Everyday, it's a battle with the dreaded to-do list. How should I prioritize? What can wait until tomorrow? Can I delegate any of this?
Whether it’s in the form of unanswered emails or bullets from 1-1,000 in your day-planner, my checklist of tasks often feels overwhelming. Sure, it all needs to be done, but I found an even better way to tackle all the thoughts swimming around in my head. A recent article from Promo Marketing Magazine, The Importance of a Stop-doing List, helped me to consider things from a different perspective.
The writer, Paul Kiewiet, first suggests creating a list of things I love doing, followed by things I hate doing. For me, I hate getting stuck at my desk and sifting through paperwork for hours. I enjoy interacting with our clients and partners so much that I’d rather be out visiting them or at least be talking with them on the phone. Our team at Graphic Solutions is also a tight-knit team that loves what we do. Spending time with them is so valuable to me as well.
As Kiewiet advised, I drilled down to identify the strengths and values that I have AND that our company has. This short activity really helped me to see that my dreaded to-do list is really a compilation of things that I truly enjoy, including building relationships through the very cool and often exciting projects that we take on. I also see more clearly how to prioritize things in a way that isn’t directed by the clock.
Kiewiet points out that this method gives “yourself a standard against which you can measure opportunities, challenges and areas where you need to improve.”
As a growing print management company, we are constantly evaluating our business practices to ensure we’re always providing the best service and most effective products to the people who trust us with their brands.
That being said, Graphic Solutions is about to undergo some developments that will be monumental for the future of our company. My to-do list now includes some defining and innovative endeavors that we are really eager to share. And the best part is that they are plans that directly align with the goals of our company and the desires our leadership has for our future.
Thanks to my “stop-doing” and “love-doing” lists, our vision for new advancements is becoming a reality!
