Time Management - Will It Ever Go Away? Part II

Time management always has been and always shall be my friend.  (Sounds like a line from Star Trek:  Wrath of Khan.)  I still like my Outlook task pop-up on scheduling; it helps me keep all my priorities in order.  However, as I said before, I'm always tweaking and finding what works for me, and I take inspiration from many places.

Scott talks about using visual reminders to keep you motivated.  Now, I don't have much problem with motivation (not today anyway), but I expanded upon his idea of posting sticky notes everywhere to keep you motivated for writing down my priorities for the day.  See, I've always gotten caught up in "Here's my to do list or my inbox, and it all has to get done."  Sure, there are priorities, but, still, everything needs to get done, and it should get done - TODAY.

I know, logically (hmmm, maybe Star Trek has had more of an influence on my than I realize), that I can't get it all done, but without some system in place to remind me of that, I default back to "It all has to get done -TODAY."

So I took a page from Scott (or shall I say sticky note), and I decided to write down the most important things that I want to accomplish for the next day.  And, here's my proudest moment, it isn't just work and business stuff; I include personal things like cross-stitch or work-out.  I write them down on a white board, which is prominently displayed in my office.

I find that writing these things at the end of the day gets my head set for the next.  I wake up the next day already geared toward those things on my list, and there are no excuses for not doing something, especially the fun, personal, balance items.

Here are some things that have showed up on my list recently (beyond just the normal, ho-hum items):

• Just get through the day (this was a reminder to be gentle on myself during a particularly hectic day)
• Work out
• Write blog posts (you know it!)
• Relax
• Have some time to myself

This method is working nicely, and it will stick around as long as it's helpful.  Until I find the need to tweak my time management style yet again.

Comments

[Laura Allen]

"I still like my Outlook task pop-up on scheduling; it helps me keep all my priorities in order."

Dawn, please say more about this. Are you referring to Outlook reminders? Thanks!

[Dawn Goldberg]

Laura, what I do is create a Task in Outlook with my scheduling priorities. I have it set to recur two days after I clear the current one. I tried having it recur every day, but then I'd just ignore it.

I hope that helps!

Dawn