10 Things to do Every Workday

by J.T. O'Donnell

I’ve always been focused on performance. I’m a list person. I love the feeling of crossing things off. It makes me feel productive. Plus, consistent productivity has the wonderful byproduct of accomplishing more. Jeff Haden’s recent article on Linkedin summarizes the value of having a daily to-do list beautifully: You don’t wait to do the work until you get the dream job - you do the work in order to get the dream job.

I’ve never shared this list with anyone until now.

It’s the list of ten things I try to do every workday. Yes, there are days when I don’t get them all done, but I do my best to deliver. It has proven very effective for me. They are:

1. Read something related to my industry.
2. Read something related to business development.
3. Send two emails to touch base with old colleagues.
4. Empty my private client inbox by responding to all career coaching questions within one business day.
5. Check in with each team member on their progress.
6. Have a short non-work related conversation with every employee.
7. Review my top three goals for my company that are focused on its growth.
8. Identify and execute one task to support each of my top three goals.
9. Post five valuable pieces of content on all my major social media accounts.
10. Take a full minute to appreciate what I have and how far I’ve come.

This list could be longer. BUT...

If it was longer, I wouldn’t be as good at getting them all done. This list is manageable to me. Of course, I do more than these ten things every day. But, these are the ten I choose to do with consistency. Why? Over the years, they’ve proven the best way for me to grow my career and my business. The collective results have made completing these tasks consistently; even when I don’t feel like it, well worth it.

What things do you do every day to advance your career or your business?

P.S. If you want to learn more about me and my work, I run this career site,CAREEREALISM, and this Job Search Accelerator Program (JSAP). Plus, to keep myself busy, I just launched this site for executives, C-Suite Insider.