Getting Back To Basics The most useful "little helper" for business people must surely be daily To Do list. You have a couple of choices:

Write your list in morning, as first task at commencement of your working day. Step back a bit and take time to do it before you finish up night before - as your final flourish for day. This helps to free your mind so that you don't take your work home with you. Instead, you just leave it there to stew, all by itself, until you arrive next morning to take up reins. Write It Down Effective time management means writing things down so you don't waste your time worrying about what you've forgotten.

Avoid trying to create a To Do list in your head. It must, must, must be written down. And then left somewhere highly visible, such as your desk top. That's why I suggest writing it in your diary, so you can juggle it with your other commitments.

An effective To Do list will almost always be updated during day. It is not a static document. As your priorities alter with each crisis, your list will be a work in progress.

First of all, don't be unrealistic. Steel yourself to list only achievable projects and activities. If you are unable to complete a task on designated day, simply transfer it to next day or another suitable time in your diary. Look at daily To Do list as map that keeps you on track.

Paperwork lands on your desk and somehow finds its way into your in-tray. Eventually in-tray becomes so high it explodes and ends up all over your desktop. That's because you avoided taking action on those messy pieces of paper moment they arrived. Now you have no option but to sort through explosion and tidy up pile or actually do something with paperwork.

It's also frustrating when you need to search through pile to look for information someone has asked you about. Many times I've contacted people to follow them up and I can automatically picture their desktop as they search their in-tray for information I've sent them.