Have you noticed how your sock drawer suddenly needs reorganizing whenever you’ve got a big project due?
Happens to me all the time. Unless you’re a robot or a cartoon character that can shift into another space-time dimension to get things done at Ludicrous Speed, chances are you’ve felt the same way too. How do we break the cycle of focusing on the menial when we should be working on the meaningful?
Here’s one tip that has worked really well for me: Break your big projects down into smaller steps with due dates and schedule those steps as appointments on your calendar like you were scheduling a meeting with another human being.
Before I had this epiphany I used to just go off a to-do list. I use a great (and free) website called RememberTheMilk.com (you can read some of my thoughts about it here). But here’s the thing I’ve noticed about to-do-lists: every tasks feels like it gets the same weight and most people start with the easy stuff first. The easy stuff is called easy for a reason. We don’t need help getting easy stuff done. We need to get better at doing the hard stuff.
This week take a look at the gaps in your schedule. Don’t use those times to simply go through your to-do list. Instead, leverage those slots as opportunities to schedule appointments with yourself to get the really important things done.
What tips and tools can you recommend for getting things done?
Jeff McClung 
Great stuff on this website! I don’t know why I haven’t stopped by more often. I love the check out line list. I’m ashamed to admit which one I am. I like this post too…. I was just thinking of all the things I need to get done… I keep coming up with methods to get them done, but don’t actually do anything! Oops. Not effective.
Keep up the good work!
Thanks Lindsey! I’m really glad you liked it. I loved your post on StuffChristiansLike.net a few weeks ago on kid-ifying wild Bible Stories. I sent a link out to my kids team and they really liked it to.