put things on your list unless you have a reasonable certainty that you will accomplish them.  Protect your confidence.
5. Use highlighters to park things off when done.  Specifically you may want to use green for “done”, yellow for “in-process” (started but not yet done), and orange for “will not do”.  Then you can just focus on what is white, with an eye for the yellow items.
6. At then end of the day, do not orange out the undone items, but rather, leave them white.  This way you will be able to do a reality check on how well you are gauging the flexibility that is needed in your day.
7. If unexpected things come up, add them to the day’s activities.  This way, at the end of the day, you will actually gain a real sense of what you have accomplished for the day, even if it was not what you had originally intended.
8. Give yourself time to evolve this system.  If it doesn’t work perfectly initially, don’t throw it out.  Over a few days you will find yourself customizing it to your needs.  That is when it will serve you the best.

If you plan your days in writing on a consistent basis, you will be better positioned to gain and keep more customers at a profit, and align your business with your personal goals and commitments in life.