From Healthcare to the Tech Industry, How to Hack Your To-Do List

EDITOR'S NOTE: Special thanks to Cynthia Bradford Lencioni for writing today's blog post. You can connect with her on LinkedIn. 

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Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs. --- Henry Ford

No matter who you are, what your personality type is, or what kind of work you do, from time to time it is inevitable that you will say to yourself:

“How on earth am I going to ever accomplish this?”

“Where do I begin?”

“There’s no way!...”

I can sure relate to these expressions in my life experiences. As a student athlete in college, those 18-hour days that started with a 5am morning workout and ended doing calculus problems into the evening were daunting. I eventually learned not to focus on the GPA I had to reach to maintain my scholarship, but rather on doing well on the exams, projects, and papers along the way each semester.Even the challenge of my favorite hobby, singing in a women’s barbershop quartet, at times stretches me to the point where I don’t want to go to rehearsal with a week to go before the show. There’s the music to master, lyrics to memorize, and don’t forget the interpretation and dynamics! I have the most fun - and our audiences enjoy us most - when we focus on the success of each number, instead of on the performance as a whole.

And of course, life as a Chief Operating Officer demands that I identify the small jobs within the big, hairy, audacious goals we have our sights on here at Pulsara. As the company’s second hire, I’ll never forget my first few weeks and months on the team. Building the company and market from the ground floor up was both exhilarating and incredibly demanding.

While the creative license and excitement definitely fueled my drive, the number of tasks that could and should have been done each day seemed insurmountable. But what especially got me through the uncertainty was taking a step back and focusing on the daily and weekly accomplishments that moved us along toward each milestone. Before I knew it, we had clients and results showing how Pulsara was making a difference for people.

If you are a healthcare provider or administrator, there are probably times when you feel overwhelmed by the thought of all there is to do to ensure you are providing the best quality of care to your acutely ill patients who depend on you for their wellbeing. You’re under time pressure with the added responsibility of saving lives. This might be the perfect time to divide the seemingly impossible into smaller jobs. Your patients will thank you for it!

BONUS: Check out the following video for some (hilarious) office hacks!