With the new year looming, most people have already picked up their calendar for next year. Some of you are die hard e-calendar types and just keep scrolling on down the screen while 2012 comes up to great you.
The rest of us are not and still prefer the paper version. It has been my experience that many individuals with a strong kinesthetic preference for learning and digesting information, still benefit from the writing and page turning of a paper calendar to anchor schedules and time frames in their minds. If you fall into this category, it is important to understand that you are using a modality that works for you. It may be necessary to use a second e-calendar for work if your company business practices require one.
On the other hand if you are cyber-savvy and tied to your electronic phone/tablet/laptop you may be a good candidate to consider moving to an e-calendar. Individuals in this category likely email appointments to colleagues and family members including teacher interviews. Some even share common calendars on cyberspace through email providers.
Whichever you choose, the most important criteria, is that it works for you. There is no point in using an e-calendar if you don’t have a devise with you all the time or perhaps can’t share with your co-workers, colleagues or family calender information they also need.
Archive for Organizing Time – Page 3
The question of whether multi-tasking works to increase productivity comes up frequently at our house. What can I say? I have a teenager. This age bracket of our species has taken multi-tasking to new heights with ear buds, television, blackberry and homework all going at the same time.
My experience is that multi-tasking does not work well. I define multi-tasking as participating at one time in two or more activities that each require our attention. Thus talking on the telephone and typing a report is multi-tasking. Similarly making dinner while helping a school child with home work is multi-tasking; both require your attention in order to be completed. If your attention is distracted from your task, it is unlikely that you will complete it well. Your phone mate may perceive you are distracted or merely wait patiently for your attention to return to his/her question, the report may have errors.
Time layering or time deepening is a strategy that does work. I define time deepening as organizing two or more tasks that do not require our attention to be accomplished simultaneously. If many layers are being developed, only the top layer can take your attention while the other tasks are accomplished without your input or attention except to get them started. Home managers have known this strategy for ages: wash the laundry and hang to dry – while drying, mix bread and leave to rise – while drying and rising cut beef/vegetables and set stew to simmer – while drying and simmering, knead bread and set to rise – while drying, simmering and rising, mend clothes. Project managers differentiate between those tasks that must be accomplished in sequence and therefore are time and order sensitive versus those tasks that can be accomplished at the same time therefore layering tasks.
If you work from home you may already layer your time without realizing that you are using this strategy: put on laundry, take out dinner meat to thaw, set coffee to drip, turn sprinkler on lawn – pour coffee, set to work on report. One hour later you turn over laundry, turn over meat, move sprinkler to back lawn, refill coffee and back to report.
You get the picture. Try it. How many layers can you build into your time?
Early, early morning is not my favourite time of the day. When I have an early appointment, like this morning, I want to spend every possible extra second in bed that I can. To do that I need to prepare ahead and organize everything that I will need to take with me.
Starting the evening before:
1. Confirm the time and address of your appointment. Look up the location on a map or print if necessary from an online map search.
2. Plan your route, with a possible alternative for those just in case scenarios. For example, this morning I was heading downtown on the subway and had to change my planned route due to a G20 security incident.
3. Calculate how much time it will take to get from A to B. Give yourself an appropriate buffer of time, depending on time of day. I calculated it would take me 40 minutes to arrive at my destination. I rounded up to 45 minutes and decided to try and arrive 10 minutes early. This gave me a definitive time that I had to leave by. By planning ahead I was able to make it to my appointment on time, even with the delay on route.
4. Pack your bag with everything that you will need. For me this included a charged cell phone, a refillable water bottle, a snack, and documents required for my appointment. For regular appointments consider having a bag reserved and always prepared with the basics you’ll need.
5. Set your alarm time to accommodate your basic morning routine, and to get you out the front door at your definitive departure time.
Now, when the alarm goes off early, early in the morning there is little stress knowing that everything is ready to go.
