Don’t Make Me Repeat Myself—Consolidate Recurring Tasks The daily grind. No matter how diverse or ever-changing your professional and personal life may be, this expression sums up one unavoidable factor: we all have tasks that are reoccurring in nature. Be it daily, weekly or monthly, certain to-do items are mainstays in our planners and on our calendars. Handling these recurring tasks can disjoint your planning if not addressed properly. While it is important to prioritize your tasks to ensure you meet your daily goals, items like “checking email” or “cleaning the kitchen” can disrupt the best-laid plans. Therefore, just as important to meeting your daily goals is the integration of these repeating tasks. Making this happen is actually quite simple. During your daily planning every morning, consolidate many (or possibly all) of your recurring tasks into a “morning routine” category. Each day, that will be the first item on your to-do list. This will help you on many fronts:

Your planning will be more streamlined and consistent—no need to write down each repeating task every day; instead, you only need one to-do list item for all of them.

High-priority tasks and ones that are imperative to meeting your daily goals won’t get interrupted or side-lined.

You’ll get the satisfaction of starting each day by crossing off the first item on your list! You can have additional entries, such as an “evening routine,” if it makes sense for the number of recurring tasks you have, as well. Be sure to integrate your “routines” into your electronic planning system, if you maintain one. Use functionality in Outlook and similar email and calendaring systems to set up recurring tasks with reminders, helping to make sure nothing falls through the cracks or disrupts your day. And set up reminders so that they’re sent directly to your smartphone or similar portable electronic device. Getting in the “routine” of consolidating and completing recurring tasks will lead to enhanced productivity and give you more time to focus on daily goals. It will also help ensure that the only “daily grind” that concerns you is your morning coffee! About Day Runner At Day Runner, our mission is to assist people in “designing their day” with a touch of fashion and function. Many products can be configured for individual planning needs. Our loose-leaf day planners allow users the flexibility to easily select the page formats and style that they like and put them where they need those most. Our products are available from many office product retailers and dealers nationwide and can also be found in office supply catalogs. For more information or to order your planning and organizing tools, visit www.dayrunner.com.