Get Everything Done

I'm finally pulling ahead enough to look more than a few hours ahead and work on my little-and-often projects, but I'm not entirely confident there's nothing important hiding in my physical backlog. Something small that I put off, thinking I'd have time for it in a week or two, that I didn't get to, and now buried in the pile. Or piles that got combined when I needed desk space.

My todo list is a true catch-all. Urgent and important tasks are mixed with random thoughts best forgotten. Recording an idea or task quickly is more important than putting it on the right list. So insisting I do whatever I land on might make me do something that's currently unimportant.

Today's Plan

As usual, start by creating a list for the day. Be optimistic about important little-and-often projects, including working the backlogs, especially the untriaged ones. Be pessimistic about less-important projects. As the day continues, add to this page without worrying about how important the idea is.

Anything important on today's list can be done at any time, without rolling, especially things that I want to do every day but often put off (rehearse, work on backlog, exercise).

Yesterday's list becomes the last page on the main list. Yes, any unactioned tasks will now be written twice -- once on yesterday's page, and once earlier i n the list. If morning-me wants to do them, they're important, even if afternoon-me feels resistance.

Use today's page as a bookmark. Start counting on it, then continue at the last line worked in the main list.

As I count, watch for tasks that should be done sooner. Use common sense. This allows me to work on those important things that got buried. At the next roll, count as if I'd landed on the task I actually did.

If I land on a task that should be delayed (needs more alertness, or can do when tired, such as easy knitting for my classes), take the next line. This opening is for common sense, not avoidance. I'm worried that Mark's method of crossing-out this line and rewriting it at the end will be abused. This method keeps the older tasks on the older pages and keeps the pressure on them.

Sub-lists or piles are handled in whatever way feels right. Maybe a single line in the big list saying "do something from the sub-list". Maybe include the list as a page in the big list. Depending on the sub-list structure, roll again or do the oldest. (Email is easy to count. The big pile isn't.)

The email backlog gets special rules. It has a line on the day list, which expands to "five oldest emails fully dealt-with, and end the day with 10 fewer emails than yesterday". The desk pile is harder to measure, so "end today shorter than yesterday" is harder to confirm, but that's the goal.

We'll see how it goes.

Discovery: I really don't like hiding files for open projects. I have a good-quality fling cabinet beside my desk for open projects, but I put those files on my pile rather than in the cabinet.

There's no reason to think I'll forget about the projects. They each have a line in my list. They often have several lines, if it's easier to write ideas in my big list than open the folder. (Yes, that means doing the project means reading my list to pull out the ideas. Makes it harder to grab the file and travel, but I rarely do that anyways.

This is a habit I need to break rather than accept. Those files form a large part of my pile, obscuring other things. It's difficult to pull files out of the pile when I'm ready to work on them. It's hard to add papers to the files.

I only rolled once, after I'd gotten bored with my day list.

It landed on random idea for a much-dreaded and important project, so I spent the rest of the day more-or-less in flow for that project. I didn't finish my little-and-oftens for the day, which is a problem, but I think any system that made me do that project before I used up my energy for the day, and let me take advantage of flow for it and get to a good stopping point, would have the same problem.

My problem is some of those things really should be done often to make progress. When my daughter went to karate twice a week, she made progress. When she went only once a week, she only maintained.

But, yeah, cleaning the bathrooms can wait another day, within reason. The kitchen can wait until there's no room on the counter. (It's a small counter). The email backlog doesn't need tackling until just before it's scary big. As long as I put in a load or of laundry each day, and make good choices about what I wash (kids' clothes needs faster turn around than the sheets), there's no reason to clear the hamper. (A daily load is easier than many in one day. As long as it's in before 3, my son does the rest. Many in one day means I have to set a timer and keep it moving.)

I'm highly visual. My aural comprehension is good, but my memory of things I hear is weak unless I go over it again. It might be that when I read, I automatically go over important bits again, without realizing it.

I've never attempted to rely on my memory for dates or assignments. My parents made writing things down easy. Grocery list and pen by the fridge. Calendar and pen by the phone. They gave me DayTimers (in the format I chose) as part of my school supplies. They told educational stories about friends and coworkers who didn't learn to do these simple things.

One of my work terms had a "clear desk" policy. I followed it without difficulty, and enjoyed my desk. Unfortunately, it didn't stick.

My "big pile" problem is made worse when I clean my desk. I get mad, or optimistic, and throw everything in a single pile with the promise to actually deal with it.

I know enough to keep anything that will need attention in the next two weeks easy to find, even four weeks if holidays are coming up. I have a folder for bills, and one for accounting, and each urgent projects, so I can do them without touching the pile. Sometimes, though, I'll put things for a non-urgent project in the pile, and then the project becomes urgent.

I can usually clear the current pile in a week or two if I spend 30 minutes a day doing the 5 oldest things, but that takes time and discipline, and when it gets close to finished something else becomes more important.

Now, roll the die. 18. That gives me email backlog.

Learning, don't give up music just because it's now harder for you. There are tons of studies about how it helps integrate different parts of the brain and body and emotions.

