I like calling people and talking directly with them. It’s so much easier and cuts out the waiting time. The problem I’ve found is that I was trusting them to do what they said. This means they have to take notes on what was discussed and then actually follow through. Sometimes this didn’t work out so well for me.

If it’s important to your project or your client then you need to take the extra steps to make sure this gets done.

You’ve got a lot going on – right? Everything is a project with multiple steps. You think for a second that this single “simple” task is just that and then an hour later something else pops up related to that task and now it’s a project. We define a project as being anything that has more than one step to complete.

You need a project based system to organize yourself. 

You can’t get away with the simple to do list anymore. Not if you really want to move a project along. Your goal should be to push your project along. You don’t want them to stagnate. Always look for the next action that can move the project.

What is that next action? A phone call? An email? Where you supposed to receive a report today. Do you have that on a waiting for list?

Things move fast and this is what people are used to. Clients are more demanding and letting things slips through the cracks is not acceptable.

I’ve been using Nozbe  for over a year now and it’s been a great program.

Nozbe is a project based productivity tool that syncs across all my devices. I can organize all my projects within Nozbe.

Let’s take a look at how I organize a project.

Ask yourself this: 

1. What is my goal for what I’m doing? Remember not to confuse the client and the project at hand. All of my projects are organized by the client. Keep in mind you any  have 10 clients but you may have  30 projects going on related to your different clients.

Remember in my case I’m an architect and my ultimate goal to have the client living in there new house. But to get there I may have had thousand of projects to do.

1. Does it have a due date? If it does you better make sure you note this date and let everyone involved know.

1. What are steps involved to getting this done? Every project has a next action step. Make sure you have it written down.

1. What does it look like when I’m finished. This is important to note. Because you want an end to the project and what’s the final step in closing this out.

So if all this seems really complicated it’s not. Check out Nozbe. It’s really simple to use this software. Contact me I can help you to set it up.

Your brain has been shown to only handle 5-8 items at a time add #9 and it bumps something out. Which client is that going to be?

Let’s talk more about this on Twitter.

You can be on time and never miss an appointment again. Don’t struggle with your calendar. It’s a simple tool to help you get through your day.

pen point to friday on planner page

A small amount of discipline when using your calendar will help you get through your day on time. 

I’ve seen people miss appointments or be late for meeting simply because they don’t have a good calendar system. You need to think about your calendar as a system and you want that system to be running smoothly. If a breakdown occurs in your system you will miss appointments.

This is where you need discipline. Honestly there is no magic to it but I can give you the systems and some tips to keep you on track.

There are two major pieces to the calendar puzzle. Some do one or the other but to be effective you need to do both.

• Entering Process  – You must enter appointment right away. Yes right away! It has to be done at that moment. You can’t trust any other system then stopping what you are doing and marking it on the calendar. An entry should have a time/date/place/person/reason for meeting.
• Review process – This is the key to the system. You entered your appointment now you need to look at your calendar. Get in the habit of looking it over first thing in the morning. Then look at it throughout the day. And look at it one more time before the day is over.

Digital or Paper Planner? I prefer digital but use what works for you. My only question for paper calendar is do you have it with all the time. I’m near a computer during the work week or will have my phone on me most of the time. Can you say that about your paper calendar?

Here are some other things to help you:

• Write down an agenda on the notes section of the calendar entry.
• Write down directions to the place.
• Write down a topic to discuss, maybe it’s a personal topic that this person mentioned before.

Be persistent with using your calendar. Enter and review are the keys to maintaining a good calendar system. Want to read a few more tips about using a calendar click here!
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