Have you ever had one of those days when the world aligned and you managed to find time and energy for tasks you had never planned to do that day?

That has been my day today.

It started out as what my Living Peace colleague Susan would call “Money Monday” i.e. paying bills, running payroll, doing next month’s financial projections, etc. Then, I had meetings planned at 11am, 2pm, and 6pm. My first meeting went well and ended early enough that I had a free hour. Suddenly I found myself driving past the AAA office and realized that I had time to get my passport photos taken.

That task has been hanging around on my “Next Actions” lists for 4 months, but there was never a rush or reason to make it a priority. Today, the perfect opportunity opened up, but in reality this wasn’t pure luck. It happened because I have good task management systems and habits.

I make a habit of recording ALL my open tasks and projects on a Master List, and about once a week I review it to choose which tasks will become priorities for the upcoming week.

A truly masterful task management system creates a rhythm between planned priorities (i.e. scheduled tasks for each day/week) and spontaneous opportunities (like being in the right place w/time AND REMEMBERING to get my passport photos.) In other words, your tasks need to be organized enough to get the important items done consistently but also allow you to leverage those fortuitous moments and know what can be done with the given time, energy, resources, and location available.

Have you mastered this rhythm of planning AND spontaneity to your daily actions?

Do you even know EVERYTHING you’ve committed to doing?

If not, then start by creating a Master List of Projects today. BRAIN DUMP TIME!