Running a business is hard work especially if you are a solopreneur business owner. I fall into this category and I can tell you from personal experience that it can be challenging if you are not organized. My number one goal is to not forget things so I write down everything and put it on my Google Calendar, My Wall Calendar and I send myself text messages.

You have to do what works best for you

A little overboard you might be thinking BUT it works for me. It helps to manage my time better and get items on my list done. I am still a work in progress and I am always looking for new ways to manage my time better so I don’t feel overwhelmed. There are many ways to approach time management but at the foundation of everything surrounding it is a simple to-do list. I know this isn’t rocket science but how many people do you know that actually have a to-do list as a part of the daily management of their business AND is effective? Well if that person isn’t you then after reading the information below then you can be that business owner who gets things done and create more freedom in your business. Are you ready? Let’s go!

Planning: What makes a good to-do list?

According to Lifehack.com, “When you build an effective to-do list, the main goal of the list is to provide clarity and focus.” The best way is to have a place to write down thoughts as they come up in your day. Then set a time daily to look at your thoughts like at the end of your business day during your planning time for the day ahead. Once you have the thoughts down on paper then start organizing your thoughts into 2 separate lists: Daily To Do’s vs. Get it Done Soon.

How many items should you put on your list?

Think small. I know that creating a to-do list can quickly turn into an exercise in frustration and overwhelm so it is important that you pick a number of items that you want to get done each day and then cut yourself off. I was able to look at my notes from the previous month and saw that on average M-F I usually get about 3-4 main items done on my list each day. So I picked 4 to be my magic number for items to get done daily. There is an important thing to remember that things will pop up in your day but the goal is to make sure you still get your items on your list done by the end of your business day.

Prioritize your list In order of easy to difficult

After you decide on how many items you want to tackle daily then it’s important to prioritize them into difficult to easy. According to Business Insider.com, “When we are overwhelmed and busy, we just go with easier tasks, and the difficult tasks tend to pile up. Harder tasks may be more annoying to tackle, but they are more important to make progress.”

Tips and tools for managing your to-do list

Make sure it is easy to find. Decide if you will write it on a calendar, use a meeting planner or an electronic tool like Evernote or Todoist.
Deadlines (gotta have it)
Have a plan for brain dumping of thoughts. You can use Evernote or a plain Google Doc for dumps but set up folders and keep them organized so you know where to find stuff.
Give yourself a small reward for getting items accomplished on your list each week. The reward could be something as simple as making the weekend start sooner by wrapping up early on a Friday.
Running a business as a one-woman/man show can be challenging at best. It is important that you have a system in place to create your to-do list and get items completed so that you can begin to create more freedom in your business to do the things you want to do.

Keep IT Sunny!