What is a 'Do It Day'?

I have a 'Do it Day' once a month and I commented on it this week, saying that this was what I was going to do. As a result a number of people contacted me asking me to explain what it was.

Well it's really very simple and the clue is in the name itself, the day is for taking action. You know those things that you never get round to; the things that always drop down the list; the things that you don't want to do so you always put off; the things that are not urgent but clearly on your list for some purpose. Well your 'do it day' is when you can tackle them.

All you need is skype and ideally an office based day and at least one other person. I have done it with two and three and in all honesty you probably don't need more than 4 as will become clear.

I tend to prepare for mine all month by jotting down certain things as I come across them and thinking 'that would be great for 'do it day' and then the night before I set myself 10 mins and choose what I'm going to do.

The day starts with a call at a pre arranged time, we usually start about 9 and everyone comes to the call with an intention of what they want to have achieved by the end of the day. Some people have one piece of work that they want to do e.g it could be working on a book, others have a number of different things that might be related e.g having a money day where you might be doing invoices and expenses and chasing up outstanding income etc; others may come with a list of unrelated tasks that they know would improve their quality of life if they cleared them. I once dedicated my day to sorting all the things we'd brought back from our French house when we sold it so I could make space in my lounge and dining room. Hopefully you get the idea.

We share as concisely as possible our plans for the whole day and then what we intend to do in the next hour, then we all go off to do it. After that we touch base on skype hourly to report on progress. Sometimes a little support or coaching is needed and you can take the person onto a separate call to do that so the flow is not affected but in my experience that need happens very infrequently.

We usually keep going till about 5.30 and what we all achieve is amazing and the feeling of shifting stuff is so great.

Here's what some of my co-collaborators have said:

"I’ve become a total convert to Do It Days because quite simply, they help me get things done! I love them because they are dedicated chunks of time for me to catch-up on all those tasks that I’ve been putting off, or ‘meaning to do’ and I know that by the end of the day I will have completed, planned and achieved far more than I thought possible. It never ceases to amaze me just what an effective combination focus and accountability can be.

The technique of checking-in every hour to give a brief progress update and share our intentions for the next hour works beautifully.  It’s amazing what you can get done when you know you’ve only got 10 minutes left before the next call!

Heather’s facilitation skills are terrific – her Do It Days manage to have just the right blend of energy, momentum and encouragement to make the whole process not just hugely effective but great fun too. " Karen Knott - http://primetimebusiness.co.uk/

"I've been having regular 'do it' days with Heather now for a couple of months and have found them incredibly useful.  You know those jobs that you keep putting off forever, or stuff that you feel you should do, but never seem to have enough time for?  Those are the types of things I use the 'do it days' for.  Why?  Because I get them all done, and actually enjoy the process!  I've been having to write some fairly dull reports recently, and using the do it day to get them done has made such a change.  Not only did I get them done in half the time, but also didn't find the process quite so dull.
 

Heather is great at making sure we keep the pace and motivates everyone to get going. Knowing that I have to report back in an hour ensures that I concentrate on the task at hand, and don't allow myself to get distracted by e-mails or other things going on around me.  You can of course still run your normal day around the whole thing, but it's a great way of ensuring you prioritise appropriately to get your tasks done.  It's almost scary how efficient I can be when I want to!  It's also nice to catch up with everyone throughout the day, especially if you are using the day to do something particularly boring.  The hourly chunks are just right, and the quick chats in between are great for re-motivating to keep going." - Sanna Anderson

If you have a go at these, do let me know how you get on and post a comment with your thoughts so we can all share and motivate each other.