Working from home offers a lot of flexibility. It is a great feeling to not be bound by the 9 to 5 clock. Flexibility, if not managed properly, can also turn out to be a major hindrance to getting your work done.

‘Working From Home’ is surrounded with a lot of distractions – if you keep getting distracted, at the end of the day, you won’t have anything much to show for the day. Not a good feeling !!! You will end up feeling disorganized and over worked.

photo credit: TinyFizzyPop

So how do you stay organized and focused ? – The answer to this question is a two step process.

Having a daily to do list is the first step towards staying organized. Following the list and completing the tasks is the next step. First step is easy, it is the second step that most people fail at – I have struggled with step two for years. However in the past couple of years, I have turned things around.

In this post I am going to share with you how my daily to do lists help me stay organized.

If you are finishing up the daily tasks and making good progress on your project then you will be motivated to get more done and you will work harder and very soon you will complete your project. However, if you are not getting the daily tasks done, you will be discouraged, you will feel like you are stalling – and very soon you will lose your motivation and might even give up the project.

Progress Breeds Progress

Being able to tick off the tasks at the end of the day is a great feeling – The strike through fills you with a sense of achievement.

Like so many of you, I always start my day with a to do list in front of me. Over the years my to do list has evolved. Let me explain what I mean here -

A couple of years ago, I made some big changes to how I structure my to do lists. And these changes have made a huge difference to my working day.

I used to have to long daily to do lists. I would at the most complete 4 tasks and the rest would be moved to the next day. Again, the next day was the same story – long list, at the most 4 tasks done and the rest moved over.

Not being able to strike them all at the end of the day, always left with me a feeling of ‘I am not working hard enough‘. I was working hard but my to do lists told me that I was never good enough. Left me discouraged and sad

I ended up with a feeling of being totally unorganized. Daily to do lists are supposed to help you stay organized and not the other way round.

Two years ago I made some changes to my daily to do lists. And these changes have made a big difference to my productivity.

This is what my lists are like now:

1. Master Business List – Any new idea I get, anything and everything that I can think of that I need to do for my business goes into this list.

2. Master Personal List – All personal tasks that I can think of that needs to be done goes in here. Example – clean bedroom shelves.

3. Daily Business List – This is my daily to do list. It only has three tasks for the day. That’s it – no more. I am not tempted to add a fourth task – even if the kids are away and I have most of the day to myself. When I finish my three tasks for the day (both personal and business), if I still have the time and am in the mood to continue working, I will go do a task from my a Master Business List.

I am left with a sense of super achievement at the end of the day. I love the feeling I get when I strike off all my tasks for the day. I finish my day motivated and look forward to the next day.

4. Daily Personal List – Again, I only have three tasks. One of them is always the household chores – cleaning, cooking, kids pick/drop offs, kids extra activities etc etc. The rest two tasks are my choice – I usually pick at least one from the personal master list. Also, if one of them is a big task, I make sure that the other one is a tiny tiny task.

Having a small daily to do list has helped me tremendously. I am actually getting more done this way.

My small daily do do list is definitely helping me stay organized.

What about you – how do your to do lists help you stay organized ? Leave me a comment below – would love to hear more ideas on this topic.

Best,

Here is a question for you -

There are three little frogs sitting on a lily pad – One decides to jump, so how many are now left on the lily pad ?

The answer is – are you ready – The answer is 3.

Because ‘Deciding’ is NOT the same as ‘Acting’.

	So many people spend so much time deciding, planning, analyzing, researching – But take NO action.

Action is the keyword. Without action there are no results and without results you are no where close to reaching your goals and dreams.

If you get an idea put it into action – You do have to spend some time making sure that it is the right idea for you and your business but don’t spend way too much analyzing and over analyzing everything. Don’t wait to get all your ducks lined in a row – Because that will never happen – Things can never get to the 100% perfect state – Take action and convert the idea into reality.

One of the real reasons why most of us don’t take action is because we are afraid of failure. Deep inside, we are afraid that once we take action, we will realize that it won’t work out. If this is what is holding you back, then, if you have to fail isn’t it better to fail sooner than later. Take action, implement your idea and find out if it is going to work out or not.

I am in no way under estimating the power of planning. Before starting any project, I sit down, away from my computer, and map out the steps involved. I might not have the detailed steps but will at least have the broad steps I need to take, the vision and the goals that I have for the project. And along the way, after starting out on my project, I will make changes if necessary. But that’s about it – I don’t sit down and analyze the project for days and weeks and months together.

Once you take the first few steps, you can always make changes along the way. Taking Action is like a chain reaction – once you take action, you will see some results (does not necessarily have to be monetary benefits) and the results will encourage you to take further action.

Take Action today and get your dreams’ ball rolling.

Best,

4 months ago I moved all my mail to Gmail – Prior to this, for many years, I used Microsoft Outlook for all my email management. It was a complete mess and kept growing in size and in the process slowed down everything that was running when Outlook was open.

Over time I had accumulated a number of user names and passwords for various accounts, I had affiliate links, important business correspondence etc etc – all this was sorted into various folders in my Outlook – I had a folder for each website and sub folders within each.

With all the folders in place, you would think that searching for anything in particular would be easy –

But on the contrary, finding things became more and more difficult

I have multiple email addresses (because of my various websites). The one thing that Outlook made real easy was setting up multiple email addresses – and sending emails using any of these addresses was also quite simple in Outlook. But other than this advantage, organization of emails was a complete mess.

After quite a bit of initial hesitation, I moved all my email management to Gmail – Let me explain what I mean here – I still get all my emails delivered to my Outlook. And then, if there is an important email that I need to store, like say WordPress UserName and Password for my FutureNestEgg blog, I forward this email to my Gmail account with the subject ‘UserName and Passwords For WordPress For FutureNestEgg.com’.

I am consistent with the subjects otherwise the whole purpose is lost. So for my ImBizJourney wordpress blog, I use the header, ‘UserName and Passwords For WordPress For ImBizJourney.com’.

In Gmail I have various labels - I apply the relevant label and move it into the appropriate label/folder. If I get an email attachment, which I need to store, I again use the same organization technique. And if there is some important content I need to store for future, I again follow the same procedure. All in one place – super simple and super easy !!!!

I have also set up some rules to deliver certain emails straight into a different folder/label. For example all my Google Alert emails are delivered into a separate place – and so I look at it, when I am ready for those emails.

Gmail has made me really flexible – I can now really work from anywhere and from any computer (as long as there is an internet connection). All my important content, user names and passwords etc etc are all in one place.

Search facility in Gmail is very good – fast and effective. I just search for say ‘wordpress futurenestegg password’ and this will give the username and password details for my futurenestegg wordpress blog.

I have more than 15 email addresses at the moment and setting up these different email addresses in Gmail is not very easy – as there is a limit of number of emails you can set up. And my email address list is only going to grow in the future and not the other way round – And so I prefer to receive all my emails in Outlook and use Gmail for organize and manage my emails.

I don’t have any folders in Outlook anymore – Email comes into Outlook, if important gets forwarded to Gmail with proper subject and body and if not gets deleted (if no action required).

I highly recommend Gmail if you need one place to organize, manage and store emails – I honestly feel I have become more productive since moving to Gmail.

Notice how I use Gmail not just for managing my emails but also for all my content management. If there is something important I need for my business, I email myself and store it in my Gmail (in the appropriate place).

Do you use Gmail – Have you got a Gmail tip that you would like to share ?

Best,