I am writing this at the time of the COVID 19 pandemic and like most people I am staying home and limiting my trips to the grocery store. Most businesses are closed for the time being and those who still have jobs are working from home.

For business owners and managers, it’s probably a good time to do some strategic planning as operations may have paused due to the coronavirus situation. Often there seems to lack time to work on the business rather than always in the business.

It’s crucial to stay productive and feel like you are accomplishing important tasks and projects. Of course, this is always true but even more so if you are working from home and can be easily distracted with family life and staying abreast of the news.

I find that when I start the day with a list of tasks that must get done, I feel better organized and focused. And then at the end of the day when I review the list and check off each completed task, I get a clear sense of how productive my day was. Otherwise I sometimes find myself asking, what did I do today?

I have developed the habit of using an app on my phone as a tool to list my daily tasks and check them off when completed. I also use the app to keep track of future long-term projects, personal projects, grocery lists etc.

There are an abundance of apps available that are free and paid to do task and project tracking. I use then free version of Any.do as I find it simple yet comprehensive.

What I find productive is to make a few lists for various aspects of my business in the app. This could be new training program development, and in the category, I list the projects I want to work on. I can arrange the list by priority.

I have a list category called Today. This is where I list the 5 things that I feel I must do that day. It could be 4 things that I need to do for a client project and the other could be what I want to get done for my project in the new training program development category list.

Having this type of list keeps me focused on what I need to do for my commitments and to mange my time well, while also working on strategic initiatives. I also feel great when I can check of each item at the end of the day review and then I know my day was productive. This simple approach works but it could pose challenges for different types of people as it requires developing the habit to work the process. Once you find something simple that works for you commit to it and it will soon become a pattern and an automatic reflex everyday.