The Ten Commitments for Using Your Success Planner

1.  Use only one system.  Clear your work area of all your scratch pads and yellow pads and begin recording everything in your Success Planner.

2.  Keep it with you at all times.  Because you are making and accepting commitments all day, your system must be with you to record them so that nothing is lost or overlooked.

3.  Block two to three hours to plan each month.  Block time at the end of the month to define your top personal and business goals and develop action steps to achieve them.

4.  Use the monthly planner to schedule your priorities.  Review your top personal and business goals and schedule blocks of time when you plan to work on them.

5.  Take five to ten minutes to plan and organize every day based on your goals and high payoff activities.  Use the daily pages to plan and organize each day's activities.  For every minute you spend in planning, you can save four to ten times that amount of time in execution.

6.  Prioritize each day - put first things first.  Determine the value of each task:  A, B, C. Then prioritize each group of tasks numerically:  A1, A2, B1, B2, etc. Prioritizing will keep you focused on doing the most important things first. 

7.  Close out each day.  Decide when you will complete each day's unfinished business.  Decide to discard it, delegate it, do it, or delay it by transferring it to another day.

8.  Use the note pages to record all your commitments and promises in one place.  Use the notes pages to record the details of new ideas, directions, lists, conversations, important dates, meeting information, or use the notes pages to make daily journal entries.

9.  Use the conference planners to organize and group your communication.  Resist the urge to grab the phone, send an email, or get up to interrupt others repeatedly.  When an important question or idea arises, jot it down under the person's name.  When the timing is right, prioritize the list and schedule a time to meet.

10. Track your progress toward personal and business goals.  Set up a 1-31 day tracking sheet or graph to measure your goals.