Planners and getting things done

 

I think a lot of us have a planner or calendar that we use to record that various appointments and meetings that we need to attend. Being able to figure out what works best for you is very important, and it can change over time. You may use a variety of methods of recording the various things that you need to accomplish each day, or just one thing that catches everything.

For us, I know that we have a calendar where we both record the various appointments and deadlines that effective either both of us or either of us, but we want the other person aware of the event. This is the place where we also put the various vacations that may impact us, either clients on vacations or family members, and of course our own vacations. This is the spot that we check when we are trying to schedule work meetings and even a lot of our social events because it lets us know what could impact the event.

Besides having our joint calendar, I have a planner that I use to document the things that I would like to get done daily. It is also the place where I put the appointments, deadlines, and meetings as well so that I can see at the beginning of the day when is ahead of us. Yes, it means that a lot of the things are documented twice, but at least I can see them quickly and my planner is beside me on my desk throughout the day.

My planner is also where I document what I have accomplished each day so that at the end of the day I can see what I got done versus what was planned to get done. There are days when I can get lots of things done that weren’t even on the to-do for the day, and then other days maybe only one thing that was on the list can get achieved before it was a larger project than I originally thought. Being able to manage things in a couple of ways make it so much easier because it at least lets us see what is going on.

I use my planner for a lot of the little things that I need to do and things that I would like to do each day but not they have to do that given day. Normally in the planner I am writing when bills need to be paid, different notes that we want to have available but don’t need to be on our calendar that may interfere with planning of other things.

Yes, having multiple planners and calendars can be a challenge, but you need to make sure that you have a method of getting things done. One calendar may work for a lot of people, but we have found that having a shared calendar for a lot of the stuff and then me having a separate planner for other things works great. See what works for you, and then you may end up changing things around, but at least give the idea a chance and see how it goes.

Managing your tasks

I think I am like a lot of people, and there are days when you feel like your to-do list is totally out of control, and you don’t know how to get it back in order.  For some people it is easy to manage if they have one focused job, but for a lot of us now, we are juggling multiple jobs, so it means that it can be a challenge to get things achieved or at least in some sort of manageable fashion. When I start to feel that I have too many things that I have put onto a list, I decide to sit back and that becomes my focus before I try and tackle anything else.

Here is what I do.

1. Grab small pieces of paper or post-it notes for writing out the various to-do items
2. Write one to-do item on each of the papers, and don’t worry if you repeat yourself.
3. Once this is done, sort the items into the various categories that you want. E.g. Work, personal, crafts, etc.
4. Now that things are in the various categories you have a choice of how to handle them, but here is the easiest method I have found and that is to write all of one category onto a piece of paper either in a notebook or loose-leaf.
5. After getting each category onto its own piece of paper, it makes it a lot easier to see what you must do for each category. Now, when you are working on a category, you don’t have everything else on that list.
6. Keep some small post-it notes always available because when you are working on things and something else comes to mind you can write them done quickly.
7. Mark off the items as you get them done, and you will start to feel a little more under control. You can add to the list at any time and then rewrite when you want to.

I have found that doing the quick brain dump of all the things that I need to do makes it so much easier to get things done. It gets the items out of my head and down onto paper so that I can see them, and marking items off the list also makes me feel better as I can see proof that I am getting things done.

Of course, this method might not work for everyone, but I have found that it works for me, and it helps keep me organized and productive. Sometimes I have lots of pages of various categories, but other times my lists are small enough that a category can be more general. The categories that you use for your lists are going to differ each time, but at least it is a way of controlling the various projects.

ARC from right to left

Original right handed version of my ARC

Right-handed version of the tabs

I have two to-do lists and one is rather large, and I actually call it the brain dump.  The reason for that is because there are so many little things that I would like to do that I have been trying to keep everything in my head, and that just doesn't work.  The other to-do list is smaller and something that I have with me all the time.

