Quick iPhone productivity tip for busy entrepreneurs

It’s summer, you’re busy, and still there’s a ton of things to do for life and work and family… how to fit it all in? Well, if you’re like most entrepreneurs, your smart phone has saved your bacon more than once! It’s a great way to look up information, send emails and listen to podcasts on the go, but I want to share a quick tip that I use every day to be more productive.

Here’s the thing — we can’t control when inspiration strikes. If so, we would sit down, tap into all that energy, and then go on with our day. Nope! I remember about that email I need to send when I’m out to dinner and entirely forget what I wanted at the grocery store only when I’m at the store.

If you’re like me, then you need to reduce repeat trips and track a whole lot of “stuff” in your life, business and personal.

Enter: Reminders.

I love this little app because I can separate all my to dos into different lists like this:

I’ll run through my favorite lists right now:

• Buy list – things I need to get, usually sorted by store with any pertinent details. I can’t tell you how often I’d forget “light bulbs” because I couldn’t remember the size!
• Online orders – what I’ve already purchased online and am waiting (impatiently) for delivery. When it arrives, I check it off!
• Pay – upcoming invoices or bills to pay sorted by date, some are auto debited but I check this frequently to ensure everything is sorted.
• House Things to Do – while not very detailed, this list keeps me focused on the 4-5 projects I’m working on at once and helps avoid other things from creeping in.
• Grocery Store – this is a specific buy list just for the grocery store, handy when I’m planning meals or run out of something like paprika which I would otherwise forget.

It might just be because I have the memory span of a goldfish but I love these reminders and checking them off!

Here are some ideas on how you can use Reminders in your business:

1. Invoices to pay
2. Copy to complete
3. People to follow up with
4. Emails to send
5. Things to buy
6. Outreach to do
7. Topics to write about

Here’s the thing — some people will say that this kind of list is impossible because they have 100 people to email and way too much copy to ever document. But if you’re not getting it done, then a similar list might be just what you need. Sure, it seems impossible when you have 14 things to buy for your business, but the very act of writing it down allows you to take that pending to do off your mind and get things done. In many ways, it allows me to also save money by removing things from my list that I don’t need and reconsidering priorities.

If you have a smartphone give this tip a try this week and let me know in the comments your favorite task or to do to track.