this is the first of a series of articles on how to get your tasks done in reasonable time. There is a lot of long books, articles and I’m sure seminars and such around this subject. How to organize your everyday life ect.
What I’m going to do is simply list my own personal tips on how to kill that TO DO list each day, and how to deal with a busy schedule.
Get a calendar: Getting a calendar is priority number one. Having a central place to know what you will be doing for the rest of the month and more specifically how busy your week will be is essential for having a nice day were you manage to make your deadlines. Personally i suggest getting yourself a nice Google Calendar. Its on line, you can have multiple calendars included. They can easily be shared on a website for people to see whether or not you are busy on a given date. And finally its free ! 😉 After i started using Google calender to input my work schedule along with my university lectures i have had a much better idea of how my week is going to be. About the only functionality i miss with this calendar is the ability to have it off line in some application that would synchronize upon connect and/or with a PD.
The downside. Well if you are stuck without a Internet connection you are boned. You also need a computer of some sorts to add tasks to your calender. But personally i use my laptop every day, and if i get a task outside of daily computer use i make sure to tell the person i will check with my calendar first, and add if it have the time. This allows me to check my schedule for time first, and then add the appointment if i see it fit.
Make TO DO lists: Whether it be written on a piece of paper, or a big blackboard make a TO DO list. I have gotten myself a nice white board at home for use when solving university assignments. this also serves as my general TO DO list. Some tasks don’t have deadlines that are practical to punch into your calendar. Stuff like remembering to buy a new chicken, socks or perhaps the eluding gallon of milk.
Also practical to simply list what tasks need to be done each day. Myself i usually once a day try and go through the list, and see if any of them can fit in with tasks i have in my calendar. Example is that i need to go to the post office. This fits nicely with my task of dropping by work about something, so i make sure to make a note of doing both 😀
If you dont have room, or opportunity to get a white board, a block of A5 paper on the desk works just a well. Simply write stuff you need to remember, and update as you get along. I should mention however that white boards can be bought cheaply now i various sizes, and also made yourself. You only need some dry erase markers and the board can be made of a surface like Plexiglas (local hardware store and ask/try out)… Gonna be making a project in a month of so on how to build a white board yourself for little money.
This concludes my first little article on organizing your life. Next article will deal with handling e-mail and connection your email use to the TO DO list and calendar. Hope your learned something.