As a new manager, I found myself with a desk surrounded by pieces of paper that all needed my attention. Inevitably, when I feel like I’m getting ahead, someone will come and drop off some more. Being able to prioritize tasks in front of you is crucial for a middle manager to complete work on time and maintain sanity.
The same can be said for an Outlook inbox. The number of cc’s can be overwhelming sometimes as you try and sort through the little tasks that poke at you through the day and distract you from what you really need to accomplish to move your department forward.
The importance of staying organized
It’s easy to miss the small details if you are disorganized, and it will likely cost you undue stress because it may feel that there are more tasks to complete than there really are.
The concept of “time blocking or time chunking” where the majority of your day is dedicated to certain functional tasks one at a time does not work for a middle manager that need to respond to issues throughout the day.
When you primarily work in operations, not everything that you must do is on your ‘to-do’ list at the beginning of the day. Having set time where you have to complete payroll is good, but when you have the majority of your time allocated to tasks that you may have to set aside to deal with an issue, you will get frustrated when you aren’t able to keep up with the block schedule.
To really manage all your tasks, you need to ask yourself these questions:
- What is my next priority?
- What do I have to do to get a project on to the next step?
- Am I creating a bottleneck for other’s work with these pieces of paper and tasks in front of me?
To effectively manage what little time you have available to you, you need a game plan.
The Weekly Milestone Planner
I have been using a template I created similar to this for some time now. The answers the big question:
What must get done by the end of the day?
The benefit of this is when you are surrounded by lots of little tasks or are interrupted to deal with an expected emergency at work, you can come back to your desk and see exactly what you need to prioritize to finish your day. This helps focus your limited time, and allows you to leave for the day feeling good about what you completed.
The template is designed to have divided up ‘early in the week’, ‘middle of the week’, and ‘end of the week’ tasks. You will set out your targets or milestones for the week. Add to the planner as tasks come in throughout the day or week.
You do not need to add everything on your to-do list on to here. It is designed for you to write down your essential tasks to complete by the end of day. Small things that only take a few minutes should be dealt with in a timely manner to cut down on inbox and desk clutter.
Why this Milestone Planner Works
Refocusing on tasks after interruption wastes time! When you are not in a meeting and at your desk you need to make the most of your time and prioritize. The last thing you want to do is not meet a deadline that someone is counting on you to complete because it fell off your radar.
It has been designed to prioritize what must be completed at the beginning of the week, middle of the week, and end of the week. It’s set up this way, because it may not be possible to complete all tasks on the Monday and it can cause needless stress when you leave for the day that the entire Monday/Tuesday list is not complete.
It is super satisfying to cross something off of your list rather than click a complete box in your Outlook. Why? Your complete work stays in front of you, when you feel like you have been pulled in multiple directions during the day, it’s nice to see when four of your six tasks have been crossed off the list. When you do not always produce something tangible in your middle management role, it’s reassuring that your day hasn’t been a complete waste when you see some completed items on your planner.
How to use this Weekly Planner
To get the most out of the Weekly Milestone Planner tool, follow these instructions and tips for use.
- Record tasks and milestones on this list where they should ideally be completed. Early week tasks would be recorded under “Monday/Tuesday” and Friday tasks would be recorded under “end of week”.
- Be realistic when you plan out your week and assign the tasks. Have busy Tuesdays with meetings? Don’t front load your week with milestones.
- List the due dates beside the task, highlight, add notes, scribble down something quick in the ‘don’t forget’ area. Play with it and find out how you like information presented.
- Don’t overwhelm the weekly planner. Not absolutely every task must be recorded on here, only the essentials. Have a quick email to respond to? Just get it done. Have to do some research before sending the email? Write the research down under the appropriate area. The planner is designed for you to feel good that you have completed your priority tasks before leaving at the end of the day, not that you have also completed a bunch of busywork.
- Have two lists. Have your current week, and the following week behind it. If you come across a task or next milestone once you complete others that can be done the following week, write it down on the next sheet and don’t waste your mental energy trying to remember it. Write it and get it done next week!
- Adjust your list as your week progresses. Somethings may need to re-prioritized, moved up, or put off until the following week.
How I personally use my planner: I have my current week paper-clipped to the top of a file folder with the following week right behind it. Inside the folder are the pieces of paper associated with the tasks that I need to complete for easy access and a neater desk.
Download your FREE Weekly Milestone Planner and other resources with a click!