e to compliment yourself for a highly successful week.

We’re all barraged with opportunities to perform tasks that while perhaps necessary, they are not top priorities. I do my best to spend time during business hours focusing on customer-related marketing or consulting activities and reserve time after hours or on the weekends to complete jobs like writing thank-you notes, balancing my checkbooks, reading trade magazines, doing research on the Internet, etc.

Remember the title of the best-selling Stephen Covey book: First Things First. Get into the habit of repeating these words to yourself eac

Where does all of the time go? In the course of a hectic day with managers, customers and coworkers tugging at you to get a moment of your time, it’s easy to lose sight of your primary objectives for the day.

Just last week, I began the day with no formal appointments, no prearranged telephone calls to make, no meetings scheduled…nothing really pressing. A rare day in my life and I’m sure in yours, as well, so I planned to get some really deep thinking done, you know, like writing my weekly newsletters, preparing some seminar outlines I had been procrastinating, doing my homework for an upcoming consulting assignment, etc.

But when I looked at my watch in the late afternoon, I realized that it was ten minutes of six and I for the life of me I couldn’t think of one important thing that I accomplished all day. Now don’t misunderstand me, I worked my butt off all day. In fact, during the day, I received a half-dozen telephone calls and returned the calls that rolled to voice mail while I was on another call. I balanced two checkbooks, paid several bills, called my credit card company to dispute a charge and ordered a new supply of personal checks, but I had achieved not one of the important tasks that I came to work planning to finish.

Looking back on the day, I quickly realized that I had gotten out of the habit of using a technique that I have used over the years to help me keep my eye on the ball and avoid allowing routine and mundane tasks from overshadowing some really essential work.

The technique I’m referring to is to keep a list of super important items separate from my regular to-do list.

Here’s how it works: when I’m in the office, I keep this "super list" in front of me on an easel pad hanging on an easel stand. When I leave the office, I jot the list on a 3” x 5” index card and keep it beside me on the seat of my car. It’s difficult to forget something super important when it’s staring at you every waking moment.

Every time I think about making a telephone call or performing a routine task, I glance at my list to make sure that whatever it is that I am about to do is more important than one of the super important items on my list and act accordingly.

If you give this idea a try, be sure to hold onto these daily index cards and at the end of the week, look over them one more time to either remind yourself of something that may have slipped through the cracks or else to compliment yourself for a highly successful week.

We’re all barraged with opportunities to perform tasks that while perhaps necessary, they are not top priorities. I do my best to spend time during business hours focusing on customer-related marketing or consulting activities and reserve time after hours or on the weekends to complete jobs like writing thank-you notes, balancing my checkbooks, reading trade magazines, doing research on the Internet, etc.

Remember the title of the best-selling Stephen Covey book: First Things First. Get into the habit of repeating these words to yourself each

lting assignment, etc.

But when I looked at my watch in the late afternoon, I realized that it was ten minutes of six and I for the life of me I couldn’t think of one important thing that I accomplished all day. Now don’t misunderstand me, I worked my butt off all day. In fact, during the day, I received a half-dozen telephone calls and returned the calls that rolled to voice mail while I was on another call. I balanced two checkbooks, paid several bills, called my credit card company to dispute a charge and ordered a new supply of personal checks, but I had achieved not one of the important tasks that I came to work planning to finish.

Looking back on the day, I quickly realized that I had gotten out of the habit of using a technique that I have used over the years to help me keep my eye on the ball and avoid allowing routine and mundane tasks from overshadowing some really essential work.

The technique I’m referring to is to keep a list of super important items separate from my regular to-do list.

Here’s how it works: when I’m in the office, I keep this "super list" in front of me on an easel pad hanging on an easel stand. When I leave the office, I jot the list on a 3” x 5” index card and keep it beside me on the seat of my car. It’s difficult to forget something super important when it’s staring at you every waking moment.

Every time I think about making a telephone call or performing a routine task, I glance at my list to make sure that whatever it is that I am about to do is more important than one of the super important items on my list and act accordingly.

If you give this idea a try, be sure to hold onto these daily index cards and at the end of the week, look over them one more time to either remind yourself of something that may have slipped through the cracks or else to compliment yourself for a highly successful week.

We’re all barraged with opportunities to perform tasks that while perhaps necessary, they are not top priorities. I do my best to spend time during business hours focusing on customer-related marketing or consulting activities and reserve time after hours or on the weekends to complete jobs like writing thank-you notes, balancing my checkbooks, reading trade magazines, doing research on the Internet, etc.

Remember the title of the best-selling Stephen Covey book: First Things First. Get into the habit of repeating these words to yourself eac

I came to work planning to finish.

Looking back on the day, I quickly realized that I had gotten out of the habit of using a technique that I have used over the years to help me keep my eye on the ball and avoid allowing routine and mundane tasks from overshadowing some really essential work.

The technique I’m referring to is to keep a list of super important items separate from my regular to-do list.

Here’s how it works: when I’m in the office, I keep this "super list" in front of me on an easel pad hanging on an easel stand. When I leave the office, I jot the list on a 3” x 5” index card and keep it beside me on the seat of my car. It’s difficult to forget something super important when it’s staring at you every waking moment.

Every time I think about making a telephone call or performing a routine task, I glance at my list to make sure that whatever it is that I am about to do is more important than one of the super important items on my list and act accordingly.

If you give this idea a try, be sure to hold onto these daily index cards and at the end of the week, look over them one more time to either remind yourself of something that may have slipped through the cracks or else to compliment yourself for a highly successful week.

We’re all barraged with opportunities to perform tasks that while perhaps necessary, they are not top priorities. I do my best to spend time during business hours focusing on customer-related marketing or consulting activities and reserve time after hours or on the weekends to complete jobs like writing thank-you notes, balancing my checkbooks, reading trade magazines, doing research on the Internet, etc.

Remember the title of the best-selling Stephen Covey book: First Things First. Get into the habit of repeating these words to yourself eac

d and keep it beside me on the seat of my car. It’s difficult to forget something super important when it’s staring at you every waking moment.

Every time I think about making a telephone call or performing a routine task, I glance at my list to make sure that whatever it is that I am about to do is more important than one of the super important items on my list and act accordingly.

If you give this idea a try, be sure to hold onto these daily index cards and at the end of the week, look over them one more time to either remind yourself of something that may have slipped through the cracks or else to compliment yourself for a highly successful week.

We’re all barraged with opportunities to perform tasks that while perhaps necessary, they are not top priorities. I do my best to spend time during business hours focusing on customer-related marketing or consulting activities and reserve time after hours or on the weekends to complete jobs like writing thank-you notes, balancing my checkbooks, reading trade magazines, doing research on the Internet, etc.

Remember the title of the best-selling Stephen Covey book: First Things First. Get into the habit of repeating these words to yourself eac

e to compliment yourself for a highly successful week.

We’re all barraged with opportunities to perform tasks that while perhaps necessary, they are not top priorities. I do my best to spend time during business hours focusing on customer-related marketing or consulting activities and reserve time after hours or on the weekends to complete jobs like writing thank-you notes, balancing my checkbooks, reading trade magazines, doing research on the Internet, etc.

Remember the title of the best-selling Stephen Covey book: First Things First. Get into the habit of repeating these words to yourself each time you begin working on a project. It’s a great way to keep yourself disciplined during the day.