First Things First!

What is the best strategy for crossing things off your to-do list?

First things first!

If you really want to make sure something gets crossed off your to-do list, the best strategy is to do it first.

Sounds simple, right? In theory it is. In practice, not so much.

My Story

Having a decently clean vehicle is a particular pain point for me.

Somehow, cleaning out the interior of my vehicle never seems to make it to the top of my to do list.

Therefore, until it hits the crisis point, or until I have to give someone a ride, cleaning my car is not a priority.

This particular weekend I was at the crisis point and determined to get it done.

Now, I am pretty married to my Saturday routine.

Unfortunately, while that routine ensures I get my weekend work done, often the extras, like cleaning out a vehicle, go undone.

So, first thing Saturday morning, before launching into my normal Saturday routine, I cleaned out my vehicle.

Ironically, in a very short amount of time, the vehicle was cleaned and my day went on as usual.

If I had waited until the end of the day, I’m confident the car would have remained in it’s current state of crisis.

I was able to get my car cleaned out simply because I chose to make it a priority and do it first.

In theory, it sounds so easy to simply decide to do the most important thing first.

If it’s that easy, why do so many things remain undone for such long periods of time?

In fact, if doing the most important thing first is so easy, why are there so many last-minute tax filers?

The truth is, being easy in theory is not the same as being easy in reality.

In reality, making a task a priority, and doing it first, is hard.

If I still had small children, cleaning out my car first thing on a Saturday morning would have been almost impossible.

The vast amounts of demands on our time make squeezing in even one non-essential task daunting.

There are jobs to get to, houses to clean, bills to pay, and homework to do. The list is endless.

Cleaning out vehicles, preparing taxes, and pretty much all non-essential tasks tends to fall to the bottom. Those tasks often languish there for weeks, months, and even years.

However, in just two easy steps, getting those non-essential tasks done becomes easier.

Make an appointment with yourself.

Making an appointment, even with yourself, goes a long way to making sure something gets done.

Planning ahead ensures the time slot has been set aside, you are mentally prepared, and any tools you need are on hand.

Early in the week, I made the decision that, barring an emergency, on Saturday morning I would clean out my car.

Break large tasks down.

It’s easy to procrastinate when facing a large, overwhelming task.

Instead, break it down.

Taxes don’t need to be prepared in one sitting and cars don’t need to be detailed in one morning.

On Saturday morning, I simply cleaned out my car. The next day was for vacuuming, and the day after that was for washing.

Each phase took fifteen to thirty minutes to complete instead of trying to find a two-to-three-hour window of time when I could clean it to the nitty gritty.

It’s amazing what you can do in a fifteen minute block of time.