My main to-do list is now in a large ARC system, and I love it, or at least now I really love it.  I have been using the system for over a year now and this large binder was set up earlier this year when I figured it was time to capture everything on paper and actually get it out of my head, and it has been working.  I am now able to focus a lot better on tasks, and I am getting things done, and I don't feel as stressed as I was before.

About a week ago, I discovered that I was getting extremely frustrated when trying to write in my ARC system, and it was for a very simple reason.  The rings were getting in my way, and it was making it difficult to get my thoughts and ideas down quickly.  Now, the reason the rings were getting in my way is that I am a lefty and was writing on the right-hand page.  This is a problem that a lot of lefty's deal with, but with the ARC system there is an easy solution once you think of it.  I am not taking credit for figuring out my issue because it was my husband that suggested making my ARC a lefty version when I was sitting and complaining that it was difficult to write in the book.

Now the process I had to do did take some time, but I am happy with the outcome because now I have a book that works for me and yes confuses a lot of people.  One of the advantages of being a lefty and being proud of it is showing off the end result and getting the odd looks from people when they see that my book opens the opposite way than their book does.

Punching the new holes

So the steps that I had to do were pretty easy, but they meant taking the entire book apart and putting it all back together with some changes.

Step 1: Take all the pages and dividers out of the system.

Step 2: Punch new holes in the opposite side of each of the pages so that the pages would work easily for me, and then I could write on the left page all the time. In my planner, I only write on one side of a page so that I can see the tasks a little easier.

Cutting off the old holes

Step 3: Cut the original holes off all the pages so they wouldn't get caught on each other and make it difficult to work with the planner.

Step 4: Move all the tabs that I had set up around so that I could see them easily when I opened the book.  I am really glad that I used a version of post-it tabs because it made this task very easy.

Step 5: Start putting all the pages and dividers back into the system, making sure that it was going to work and actually be in the correct order like it was before.  This is where all the time was spent because sure you can easily take a book apart and punch holes in the paper, but it is getting it back in order that takes the time.

Finished ARC - lefty version

Yes, I have to admit that the version from the right-handed version of the ARC to the left-handed version of the ARC did take some time.  I am extremely happy with the outcome of this project and have to say that it works well. 

After doing this big version of my ARC to-do, I then decided it was time to also change the little version of my ARC to-do into a left-handed version.  Now that version went a lot quicker, and it is probably because I had figured out most of the issues with the bigger version.

Finished ARC - tabs have been moved

Sure, I have discovered a few little issues with the left-handed version and the biggest thing was that my calendar doesn't work well in my lefty version, so that is something that I will have to figure out for next year.

Now if you know someone who is a lefty and gets frustrated with planners and even notebooks like I have for years maybe you should let them know about the ARC (M by Staples) as it is something that can be customized to work for a lefty.  The ARC system is also available at Michaels as a Happy Planner, but the ARC system is either a half page or a whole page system while the Happy Planner is a size in between, so it is a little harder to make your own pages for it. 

I have invested in a number of the rings for my ARC system as well as covers because it means that I can set up a lot of different books for the various projects, and they will work for me and if a right-handed person has a problem with my book that's ok because it is for me to work with and not for them.

Project Total Keeps Growing

If you are anything like me, you will probably have a lot of different projects that need your attention and then start to feel overwhelmed when you realize how many things you actually have on the go.

When I say projects I mean both the things for work and also things for yourself. Being someone that is a co-owner of a business there are always tons of projects that need my attention for work so it is just a matter of trying to keep them organized and yes written down. I have been bad lately at writing them down so now it is to get back to writing everything done and then seeing how I can get the things done.

Now the personal list is probably just about as bad as the work list because I haven’t been tracking what I should be working on and what really needs my attention. Maybe just spending some time working on all the lists is something that would be very important. A list of projects can help you feel a little better even if there are the personal projects.

