Like us, you may be looking forward to the New Year, as a mark of a fresh start and leaving behind a challenging year.
The beginning of a new year is a great time to reflect on what was and to explore new ideas that could potentially make our lives better.
In the fast-paced world of Clinical Operations, one thing that we can all do to improve our processes (and our lives), is to become better at prioritizing. This can be difficult when all our numerous daily tasks all seem to be important and urgent! It also seems as if many tasks were due yesterday, leading to a sense of overwhelm or lack of control.
One change we hope to implement for the new year is to create a Clin Ops To Do list at the start of the work day, and to refresh it daily.
A To Do list serves as a visual cue that makes tackling tasks less daunting and helps us stay organized. Contrast this to working off our email inbox or having no plan at all. Also, it feels great when we can check off each task! After all, seeing how many tasks we’ve completed gives a sense of accomplishment which motivates us to continue our work.
If the list becomes too long however, it can become counter-productive, especially if you cannot decide on how, or where to get started.
To keep Clin Ops To Do tasks achievable, we suggest:
- Keeping separate lists – one list for the day and another for long-term tasks. Refresh both lists at the start of each day by:
- Adding tasks
- Checking them off
- Removing them entirely (if they’re ultimately unnecessary busy work or can be delegated – highly recommended)
- Moving them from long-term to daily
- Ensuring that your lists are realistic, and that your daily list does not contain more than 5 tasks! That way you can have a true sense of achievement as each task is completed.
- To stay on track with long-term tasks, we find it helpful to add a deadline date (or at least a target date).
Although refreshing your list may take extra time and thought each morning, it sets a positive and active tone for the day. Also, starting with an up-to-date and realistic Clin Ops To Do list each day helps you stay focused on your priorities and have actual wins.
It’s inevitable that issues will come up during the day that will derail your plans, but having the To Do list handy helps quickly get you back on track to focusing on your prioritized tasks.
Prioritizing tasks using a daily To Do list is one step in the right direction for reducing the stresses that accompany daily clinical operations processes.
It may also be time to consider whether there is need to make systemic changes at your company as well. To eliminate unnecessary, recurring workflows that add to the ongoing stressful clinical operations processes, a more long-term solution is to implement ClinOps Pro.
