Avoid Feeling Overwhelmed. Start a Focus List!

Quick Tips / September 27, 2013 / Kristie

If you’re like me, you enjoy having a full plate. For me, this means both literally and metaphorically speaking, but let’s focus metaphorically. Having a full plate means keeping busy with ongoing challenges that need to be faced and obstacles that need to be overcome. These are all tasks that need to be competed, appointments that need to be scheduled or calls that need to be made.

FocusWhen you’re faced with an overload of work that needs to be done, it’s important to have a focus list. This relieves worry and relaxes your mind on all the little steps and components that need to be taken care of, so you can focus on what can realistically be accomplished today. Then DO IT!

In Daylite, your focus list is your worklist. Some people make the common mistake of continuously adding tasks to their worklist until it becomes an overloaded “to do” list. This however, is not what the work list is meant for. When you look at your home page and see your work list, you should only have the tasks on there that you know you NEED TO and CAN complete today. A work list is not meant to be a constant reminder of your full work load.

So… how do we keep an uncluttered work list?

When you’re working and you think of something that needs to be done, or are given a task to complete, add it to your “Not Done” list under your Tasks tab. It’s good to get into the habit of reviewing all your tasks by “Not Done” or  “Delegated” or by “Due in the next 7 days” or “Overdue” and then choosing from those lists which should be added to your worklist. It may at first seem a bit redundant, but it will keep your mind from being overwhelmed.

To add a task to your worklist, simply hover over the task that you want to add, right click and select “worklist”.

AddWorklist

 

thumbtack

You can also add a task to your worklist by selecting the task and clicking the thumb tack in the top right corner.

One of the great things about Daylite is that it keeps a record of all your tasks. This way if you can’t remember if you finished that task you were asked to do, you can review if a task has been completed by viewing your “All Tasks” and seeing if there is a check mark beside that task. If there is, stress not my friend, it’s already been done!

You can add tasks to your worklist on the fly, but it’s important to ask yourself these questions first, “Does this need to be completed today? Will I realistically be able to complete this task today or will it contribute to an overloaded ‘to do’ list?”

To add a task on the fly to your worklist form your home page, click the “+” in the top right corner beside worklist and add in the necessary information. A good habit to get into is to add keywords to your tasks like “@office”, “@home” or “@phone”. This way you can filter your tasks for what needs to be completed with a computer, or a phone, or what can be left for you to do at home later in the day. You may want to prioritize your tasks this way, and to do so all you need to do is drag and drop the tasks on your worklist.

AddKeyword

To filter tasks, select the list you want to filter through (in this case we’ll look at “Due in the next 7 days” and then click the magnifying glass in the top left corner of your task list and fill in your filtering criteria. In this case, let’s say your internet is down at the office so you want to complete any phone calls you can while you’re waiting. For this you can click the “+” next to ket words and select “@phone”. Now I’m able to see all the phone calls I need to make, and I can do this while I’m waiting for the internet to get back up and running.

FilterWorklist

By implementing these tips into your workflow, you’ll be able to alleviate your brain from stressing about an overwhelming load of work that needs to be done, so you can focus on what you CAN and WILL complete today!

Join 38,877 subscribers making clients happy and growing their business.