At the end of the day, take the last five minutes to put things in their correct areas, this helps you when you come in the next day to start without clutter. Also set aside a special area for “things in progress” for projects or tasks that are unfinished. (Such as phone calls not completed, files that you are waiting for someone or something else before it can be completed.) By clearing your work area and putting unfinished items in one area you will not let things slip through the cracks or get buried under new projects or tasks.

Use one calendar for appointments both professional and personal. We try to keep our personal life separate from our professional life but it does not always work smoothly if we are juggling two appointment books. By using one calendar this ensures you are not double scheduling yourself, or having to jot notes to add in your other calendar book when you do not have them both with you. It helps even more if you have a calendar that shows both the month at a glance and lists the days separately or by the week depending on how heavy your schedule runs. Also always try to think in terms of the day of the week with the date when notating an appointment.

You may feel you are too busy to make a list, and that making a list will just use time that you could have spent on completing a task. This is not correct because by making a list you are reminding yourself of what needs to be accomplished and what the focus of your day should be spent on. The distractions will keep you from remembering everything that needs to be done and things will get forgotten without a list. Once you get in the habit of making a list, it will take no time to do each day.

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MAKE A LIST. Every day make a list of what you need to do that day, include everything that needs to be done. Check these things off as you finish each task. If you do not get to everything on your list, move those items to your list the next day. This helps you stay focused. We are distracted by phone calls, customers and many other obstacles in our day, if we have our list we can go right back to it. If our phone calls and customers create another thing to do, add to your list. Try to work them in order of priority.