You forget what you meant when you read what you said
Have you ever been inside my mind? No? Lucky you. It's a rat's nest of a mess in there. Disorganization reigns, distraction is a constant threat, and there's a huge block between what I want to do and what I actually do. This last part is more severe than you might think, and further stories would only end with you looking at me in disbelief and exclaiming, "You idiot!"
In a nutshell (note there may be actual nutshells lodged in my brain that cause my problems), I'm not a very organized person, but I desperately want to be. I've tried a number of organization techniques, and with my new job heavy on the management side, I need to get a technique to stick. So far, I'm going with a combination of Simple GTD and Google Docs, but the Docs in particular are already becoming unwieldy. It's still working, but I wonder for how long. It's all fine and well to try to keep lists and references at the ready, but then keeping your to do lists updated is another thing to do.
So while you're already distracted by this post from doing whatever else you were doing, lemme axe you this: what do you do to stay organized? Do you just trust yourself to remember everything that you need to do, a feat that I consider nothing short of super-human? Or are you a lists type? Any particular software? Do you keep a habitual daily schedule and only stray when you absolutely need to?
If you prefer to stay only mildly distracted, ignore these questions and return to your previous state of quiet and/or bedlam.
12 comments:
I can't remember names to save my life, but for some reason I am pretty good about remembering the crap I have to do. Hmmm.. Anyway. this won't help you much if you want a web tool, and it's more just interesting than anything, but I recently read a thing about a CEO or somebody really high up at Google who organizes all her stuff by simple text files located all over her desktop. She'll make a list of to-do's, name them with a date, and places it on her desktop. I thought that was pretty cool, and really simple. I think C has started doing some of that with her work.
I get along really well with an old-school paper planner - and google calendar.
That's kind of what I've been doing with Google Docs. It's a little cleaner than putting stuff all over the desktop, and if you do it as your initial tab in Firefox, it's always right there. It's working pretty well...so far. But I always think of more documents to add. Having a "To Do" is fine (and that's kind of what I use Simple GTD for), but then there's reference, questions to ask, upcoming projects, immediate concerns, etc. And again, there's the problem of having to take time to update the documents that lay out what takes your time. Ugh. Heads start to spin. Or mine does, anyway.
Useful stuff. Thanks, Doug!
How did you end up the only sibling not organized!! It totally missed you didn't it?
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention why I like google calendar so much - for stuff that you really do need to be reminded of, it's great because you can set it up to text your phone or email you a reminder - and with a pretty hefty space in there with needed info of the event.
Surrrrre, Laura. Rub it in. You and Mary hog the organization and won't give up any of it to me. It's not fair! MOM!!
Doug, do you keep work stuff on your Google Calendar along with your personal stuff, or do you keep two different ones?
It's kind of a joke, but at work, I'm totally dependant on to-do lists. But I don't write or manage these lists on my computer; it's good old pen and paper for me. I begin each week by making a list of all my current tasks, with a stupid box next to it. When I complete the task, I simply place an "X" in that box. Any items that don't get X-ed make it to the top of the next week's list. Very primitive, but it works for me.
Of course, my prehistoric method can't really be recommended, as it provides no real backlog of tasks completed, etc. It's just good enough for me to know what I need to know to start each work day. I probably should investigage these tools too. BTW, not sure if it's relevant, but my office has started using BaseCamp in place of holding meetings. It's pretty amazing.
Reid: Well, my life isn't all that complicated, so I use one google calendar - it's mostly stuff so that Cory and I can see what each other is doing and when we'll be outta town and such. I really use my old-school planner for most of my work stuff. I like having something tangible - it's my "security planner".
Man, Xtian, you use to-do checklists on paper!!?? Whatta kidding me?! Actually, I do the same thing too - it hasn't failed me yet... As for tracking stuff, I just rely on my email archive - since anytime I finish something I end up emailing somebody about it. That's kinda sketchy too, but it works I guess.
Haha. I just wanted to laugh at Laura's comment!
But, I do agree with both Doug and Christian, I just write to do lists each day, but then again my job wasn't that stressful. I know nothing about these new-fangled computer programs you speak of so can't help there. I still have a paper day planner!
My electronic calendar, colored file folders and a white board are the only things keeping me at all organized. Because I have to keep track of not only my own life, but that of my 3 kids and my husband (whose insistence on tooting his horn with some indie-pop band in addition to work and golf keeps things complicated), the calendar that is part of my work-based email is also full of notes related to what is going on in everyone else's life. Tasks are listed on my electronic to-do list, and any additional background is noted on the white board or in a file on my desk.
I fall into the same catagory as Xtian...I write everything down. My brian is like a sieve and my boss is the master of answering one question with enough data to answer 3 other questions, so I have multiple yellow legal pads and post its all over my desk. And a calendar on the wall for all the to do stuff.
I guess I should admit that my office is a real mess. All the time.
Cool that you are enjoying simplegtd.
--Alex.
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