I use a dry erase marker and voila no more killing trees or not doing my list because I can’t print it (or want to avoid the hassle). Her most useful tip was to put my daily/weekly lists into shiny page protectors in my control journal. Many if not most of her basic ideas are just like GTD in a slightly different perspective (control journal, baby steps) and also concrete methods for accomplishing next actions (2 minute hot spots, 15 minute timers). My house is clean and so is my desk at work. Then about a month ago I discovered courtesy I believe one of your blog posts. I tried the same system at home and failed. I had work under control using checklists, projects and next actions. She helped me realize that I needed to apply GTD principles to my home life and not just work. Your mileage may vary as to how you organize your briefcase, and like me you may also have project-specific manilla file folders as well, but dividing stuff up into just four color coded folders is a huge help. Contact material or anything related to customer field support goes in the yellow folder. For example, anything that has to be done today (paperwork to be given to a client, bills to be mailed) go in the red folder. Divide material into red, yellow, blue and green plastic file folders.Best of all: it’s an organizing tool that operates itself. It brings up newer and more important things that you and others can’t resist anymore. It brings down any method or idea that isn’t timeless. Keep a to-do list that syncs with your mobile phone (so you can add stuff as and when you remember it).I could tell a stranger where to find anything in my home. I always know where everything and anything is so I never waste time looking for something. The single, simplest thing I do to stay personally organized is to put whatever tool, item, clothing, bag, hairbrush etc., away immediately after using it. And the place for things you never use is elsewhere (trash can, place that accepts donations, etc.). By finding places that are easy to get to for all the things I use most often, and places that are pretty easy to get to for the things I use less often, I spend less time dreading doing things and more time actually doing things. A (good) place for everything, and everything in its place.It is amazing how much more in control I feel just by ridding myself of now outdated articles I’d like to read “someday,” or countless meeting notes from which relevant action items have already been extracted. Organizing unnecessary items is wasted energy. It might not be the same device for every location (I have a moleskine for work, but use my mobile for inspiration on the fly) but just being able to write stuff down when you think about it is key for me.
With all of these different ways of doing things, I end up spending much more time trying to organize my to do list, or consolidate it, that I don’t get much actually done. I might put a task in Remember the Milk, another task in my palm, one in my Gcal and send another text to my phone.
I’m a lazy woman, with an even lazier attitude. While I love all of these handy web 2.0 apps, computer software, very neat gadgets like palms and really cool cell phones, they just don’t work for me. An easy and workable task list, or to do list.Everything else seems to fall into place if I do that.
Writing down and making mental note of my top 3 tasks to get done for the day. Names have been removed to protect the innocent.
I must emphasize: these are not my tips, but yours, and when you see the word “I” it refers to the reader writing the tip, not me. What follows are some of the best of the tips (tools will be in another post), edited for brevity and consistency. And you responded in force, with some great stuff. I consider myself fairly organized, for example, but there are times when I get a little lax about my organizational rules, and there’s always room for improvement.Īnd if you’re already organized (read: you’re an organizational freak), chances are, you like to read about others’ organizational systems.Īs such, there should be something for everyone on this list.Ī couple of weeks ago, I asked all of you for your best organizational tips and tools. It’s a rare person among us who doesn’t feel the need to get more organized.