Ever feel that your daily life is running out of control? You start with good intentions, but at the end of the day have achieved very little.

The answer is to work smart. Planning is the ultimate key to increasing productivity and reducing stress.

1. Compile a "To Do" List: each day in your planner or on a piece of paper list all the things you aim to achieve. This focuses your intentions. List everything � phone calls, letter writing, daily chores, assignments, e-mail replies, meetings.

2. Prioritize: take your daily "To Do" list and order each entry in terms of importance. Take the most important item � the one you consider to be most urgent � and number it "1". Then take the next most important � number it "2". And so on down the list.

3. Work Your List: each day work through your "To Do" list in order of importance. Always complete each task before moving on to the next. You may or may not complete all the tasks in one day but you can be assured of completing the most urgent ones.

4. Refresh: always write a new "To Do" list every day. Never use the previous day's list.

5. Transfer: at the beginning of each new day do not forget to transfer any unfinished tasks from the previous day to your fresh list.

� HealthChat 2000

Dr Sims is the Medical Director of FitStop, the UK's foremost group of health and fitness centers, and an expert on matters relating to fitness of body and mind. Having trained as a GP, he now works full-time in health promotion and has written extensively on the subject, including a monthly medical column in Mensa magazine with the TV psychiatrist, Dr Raj Persaud. Dr Sims was the original Virgin.Net online doctor.

Article courtesy of MediaPeak.com