Bonjour. In this video I want to share a very simple principle of time management which can make a big difference to the way you manage your tasks.
I’m in the beautiful city of Munich training a group of seventeen leaders from a large global company. We just had a discussion on task management, and how to keep track of all the things we have to do.
The first interesting thing is that none of them are using the same system to keep track of their tasks. Some are using paper to-do lists, others apps on their iPhone. Some are capturing their to-dos on word documents, others on excel spreadsheets.
The common theme is that all of them are complaining that there never seemed to be an end to their to-do lists. Their list keeps growing despite their constant efforts to tick off things from them.
Let me share a simple piece of advice: your to-do list should not be the end of the process. There are two important steps after writing a list: prioritise and schedule.
Most people use their to-do list at the last step of the process. They write down what they have to do, and when they have a little bit of time try to do a few items on the list.
Having a to-do list is necessary. You cannot remember all what you have to do. But on a regular basis, I suggest once a week, you need to review your list, prioritise the items on it AND THEN schedule these items in your calendar.
Prioritise : You can’t do everything, so you have to make some hard decision on what you can and can’t do.
Schedule : book a meeting with yourself in your calendar.
Simple but super important.
I hope that is useful. I’m going to go back to my training in this beautiful Munich city and have fun with this team.
A bientôt
Cyril