My teacher regularly has students place in the top 5% of the country on the standardized exams, and all of her students who want to study music in post-secondary get in. She also teaches some developmentally-delayed students, the local youth choir, a church choir (auditions not required), an 85-year-old who sings to help her asthma and refuses to come to the group lessons, and me (who sings at the group lessons and forces herself to do exams but won't sing at recitals).

One work term, I put the folders in a tray with the folded edge out. I've tried that since then, and realize that that term was unique in the low level of paper generated.

RM, I can't seem to use mind-maps, either. Some of my notes get close to them, but I prefer lists with lots of space to the side for extra notes. I like to clearly see what order to read them in. (In museums, I work around the walls in order, and read all the labels. I try to let the art draw me in and guide me, and love it when it works, but those labels feel important.)

Check out FlyLady's systems. She's a big fan of checklists, flexibility, and routines. She's also a fan of little actions done often, doing things "well enough", and adapting her system to fit your situation. I don't follow it exactly, but I've incorporated many of her suggestions.

I usually contact people as soon as I realize I'll need their help, even if I won't need it for several weeks. With my luck, they'll be in Florida that week.

I put notes on my calendar for follow-up, usually in one of the blank days. (Now that I'm trying electronic again, I need to have a different system. I don't see that un-crossed-out box every day of the month.) I use the blank pages at the end of the book for the next several years.

There's a note in January to look into the annual Community Calendar, even though the deadline is always around February 21. It takes that long for me to review how many words and the type of ad, and confirm with the storytelling group what we'll do over the next year. I have a note this month to contact the psychologist about her waiting list (sometimes 18 months) about tests my son needs in two years. When a doctor tells me to follow up I write a note for about 6 months before, "ears, 5yrs, last Jan/09". Yes, I make appointments 6 or even 12 months in advance. I can always move it as the date approaches. If her schedule is so tight I can't move it, then if I'd not made the appointment early I wouldn't have one at all.

Even though I look far ahead often enough (next year's notes are still on a single page, so it's fast), I need to see "do this now" rather than "and for this deadline, I need to count back 6 weeks, which...nope, not this week...and for the next deadline..."

As the date approaches, the note moves to my week or day page.

A note on calendars and tickler lists:

They are useless unless you have two habits. One habit alone is not enough.

1. Write things in it immediately. Carry it with you if at all possible. Get a size that fits your pocket or purse. Don't wait until you can get next year's at the dollar store, in December. Write next year's months on a sheet of paper if necessary, and have it with you now. If you can't carry it with you, at least carry a folded paper and move the notes to the calendar ASAP.

2. Check it often. Each day, look a few days ahead. Each week, look a few weeks ahead, each month, season, year....

If you aren't confident you've written everything down, you won't have a feeling of relief and confidence when you check the list.

If you don't check the list often enough, there's no sense writing things down.

Another tip is to make it fun. My former boyfriend never carried a date book because the ones he used in school were too big for his adult life. I gave him one that fit his pocket, and wrote something fun in every week (including some private jokes). He hasn't missed a date since, including the wedding!

I often have to plan far in advance. My dentist makes follow-up visits 9 months away. Several groups schedule meetings two months away. It's faster for everyone to pull out their calendars and communicate at once than to email schedules over the next few days. If people are waffling and I want to move on, pulling out my calendar and asking for a date brings things to a head nicely.

Thinking I can remember something raises a red flag for me, that my brain isn't working too well at the moment, and I'll forget whatever it is I think I can remember. So if I think I can remember something, I immediately reach for the notepad. (Unless, of course, I'm too out of it to see and respect the red flag, in which case nothing will help.)

I don't like following up with people, but it's something I've learned to do. One of the few times "I'm the only one who can do things right" mentality actually helps. I'm the only one who can keep this project on schedule, and to do that I have to manage other people's time.

There's a difference between checking in every day, and checking in at key times. Calculate when they need to start working on it in order to keep you comfortable. Include their vacation, time for them to get sick, and time for you to get more from them if needed. On that date, ask them if there's anything they need and judge their reaction. Tell them you need to plan your month, and ask them when you can expect their part. Tell them why their deadline is shorter than they think. "I need it by Monday, because I'm traveling Tuesday and can't work on it then." (I was caught by that. He told me the deadline for the paper, but not that he needed two months to analyze the data I was collecting. In hindsight, I should have asked earlier.)

That works with unorganized or overloaded people, not apathetic.

Stever Robbins at Quick and Dirty Tips describes an issues log
http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/productivity/project-management/tame-your-projects-with-an-issues-log
that makes status meetings much shorter. The format forces the team to assign an "owner" to each issue, and give very short report on each open issue at each status meeting. The challenge I found as a young employee, though, when asked for short status reports, was I didn't want to admit to anyone, including myself, that I didn't have everything under control.

As for doctors who won't make appointments a year in advance, I ask the receptionist when I should call, and that goes on the "far future" section of my purse calendar (aka the back cover, if the printer doesn't include a page.) "ears, 2yrs, last Jan/09." If I don't see the specialist every 2 years, I go on the very long waiting list for new patients, or have to find a specialist with a shorter list and transfer my file.