Projects can be something very small which can be accomplished quickly or it can be something that will take days, or even months to finish but tracking them is important. Some people can try and track all their projects in their head but I have found that those are the people that don’t have a lot of different projects on the go. For someone that has a creative mind it can be a challenge to track all the concrete projects and then all the projects that are just little bits of ideas. Sure some of the little bits of ideas may never get any further than the little idea but without a method of tracking these ideas you may lose a good idea that can help solve an issue or even help with another project.

For a lot of people just looking at the lists of projects can be very overwhelming and it is something that you have to manage. For me I keep the project lists separate based on who they are for. Client projects are separate from our own business projects and then the personal projects can also be divided up so that when I am working on a specific item I only see those projects and not everything else..

Over the last little while I have been seeing the project total continue to grow and now I need to figure out what can be accomplished quickly and then get them off the lists. Sure a list of all the projects no matter how big or small they are can help you ensure you don’t forget to do something so now to get back to even updating that list. Some people say that keeping a list takes time to do but then trying to remember everything in your head can also be a challenge and it takes time. The time you spend trying to remember what you should be working on is time away from actually getting the work done.

Well it is now time for me to get back to working on those lists and see what I can get marked off today. Sure the list may grow along the way as well but at least I will remember all the different things I need to do.

My plate is overflowing

Yes, like everyone, every once in a while, I feel like I have way too many things on my plate and don't seem to be getting anything off it. 

Today was a day that I was going to work on a couple of items and of course I got one thing done and now my do to list has just increased.  I am juggling a lot of different things and know that if I could just focus for a little while I could make a dent in all the other things that are on my list.

Some days, are like this, you don't get what you wanted to be done, but you do make progress on a few other tasks that you have to complete.  You also have the days when you make some progress, but then other things just get added to the list. 

My goal for today is to finish the things that I need to get done, and then I am going to sit back and figure out what I did today.  I know that my list of to-do's is going to get longer, but at least then I will have everything written done instead of just mixed up in my head.

Off to focus on one task and then will sit back and see where things stand. 

Juggling the demands of life

Currently, I feel like I am juggling a lot of different things, and I am trying to ensure that they all get accomplished, and nothing is left out.  Yes, this is a challenge that a lot of us face quite often, and knowing that you can handle it can be hard and even stressful. 

I am sitting in my office area at home and realize that sometimes I am just going to have to let a few things go until I can make progress on the things that are most important.  Looking around and seeing the different demands is difficult, but at least now I have a list of things that I need to work on.  Over the last month or so, I started writing down all the different things that need my attention, big or small.  The small things get dealt with right away, and all the other things get written down.  I am the type of person that does make to-do lists and have to admit that most of the time they do work for me because I can see what needs to get done and also what I got done. 

Tomorrow is another day, and I am going to start with my to-do list and see what I can accomplish off of it and know that I wouldn't be able to accomplish everything.  At least making some progress on the different items is going to make me feel quite a bit better about things.  Taking the small steps forward is a lot better than taking no steps forward at all.  My list may be long, but I know that I can accomplish some of the things and the other things will just have to wait another day.

The juggling is through for today, and now it's time to sit back and relax and know that I did what I could do today and I will do what I can do tomorrow.

To Do Lists

How many of us have the "To-Do List" that we look at from time to time.  If your list is anything like mine is, it just keeps growing.  My list gets some items marked off, but then more items get added, sot the list never goes away.

Sometimes I think I should have a bunch of different lists to help me see I am getting things accomplished.  Maybe the lists should be:  today, this week, soon, at some point, possible future items and dreams.  Maybe splitting things out like this would help me feel that I am truly getting things done.

If I had a To-Do for just today, maybe I would see results while the other lists could grow.  I know, in perfect time management, you make your to-do list for your work day late in the day before.  I find in IT we write up a to-do list the day before only to have it totally destroyed the next day due to issue that need our immediate attention.  Maybe in real life a weekly to-do list is the best because then you can concentrate on getting things done but still have some structure to your week.

A To-Do List is supposed to assist you in accomplishing things, not adding additional stress to your life.  As both an IT and a non-IT professional, I need to be flexible to meet the different demands on my time, but also get things off my to-do list.