To Do List Vs. Project Management

SG Money Coach

Have you ever thought of what benefits a Project Management tool could do for you?

Sunday evenings are a great time for me to review what is in the forecast for the upcoming week.  There are times when a simple list will do, but as my business progresses, I found a list was simply not enough! 

Coming from the corporate world I became exposed to a variety of tools which as a solo-entrepreneur I might never have known existed.  And while many of them I am thankful they are in the past, one however I loved was the project management tool. 

I believe that it was more for my ex-bosses benefit at the time for it provided a quick recap of a day, week, month, or project that we were working on.  It also meant that at a moments notice when asked ‘Where are you in the project?’ or ‘What did you get done yesterday?’ it was a matter of a few clicks and a document review was sent to his inbox.

But now I’m the boss and I certainly need to get a handle on what it is I’m working on. 

If you have the budget within your business model it is a great investment.  But if you don’t there are some free online versions that you will be able to access.  And if you are creative you can certainly make one yourself.  More often than not placing tasks in workable categories keeps you on track and allows you to evaluate your success by weeks end. 

These are the categories I like to use:

→ Needs to be done:
= no start date, deadline, or requirement at this time, but something you don't want to forget to do.

→ To do:
= has a start date, end date, time requirement, and cash flow accountability.

→ Doing:
= somethings that take longer or has lots of moving parts to make it work, so it gets added to on a daily or weekly basis.

→ Pending:
= There is always that one thing you can't complete because you are waiting for more details, additional cash flow, or a decision from all parties concerned.

→ Ongoing:
= You do these faithfully, but they take cash flow or time out of your day or week.

→ Completed:
= There is nothing greater than being able to check something off your task list. So not only do it, but show yourself you have.

And the nice thing is once you have established your categories you simply add the task to the appropriate one and get busy producing the results you know you are capable of.

Is your week set up to provide you with the biggest impact and show your accomplishments completed?