Write it down

The toughest lesson I've had to learn is to write things down. Years ago I wouldn't write anything down. Not goals, not tasks, not phone numbers. Of course I was young and I had this incredible ability to remember things. What I didn't realize was that the only reason I could remember so much is because there was so little in my brain at the time :)
Then I got serious about 'time management', which I learned over the years that it should more appropriately be called 'life management'. Because when used properly and to the fullest extent, it is a phenomenal tool for keeping your life in order.
Which brings me to today's post. The first thing I did when I decided to start the Tucson Tamale Company was to write down my goals. Then I wrote the business plan. And I wrote. And I wrote. It was an incredibly clarifying process. Write it down. Then when I started executing on getting the first TTC (TTC will be the first official acronym of our company) open I took out my uber goal list and started to translate that into goals for opening the first shop. Then into monthly goals. Then into daily tasks.
So, what are the results? Back in July when I would tell people that I planed on being open by the end of September, they thought I was nuts. Now, granted, we're going to open about a month after that, but still we have moved quite quickly.
The list of things we have accomplished is looooonnnnnggggg. But we have gotten it all done. There are still a few more odds and ends to tie up but we're on target.
When I think about how harried things could be this week I breath a sigh of relief that the only butterflies are those of excitement. So, we can talk forever about time management, life management, organization, etc. But that's one of the problems, talking about it. Do it. Write it down and then do it. It works.