Last week was an enormous eye opener for me. I realized how easily sidetracked I had gotten throughout the course of the day with unexpected interruptions and general issues that just came up. By the end of the week I was not only feeling overwhelmed, I was literally exhausted.

How do you manage to stay on track with your tasks? Do you seem to carry over tasks that were not completed the day before on a regular basis?

I always plan my day out ahead but never really listed my daily tasks. With the repetitiveness of them I never saw the purpose of having to list them. The only time I would list them is when they were not completed the day before and at this point they needed to be right in front of me so that I would complete them.

Yesterday I spent about 2 hours listing all of them both personal and business related. What I saw in front of me was amazing. This week I am going to enter them within my Toodledo and see if that helps.

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Dawn Riley
A Virtual Assistant in Paradise
Our business is about making yours better

I need to plan my day and week, so I put it all up on a whiteboard - this helps me keep on track as it is so easy to get distracted. At the end of the day (ideally) I will write all the outstanding tasks down in my notebook ready for the next day, but often working days aren't ideal and I can either work very early in the morning or very late at night depending on what I am doing, then the list doesn't get done.

Thanks for the posting Dawn, replying to it has made me realise that I really need to get a bit more organised to keep on track.

Sally

I use my google calendar to keep track of appointments and deadlines.

I also have "working" folders for each client. Inside on the left side of the folder I have a client intake sheet stapled to it that has the clients contact info and all of their log-in and password info, and on the right side, I have paperwork for any projects I'm working on for that client. If I have several tasks to do for that client then I make a list of things to do and put it on the top.

I keep the working folders in a portable plastic file box next to my desk, once the work is completed the folders get emptied and the paperwork either gets sent back to the client, shredded or filed away.

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Rebecka Melson ~ Virtual Business Services

Every night before I go to bed, I write down my To Do List for the next day -- this also helps me sleep without all of these things in my head. I want that list gone by the end of the day. Crossing things off the list motivates me to stay on task.

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Tamika R. Johnson, MBA, Principal
administrative partners, llc
www.administrativepartners.net | http://adminpartners.blogspot.com

Here is how I stay on top of tasks.

1. I have a daily MIT list. MIT = Most Important Tasks
I list only three important tasks that have to get completed that day.
2. I use the color coated follow-up tool in Outlook Express (My assignments come via email). This method allows me to set a reminder to follow-up on a certain item, or I can set a reminder to work on the item.

3. Outlook Subfolders of Projects/Tasks. This method works for me because I set the folder up to read how many items are inside. These folders should always be empty. If there is something inside, that tells me I have some tasks pending.

Things I have Tried in the Past

1. MS Project Manager = I never could figure out how to work the software.
2. Manually tracking on a spreadsheet = This method soon become overwhelming
3. Desktop Sticky Notes = These do work for tracking notes until I can get them transferred to Word, but for a task tracker, I became busy and forgot about notes.

I usually use my Tasks in Outlook. You can organize them by active, overdue, next seven days, completed and so on.

I have recently become a fan of task lists or to-do lists. I really enjoy the feeling of marking something off my list, showing progress througout the day (anal, I know).

In Outlook 2007, even if you are not in "Tasks" and just in email, it will give you a sidebar with tasks highlighted in red so you don't miss them.

I also enjoy Outlook stickies. Color coordinated by client or by due date, they help me stay on track, and you can add new information or delete information, close the stickie, pull it back up and it will have your most recent actions on it.

I'm still trying to work out the best thing for me. I was using my Outlook but now I've moved to Google Calendars. I also have a Client Spot account but am finding it a little confusing right now.

I input my tasks to Google Calendar as soon as I receive them. Otherwise I'll forget. If I can't complete a task for any reason then I move it to the next available time slot. So far, so good!

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Shari Sultana
Online Business Manager (marketing for retail ecommerce)

I just started using the Lightning calendar plug-in with the Thunderbird email client, and sync it with my Google calendar so whatever computer I'm on has the info. I like it so far, and like that it was free .

Lightning has a task list, but I'm not sure it syncs. Instead, I use Evernote for tracking to-dos, logging time on jobs, and general note-gathering and brainstorming. It has a check-box feature as a formatting tool; love the satisfaction of checking off a box! I do a lot of composing in Evernote then copy/paste into Word or OpenOfficeWrite (depending on which machine I'm using).

Hm, I just remembered, I need to put "create forum signature" on that to-do list!

Juliana

I've created time blocks for my week. It allows flexibility yet gives me some structure to work within. I have specific time blocks for each of my clients. It's very easy to allow yourself to get distracted with emails and start working on another client's tasks before you've finished this one. I too use Outlook to schedule my time and tasks.

I take some time each morning to review my tasks for the day and set priorities. It helps to review at the end of the day too.

Sue Canfield Awesome Assistant

Originally Posted by Shauna

I usually use my Tasks in Outlook. You can organize them by active, overdue, next seven days, completed and so on. I have recently become a fan of task lists or to-do lists. I really enjoy the feeling of marking something off my list, showing progress througout the day (anal, I know). In Outlook 2007, even if you are not in "Tasks" and just in email, it will give you a sidebar with tasks highlighted in red so you don't miss them. I also enjoy Outlook stickies. Color coordinated by client or by due date, they help me stay on track, and you can add new information or delete information, close the stickie, pull it back up and it will have your most recent actions on it.

I have just recently started using Outlook 2007 at my JOB (I like the task/event function MUCH better than the old version). One thing I really like is that I can send my boss "status" notices straight from my task pane. Of course, I only use that for REALLY important stuff that I want him to know about. I'm not sure how it will work in my private business because it'll be more difficult to share since everyone would need to have MS Exchange server, but I'm loving it for now.

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Stephanie
New VA in the research phase :daisy: