The challenge for many of us, no matter the industry that we are in, is to make the day productive, proactive and fulfilling. Although we all strive for this many obstacles come up during the day that take us off our intended path. How we react to those obstacles ultimately decides how the day ends up. We all have calendar reminders and phone reminders and sticky notes to tell us what we should be doing, I have them too (except for sticky notes)! I like using a planner that I designed to keep my day focused. I do not use sticky notes because I have found that I only procrastinate when I do. Nothing actually gets done! I enter in my planner my agenda for the day, the weather, my planned talking points for meetings, and daily financial metrics from the business.

Being able to release the "off the books" things that come up during the day is the secret to not working like a dog all day, every day. Some things need to be attended to immediately, I completely agree. But other things that come up could be handled later, or could be handled quickly rather than taking up precious extra time. I sort these things into 3 categories: Important and needs to be handled now, Important but can wait or Can wait. By separating them I can move on.

How we start the day is very important to achieving success in that venture. Always try to start the day being grateful for a few things. Try to be specific as this focuses that positive energy. I practice gratefulness on 5 things, such as my family, a friend that is helpful, my sons success in school or my parents health. All this stimulates the positive energy to start to flow. Momentum can lead to many things and I want my mine to always be positive.

As we travel further through our day the distractions start to pop up. Those are the times that I start to refer back to my planner, to re-align where I am in the day and where i need to be. I make notes about things that have happened so far, not detailed journal entries but rather a quick note, not enough customer donuts, uniform company late, ect. As I enter these "quick hits" and sort them into my categories, it allows me to have a record of the day but not have my head bogged down with unnecessary information.

Keep your mind as clear as possible for the things that need your attention at that moment. Do not use up critical brain function on items that could be handled later. You will start to find that by the end of the day you have more energy, that your day flowed better and that more things got done! I will be producing my version of the "Daily Planner" soon and will share here when it is ready. If anyone wants to be among the first to receive it please DM me or comment here.