This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.

How was your week so far? I hope you were able to get one thing accomplished on your to-do list! If not, hey, that’s ok, there is always next week. I encourage you to stay focused with whatever your daily goals might be.

My favorite way to stay focused on my to-do list is to do something I learned a while back from a book called “Having a Martha Home The Mary Way” by Sarah Mae.

Having A Martha Home The Mary Way By Sarah Mae

I learned about how to make “The Six List” every night.

In the book, the title of this one particular chapter is “The Six List: The $25,000 Piece of Advice”.

Sarah explains how The Six List was created in the 1920’s by a man named Ivy Lee, a business public relations expert.

“Make a list of the six most important things to do the next day, in order of importance, completing them as time permitted.”

This strategy increases your productivity in a way unlike any other. Give it a try.

What you need to do is every night before going to bed, you create a list numbered 1-6. And only do 6. That’s important. Don’t cheat and write 7. Stick to the rules.

Jena’s TIP: Write down in order of importance 6 things that you would like to tackle on your to-do list tomorrow.

For example, on most days mine looks something like this:

1. Kitchen: Empty dishwasher, clean dirty dishes in sink and clean kitchen surfaces
2. Call electric company about error in bill
3. Get school supplies at store
4. Fold laundry
5. Sweep the floor
6. Organize kids closet

The premise of this list is that you complete the items in the order you have written them.

So you tackle the most important thing on the list FIRST. Once you complete that item, cross it off and move on to the next item.

If for some reason you cannot complete all 6 on the list, it’s ok. That night, you will write a new list with the remaining items at the top of your new list, and add some more items to the bottom.

So let’s say I complete 1-4 on Thursday. Thursday night, I will write my new list and it might look like this:

1. Sweep the floor
2. Organize kids closet
3. Clean the windows
4. Sign up kids for soccer
5. Pay my car insurance bill
6. Organize digital pictures on my computer

Every day you start at #1 and every night you add the last items you didn’t accomplish to the beginning of your new list.

It keeps you ultra productive and helps you to feel like you are accomplishing something on your list. Give it a try and see how you do and how you feel after a few days!

Keep Smiling,

Dr. Jena Bradley, DPT

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.

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