Want to become more organized? Make a “Stop Doing List”.
The reason for this list is to identify your most significant roadblocks to becoming more organized and reaching your goals. Everyone wastes time but the best employees and managers have the discipline of self-analysis. They can honestly look at their daily activities and determine which ones are moving them closer to their overall objectives. Here are a few things that could be on your stop doing list…
- Stop taking so many personal calls at work
- Stop arriving late or at the last minute to meetings and to work
- Reduce the number of unscheduled appointments and business calls
- Stop hanging around the negative people in your life
- Stop doing others’ work
- Stop making excuses for your direct reports and yourself
- Stop criticizing leadership (especially in front of others)
Now what? Now is the time of year the best managers are developing plans for 2011. If you haven’t started, today would be a good day. As you’re laying out plans for a successful 2011 take time to develop your “Stop Doing List”. Think about your biggest time wasters over the past year. Often these time wasters are the result of you not staying in your “sweet spot” as a manager. Not doing what you do best and not playing to your own talents. Another huge time waster is trying to fix people and not matching talents to task.
Understand and know the core score for yourself, your team and each of your direct reports. Be honest about the past year and find where time was spent without much success in reaching these core scores. This will be a great place to begin your “Stop Doing List”. Remember the organization’s objectives, the corporate culture and your core score. What are you doing today to support the objectives and culture and to move you closer to your core score? Any task or activity that doesn’t fit the culture, any task or activity that doesn’t contribute to the organization’s goals and any task or activity that doesn’t move you closer to reaching your core score should be on your Stop Doing List.
The stop doing list has made my day more organized. I have completed more of my daily tasks that before. I have also shown an improvement in the quality of my work!
Natasha Raines