You’ve just finished a meeting and have ten or twenty minutes before your next appointment. Or you’ve finished a research or writing project but don’t feel like starting anything new.
To stay productive, maintain a running list of tasks you can do in five or ten minutes.
Ideas:
- Send a note/email/social media message: thank you, birthday, networking, praise, etc.
- Call a former client to say hello
- Call a business contact and invite them to coffee/lunch
- Stretching exercises/get some air
- Clean your desktop or your computer desktop
- Read an article or two in your “read later” list
- Un-subscribe from email lists you don’t read
- Empty your email inbox (respond/file/delete)
- Empty your task inbox
- Organize computer documents
- Add new contacts to contact management app
- Review your to-do list, re-prioritize tasks
- Shop for a gift
- Edit/outline/proofread a document
- Clean up bookmarks
- Backup files
- Update software
Once a week, you might create a short list of contacts to connect with for the week. That way, when you have an extra five minutes, you won’t have to use the time deciding who to contact.
So, what’s on your list?
Keep your list in this
