There’s likely a core set of tasks you could execute in 30 minutes or less, every day and probably first thing in the morning, that would accomplish a number of things quickly and help you feel far more on top of things. They’d keep your networking active, ensure proper follow-up on things that happened yesterday, plus ensure you’re completely prepared for the day ahead.

Set a daily meeting with yourself every work day, Monday through Friday, for 30 minutes. Do it early morning (before you get to the office) with a cup of coffee, or begin a habit of starting your daily office routine on your own, free of distraction, and knock these tasks out.

The specific task list will be unique to you, but here’s a sampling of what’s on my “daily do” list every day:

  • Check Facebook for birthdays, and wish people a happy birthday first-thing
  • Check Klout for notifications, and give a handful of people I know “+K” for their expertise
  • Check my online spam filter (via Postini) for anything important I may have missed yesterday
  • Check LinkedIn and Gist for other important updates across my network, and comment back as necessary
  • Scan yesterday’s schedule, and send thank you notes (email or hand-written) as necessary
  • Ensure all to-do’s captured yesterday have been filed and prioritized (either today or for later)
  • Confirm my priorities and to-do list for today, and ensure I have every resource necessary to get them done
  • Confirm today’s meetings (including sending a confirmation email if necessary)
  • Prepare for today’s meetings (including any documents I’ll need there, any homework I needed to complete, etc.)

Which of these “daily do” tasks are relevant to you?  What would you add?