1. CLARIFY YOUR OUTCOME
The first step is to clarify what is the outcome of the project you are working on. Very often as entrepreneurs we can easily focus on completing a project but lose track as to why it is so important.
We want to clarify in this first step the outcome you want to achieve. Make sure to be specific, the more specific you make this outcome the easier it is to measure progress towards completing it.
2. EXTERNALISE YOUR MIND
The second thing you need to do is to externalise your mind. This is a very important step for you to do. It will enable you to clearly see all the tasks that are involved.
By moving the series of tasks out of your head and onto paper or a system, you can more easily tackle the project. Make sure you keep writing down ideas until you feel that you have more than enough options.
3. CHUNK TASKS INTO DIFFERENT GROUPS
Our brains aren’t very good at remembering more than 7 things at any one time. It is much easier to approach groups of tasks than it is a list of 30 different items.
You want to group similar tasks together so that you can easily see all the different steps that are involved. This also allows you to effectively outsource all parts of tasks to someone else as opposed to going back and forth.
4. PRIORITISE & PLAN TASKS
When moving through the tasks that we need to complete, planning is of paramount importance. You want to prioritise which tasks to do first and in which order to help you achieve the outcome you desire.
Very often entrepreneurs become stuck on a task because they are waiting on other people to complete certain elements. Stay on track by effectively planning and prioritising accordingly.
5. ESTIMATE TIME NEEDED
You need to have an estimate on how long you think each task will take. Be as realistic as possible and give yourself a little bit more time than you need.
As you start to do this more, you will estimate the time of tasks even more efficiently. It’s important to estimate the time so that you can more effectively schedule the tasks you want to complete.
6. CREATE MUST TIME
The Pareto principle was created by Vilfredo Pareto, he noticed 20% of pea pods created 80% of the beans. In life and in business very often 20% of what we do creates 80% of the result. We will apply this to our tasks so that we can be more efficient in completing them.
You’ll notice to begin with we focused on the outcome we want to achieve. The truth is that you won’t need to do all the tasks to complete the outcome you desire. In this step you’re looking at the most important tasks that lead to 80% of the outcome being completed.
