I had a heart to heart with a young manager the other day.  He felt like he was on the edge.  Within a few minutes, we were able to focus in on the key contributors to his stress.  One was a classic error.  He felt he was so busy he had to hit the ground running each day.  From the get-go, he was immediately diving into emails with his cell phone humming.  He was working his brains out every day, finishing each one exhausted and worried, with the next day’s events already whirring around in his head.  It’s a classic trap – failing to stop, think, and plan before acting.  It creates a vicious cycle of ineffectiveness and stress.  Benjamin Franklin shared a timeless truth long ago, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”

Never neglect bookending your days.  A few minutes at the end of a day to think about and write (or type, as the case may be) the next day’s priorities.  Then, take a few minutes at the beginning of the next day to confirm your plans in writing.  Rinse, repeat.  Every day.  It makes all the difference.

You slack off on daily planning and analysis not because you think you don’t have time, but because you feel you don’t have time.  You cannot ignore the emotional side of time management.  Let your head rule your heart here.  Can you invest 10 minutes?  Of course you can.  It always pays back.

Hitting the ground running without planning your day with all this stuff in your head will burn you out quicker than almost anything else.  Out of your head & on to the paper or laptop.  Lists, brain dumps, anything that helps you frame the tasks at hand decreases mental exhaustion and increases creativity, productivity, and effectiveness.