Make Appointments with Yourself to Get More Done

In late May, I joined a Mastermind group with a few other designers. If you are unfamiliar, a Mastermind is a group of like-minded individuals that help each other move forward by holding each other accountable. The Mastermind itself is the invisible member that is created when the group brainstorms together - it is greater than the sum of it's parts.

To start off, we created our to-do lists and exchanged them with each other via email. We meet every other week on a conference call to discuss our successes, our roadblocks, and brainstorm areas of concern. All of us have seen an increased level of productivity since beginning our Mastermind.

Recently, one of the members shared an article with us that offered a simple yet extraordinary tip to increase productivity even more (John Forde - Copywriter's Roundtable #472). Take your to-do list to the next level by adding when and where you will do it.

For instance, I need to write blog posts more frequently. On my to-do list for September, I committed to writing two posts. This is definitely an improvement for me. It's a good goal. A better goal would be to write a blog post Wednesday, September 1st at 9:30 am at my desk in my office.

Can you see how this will be more productive? I may actually get the two blog posts written for September.

Perhaps I could set an appointment weekly and get four posts written. Hmmm. This could be a good thing!