"You have to do the things you have to do when you have to do them, and the day will come when you can do the things you want to do when you want to do them." – Zig Ziglar.
If your holidays are getting overwhelming and you need to get productive in the new year, there are some secrets to getting things done.
I asked a few colleagues how they accomplish tasks and here are their responses.
• Most Important Tasks (MITs): At the start of each day (or the night before), highlight the three or four most important things you must do on the coming day. Do them first. Aside from your MITs, you've still had a pretty productive day if you get nothing else accomplished.
• Inbox Zero: Decide what to do with every email you get when you read it. If you need to do something, either do it or add it to your to-do list and delete or file the email. If it's something you need for reference, file it. Empty your email inbox every day.
• Wake up earlier: Add a productive hour to your day by getting up an hour earlier — before everyone else starts imposing on your time.
• Handle Everything Once: Don't set things aside, hoping you'll have time to deal with them later. Ask yourself, "What do I need to do with this?" whenever you pick up something from your email list and either do it, schedule it for later, defer it to someone else, or file it.
• Eat the Frog: Do your most unpleasant task first. Based on the saying that if the first thing you do in the morning is to eat a frog, the day can only get better.
It's time to become a "Goal Achiever" and GET THINGS DONE!