Managing tasks

For a lot of us, we have a bunch of things that we need to do each day or even each month. I know that as a small business owner, there are a lot of tasks that need to be completed each month, so I need a method of tracking all of them.

To make things a little easier for myself, I started out by writing out all the different things that were needed to be completed each week, month, yearly, quarterly, etc. Yes, the list starts to get rather long, but at least then you know what you have to do and also when these things must be done. If the item has a specific deadline, I also noted them because it helps with the overall planning of getting everything done. Remember even all those little things that you do automatically need to be noted because what happens if someone else needs to do these tasks at any point, they need to know everything not just the bigger things.

The quarterly and yearly things are the ones that normally have deadlines, so I make sure these are noted in my planner to ensure that they are all met. If you have this type of tasks, what I would suggest it put a reminder in our calendar at the beginning of the month that the task is done, even if it’s not due until the end of the month. By doing this, you are reminding yourself that you need to work on making sure that you meet that deadline. For a lot of these quarterly and yearly tasks, I try to ensure that I meet all of these at least a week ahead of time to ensure that if an emergency comes up I don’t forget about them.

The weekly and monthly things are a little bit easier to manage because they happen a lot more often. Again, they do get added into my planner to ensure that they are completed when they need to be completed. There have been people that say to me why do you have to note all the weekly tasks because you do them each week. I will admit that just having them documented means that they are not stressing me out as something that I must remember to do.

So yes, being able to manage your tasks the way that works best for you is very important. If you are having problems getting your initial list put down, why not sit down with someone and talk through some of the different tasks that you do and see if that helps. It is sometimes fun to look back at the list and think through everything because quite often you will remember something else that you do and didn’t note it down. I have kept my list close at hand as I have been working through the yearly tasks to ensure that I have them all noted down.

Managing tasks for a small business can be quite a challenge, but having a list of the different tasks and when they are all due makes a big difference. Take the time to get this list prepared because it could save you a lot of time in the future, especially when a deadline comes up, and you forgot about it.