My clients are equally split between the number that use electronic calendars and those that use paper calendars. The electronic device allows you to have instant access to your schedule 5 years out or five years back without the weight of 5 books. They also allow you to flip things around with the touch of a role ball, touch screen or mouse. No need for those messy erasers and rewriting the re/re/rescheduled appointment in question.
For many people, no matter how easy the electronic device may seem, managing time does not work for them on a small device, small screen and fiddly tool. A month at a glance is easier on an 8 in X 11 in paper than a 1.5 in screen. Those with kinetic learning preferences may find the act of writing in appointments helps to secure the appointments existence into their mind – more so than typing an appointment once then hitting the recurrence function for the balance of the year’s appointments.
I seem to be one of these people and I am in the process of trying out a paper calendar again. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes. Meanwhile – what has been your experience?
“If I had time“, you say, “I would be more organized!” I know, me too. Unfortunately since none of us have figured out how to put an extra couple of hours into each day, we will just have to work with the 24 hours that we have.
Let’s start with your calendar. Do you have one? Do you carry it with you all the time? If it is a paper calendar, can you put it into your purse, briefcase, computer bag? If it is electronic, can you carry it in your purse, briefcase, computer bag?
Since this series is about maintenance tips I am concentrating on keeping organized (as opposed to the clearing out and sorting to get organized). Ensure that today’s appointments are in your calendar. Review tomorrow’s appointments before the end of the day so that you have time to prepare for whatever is scheduled. If you have car service arranged, have you organized someone else to take the kids to swimming? It takes only a minute or two to review the appointments for tomorrow. It could take a lot longer to catch up if you miss something or it takes you by surprise. At the end of the week, review your appointments and plans for next week. Again, the anticipation will give you a chance to plan and prepare.
Once that is done, you can head for your evening knowing your plans for tomorrow and next week are already in place and organized. Aren’t you clever!
“If I had time“, you say, “I would be more organized!” I know, me too. Unfortunately since none of us have figured out how to put an extra couple of hours into each day, we will just have to work with the 24 hours that we have.
Let’s start with your calendar. Do you have one? Do you carry it with you all the time? If it is a paper calendar, can you put it into your purse, briefcase, computer bag? If it is electronic, can you carry it in your purse, briefcase, computer bag? Do you have a family calendar (if you have a family)?
Since this series is about maintenance tips I am concentrating on keeping organized (as opposed to the clearing out and sorting to get organized).
Ensure that today’s appointments are in your calendar. Review tomorrow’s appointments before the end of the day so that you have time to prepare for whatever is scheduled. If you have car service arranged, have you organized someone else to take the kids to swimming? It takes only a minute or two to review the appointments for tomorrow. It could take a lot longer to catch up if you miss something or it takes you by surprise. At the end of the week, review your appointments and plans for next week. Again, the anticipation will give you a chance to plan and prepare.
Once that is done, you can head for your evening knowing your plans for tomorrow and next week are already in place and organized. Aren’t you clever!
How often do we use the words “someday I will…” Occassionally? Frequently? Can anyone claim never? Are you suffering from someday syndrome?
Someday No More
I have a colleague who can claim “not any more”. Alex Fayle, a professional organizer used to say “Someday I will live and write in the south of Spain”. Like so many of us he had his share of wishes for another day. Unlike the majority of us, Alex did something about his vague wishes and made them his reality.
Someday Syndrome is not only his story but a resource for anyone suffering from the procrastination syndrome. Does this sound familiar?
- Someday My Ship Will Come In
Waiting for, instead of pursuing, your dreams - I’ll Get Around To It Someday
Wasting your life with navel-gazing and other procrastination games - I Might Need It Someday
Filling your life with stuff instead of achievements.
If you have ever suffered from procrastination, even mildly on a bad day, I recommend this read to you. Never was there a better time than the fresh beginning of a year to end those somedays and start creating your amazing life full of acheivements.
Procrastinate No More
Setting a specific time to accomplish actions helps those actions to actually take place. Unless something is scheduled, it typically doesn’t happen. Once something hits the calendar, it has a time commitment that is protected.
