TIME MANAGEMENT
you are not building in time to “think.” Periods
of concentration devoted exclusively to wrapping
your mind around a major project or strategiz-
ing how best to respond to a problem are critical
to executing tasks effectively.
Often, however, we postpone thinking about
larger questions and issues until it’s absolutely
necessary. “I can’t think about that right
now. If I do I’ll go crazy. I’ll think about that
tomorrow,” sighsGone With the Wind heroine
Scarlett O’Hara. But if you bump your thinking
from one day to the next, you might run out
of time. Trying to produce a strong strategy
or plan of execution without enough time to
THE TWO-LIST SYSTEM
Organizing expert and author
Stephanie Winston suggests keeping
two lists of tasks at all times: a master
task list—a kind of a reservoir of “to
dos”—and a daily to-do list. The key is
to write any and every task that needs
to get done on the master list, even if
those tasks need to be done a month
or two away. The daily to-do list details
those tasks that must be done that
day, organized according to their high,
medium, or low priority. There’s a good
reason for prioritizing the tasks on your
daily to-do list.