It's the most requested coaching topic by far. Yes, even ahead of lead gen...
We all know what we should be doing - well, some of us do - but often, we don't know where to start. Should I be networking today? Prospecting for my next listing? Posting to Instagram? Working on my personal brand?
It often seems like we have an endless grocery list of to-do items and we're constantly seeking that dopamine hit when we cross one off. So how do we get organized? Well, the framework is pretty simple.
Itemize
Organize
Prioritize
Strategize
1. Itemize
That's right, whether you use a pen and paper or an excel spreadsheet, get it all out. Everything. The things you're doing today, the things you need to do tomorrow, and the things that have been on your wishlist for years. Bonus points if you can include a Due Date.
2. Organize
It's time to decide what's actually important versus the things that could be important. Try to label each item and put them into priority buckets. There are hundreds of ways to do this, but we like two:
Stephen Covey's Time Management Matrix
Important & Urgent
Important & Not Urgent
Not Important & Urgent
Not Important & Not Urgent
Our Own Top-Secret AGENT 1 Framework
Critical
High
Medium
Low
Wishlist
So, now you've got your buckets, but how do you decide what comes first within them? It's time to move to the next section!
3. Prioritize
Now we've got everything down and we know how important it is. What comes first? Great question! We say anything with a hard deadline that generates revenue! If it doesn't have a direct impact on your top line or a concrete due date, is it really that important?
Now, we understand that almost ANYTHING can have an impact on top-line and there are other factors that make things important, too. We think about a lot of these factors as tie-breakers... but you don't have to. You can start by just picking a few.
Urgency
Client Service
Operational Efficiency
Time to Revenue
Scale / Repeatability
Ease of Implementation
Cost
Revenue
If you're someone who needs visuals, think about it like this - measure each factor on a 1-10 scale and then put it on a circular plane. The larger the result, the higher the priority. For something like building a new landing page, you may just end up realizing that compared to other projects, it wasn't that important from the outset.
4. Strategize
So, now we've got a big list of to-do items and maybe it's in an excel sheet or separated into quadrants. How do we hold ourselves accountable to making sure we stick to it? Well, the great news is that there's an app for that.
Whether you live and die by your calendar use or project management software, the ability to constantly shift priorities and move items around is going to be critical - which is why we recommend getting away from pen and paper! Tools like Airtable, Trello, Monday, and Asana will help you STAY organized.
We've created an incredibly helpful checklist template in Airtable for you to make sure you don't miss any part of your to-do list.