Putting actions or goals on a calendar also helps to focus one’s attention on that item Once Alex had committed to moving to Europe (Spain), and put a date to that, he started selling possessions and shedding items to make it a reality.
Write it Down
Writing down our thoughts makes those one day items tangible and real. Make your goals more tangible and keep them away from that far off, unspecific thinking.
And you thought you could duck under the radar screen! Sorry my friend, upon review of the posts this year I realized it has been a long time since I confronted the big, ugly enemy of procrastination.
Are you a procrastinator? (“Oh yeah” – I can hear you whisper under your breath.) You are wondering why and what you can do about it? The following list is an adaptation from the book Making Time Work for You, by the Time Guru himself, Harold L. Taylor.
- A procrastinator’s view of time is distorted. With 2 weeks before the due date, you think yo have lots of time to get that report finished. The reality is, no where in those two weeks do you have the 9 hours of time free to actually finish the report. The solution: as soon as you know the report is due – book in the time to complete it. Now book in extra time since we both know it will take twice as long as you think it will.
- A procrastinator is often a perfectionist. The perfectionist is often afraid to start something for fear it won’t be perfect. The solution: get started to that you have lots of time to make it good enough which is much closer to perfect than not done at all.
- A procrastinator often sees tasks as overwhelming. Solution: just do it. Start with any small piece of the project even if it is just five minutes. Break the rest of the project down into bite size pieces that you can manage.
- A procrastinator is often someone who thrives on the adrenaline of crisis and deadlines. If you work in the publishing industry you likely have a busy, rewarding life. For the rest of us, it is important to understand that always running late is inefficient, disorganized and often problematic for everyone else around you. Solution: learn to get your adrenaline kick by getting the project done early.
- A procrastinator is often just plain disorganized. Some individuals avoid starting projects because they are too disorganized to arrange the information and material they need to get it done. In the meantime, they are still scrambling to find the information and material for the previous project or report which is late. Solution: plan ahead. Plan your year, months, weeks and days by blocking time to accomplish your goals and projects.
Simple concept isn’t it: be prepared. If you were a Boy Scout or Girl Guide, you would have memorized this motto along the way somewhere.
In application to business and time organization, the concept is no different. The more you can prepare ahead of time, the more relaxed, organized, polished and professional will be your presentation and performance. By preparing your material ahead of time, and confirming everything is ready in advance, you will also be able to avoid most technical hangups, forgetting things, or other people forgetting things.
Because you are a professional business person, your dates are already carefully mapped out on your daytimer right? Good. Now schedule in preparation time well in advance. Finally, follow up by scheduling in time, no later than the day before, to confirm that everything and everyone is in place. Now you can relax.
So often we struggle with those not-so-fun tasks that every job, business, company can claim. If you work in a SOHO it might be organizing your receipts to send to the book keeper. Oh, you do your own book keeping and the receipts are still in a box/envelop/pile on the desk?
Here’s a strategy for tackling that not-so-fun chore: schedule, subdivide into bites, conquer.
Start by scheduling some time to tackle the job. Without a Level 10 Intention, its not going to happen. By scheduling time on the calendar, you can at least get your intention close to 10.
Next divide the project into bites, something you can chew without choking. Maybe start by sorting the receipts into months and filing them into separate envelopes one for each month. Already separated? Try dividing or labelling them into your expense categories. Can’t find the receipts? There’s you first bite: spend the scheduled time collecting all the receipts you can find in your office and put them into envelopes, one for each month of the year. (Try an accordian file and you don’t need to worry about labelling the envelopes!).
Too often we fail to accomplish a task because it never gets scheduled into our calendars. Other bits and pieces of our business gobble up the day, the week, the month. If the task is an unpleasant or difficult one and you are procrastinating as a result, you probably find yourself doing almost anything else than sitting down to tackle it. Schedule a date with yourself to take it down.
