What Does it Really Mean to Get S#@t Done?

by: Savvy Actor Career Coach Doug Shapiro

As an artist and performer, you are running the business of YOU! Let’s look at some business recommendations to be as efficient as we can be in terms of getting things done for our careers.

Let’s say you’ve made your task list of 6 things that HAVE to get done today and you have allotted how much time each one will get. How to prioritize? Here are three schools of thought to help you MAKE A CHOICE and GET THINGS DONE!

Priority Idea #1: PUT IMPORTANT TASKS FIRST!
In his National Bestseller, The Ultimate Sales Machine, Chet Holmes points out that people tend to put important tasks last because they take the most time or most mental concentration. Well, if you put it at the end of the day, you will either not get to it or not have the mental energy to give it the attention it deserved.

Priority Idea #2: START WITH THE TASK THAT WILL BRING IN THE MOST MONEY!
My husband the Financial Advisor comes at it from another angle. We’re running a business, right? If we’re going to finance the growth of our business through mailings, classes, and seeing the shows in which we’ll one day be performing, the money has to come in first.

Priority Idea #3: START WITH A TASK THAT IS SMALL, TANGIBLE, AND FINITE!
Robert Maurer, Ph.D., in his book One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way, recommends approaching daunting tasks (such as tackling your huge to-do list) with small steps. This way, it’s less overwhelming, you have a feeling of completion, and can see that no one died. Some of us just need to have a feeling of completion to get the juices flowing and make ourselves ready to dive into the task-list mindset.

Know thyself, choose your method, and begin!