Even if you feel like you’ll never get anything completed, there are a few simple things you can do to get yourself started.

1. Know what needs to be done

You can’t really start managing your time until you know exactly what you need to be getting done. Setting goals is a great way of deciding where you want to go, but you still need to break it down into smaller chunks that you can actually do.

If you’ve set yourself a goal, grab some paper, write your goal in the middle and then list all of the tasks you’ll need to do before it’s completed. You don’t have to think of everything, but it will give you a much firmer plan to work with. Once you’ve listed your ideas, write them down in the order you want to complete them. Some might be more urgent than others, or might yield the greatest return. For example, doing a bit of research at the start might reveal some sticking points that you can avoid (and save time).

Finally, estimate how long you think each task will take. It’s always best to over-estimate these, as there are usually unexpected complications. I find it helpful to write down how long things actually took once they’re done so I can estimate better in the future.

2. Monitor your time

I’ve written about using time logs before, and they’re a really easy way of getting a grip on where your time goes. If you use a computer a lot, you’ve probably had days where you’ve been "just checking" your email but ended up wasting lots of time. Once you see just how much time you’ve spent on surfing the web, it can be quite sobering.

All you need to do to get started is grab a sheet of paper and note down when you start each task and when you finish it. Remember, you’re not just noting down work tasks but everything. Getting up to make tea/coffee, answering the phone and "checking emails" all count. It might sound trivial, but it’s these trivial tasks that can take up your time.

After a week or two, you’ll have a firm idea of what’s taking up your time and you can start doing something about it. Sometimes just the act of keeping a time log will make you more effective, as it makes you resist the urge to procrastinate as you know it’ll be noted down!

3. You can’t do everything

Nobody dies with an empty to-do list. There will always, always be some things you won’t be able to do. Whether it’s a simple project or going into space, it’s a fact that you will have to sacrifice some things in order to do others.

It can be difficult to turn projects down, so to ease yourself into it keep a separate list of projects on the back burner. Once the initial excitement has worn off, the project might not seem like such a good idea after all.

Another way of giving yourself some extra time is delegating your work to someone else. You can either give it to a friend or relative, or hire someone from an outside agency to help. This isn’t just a strategy for big jobs either. Even something simple like mowing the lawn can be outsourced. There are always people looking for a little extra cash, so keep an eye out for them and reward them for their work.

Good time management doesn’t happen overnight

Creating the habits of good time management takes time and effort. No amount of tips and tweaks can suddenly make you super-efficient (I wish they could!), but if you take things one step at a time you can build upon your successes. Over time you’ll become more experienced at recognising time sappers, and you’ll have developed the strategies for dealing with them.

The truth of the matter is that organised people enjoy just as much fun as everyone else. More importantly, they experience less stress and and more efficient simply by sticking to a few habits. Whilst most people would agree that it’s beneficial to be more organised, it can sometimes be difficult to get started.

Why should you get organised?

Being organised isn’t about obsessing over small details, but about being effective and efficient. There are plenty of benefits to be gained from creating a consistent system:

• Reduces Stress — You won’t get stressed looking for things, such as reports or documents. You’ll also be less likely to forget important tasks and have to deal with the consequences.
• Saves time — Similar to the above. You won’t waste time worrying about things, because they will already be done. You also won’t waste time repeating the same task you’ve done before and either forgotten or mislaid the results.
• Increases personal effectiveness — You won’t repeat tasks, mislay important jobs or items. There’s also the benefit of prioritising your work so important things get done, and you’ll have a complete list of tasks and projects so you’ll alsways know where you stand on important jobs.
• Improves your self esteem — As strange as it sounds, being organised increases your self esteem. We often feel better the more in control of our lives we are. When things are going wrong, items are getting lost and we feel lost in our work environment it can seem like we’re just being dragged along. By getting organised you take control of your life, which improves self-esteem.
• Improves your relationships — This is another “side effect” of being organised. Having a system in place makes you more reliable, and reliable people are often seen as more trustworthy. Plus keeping things somewhere safe means you’re less likely to forget birthdays and anniversaries – although if you do forget them you won’t have an excuse

There are plenty more advantages, but they’ll appear in different areas of your life in subtle ways. You’ll probably find that the quality of your life is improved in many areas, which is perhaps the biggest advantage of all.

The Anatomy of Organisation

You can split your system into three distinct areas:

• Physical layout — This concerns all the “stuff” that you use. Things like lists, folders and stationary. Each of these items should have its own place to be stored, which saves you from looking for them when they’re required. It also keeps work surfaces free of clutter, which can aid concentration.
• A processing system — The system used is down to personal preference, but you should have a consistent approach to dealing with everything that comes into your life. This includes creating a place to put all of your inputs, as well as how they are recorded so they won’t be forgotten.
• Habits — A set of good habits will ensure your system runs smoothly. Examples of good habits to learn include handling each piece of paper once, and regularly reviewing goals and task lists. It takes time to build up these habits, but they will make a huge difference to your personal effectiveness.

It’s important to note that the entire system is only as strong as the weakest link. For example, if you have good habits but a poor physical layout, you’ll struggle with finding things which can lead to frustration. Similarly, if you have a good system and methodology but you’re not in the habit of using it, you won’t gain the full benefit.

Creating a Simple System

There are dozens of different systems out there, and they all have their own strengths and weaknesses. I’ve found that it’s best to start with a barebones system, which can be modified once you’ve got into the habit of using it. A very simple system would consist of the following elements:

• An inbox — This is a central place where all of your incoming stuff is put, so it can be processed at a later date. The important thing is to make sure nothing is getting left out of the processing stage. You can think of it as a funnel that makes sure everything is going into your organising “machine”.

• To-do lists — These lists can either be contextual or project based, whichever fits you best. If you’re using contextual lists, you’ll need several such as “@Desk”, “@Computer” and “@Internet”. I put “Computer” and “Internet” into two different lists as I usually disconnect my modem when I’m working so I don’t get distracted.

  Even if you decide to use entirely project based lists, it’s still useful to have a list of phone calls that need to be made, emails that need to be written and people to follow up with.

• A calendar — If a task has to be carried out on or by a certain date, you’ll want to put a reminder of this on your calendar. You should resist the temptation to organize your days using a calendar, as it dilutes the effectiveness of it.
• A list of all ongoing projects — This is a central list that lets you keep track on all of your current projects. It’s not meant to be detailed, and all project material and task lists should have their own folder(s). The main purpose is to give you something to review to make sure nothing gets forgotten.

• A filing system — Unless you’re an extreme minimalist, you’ll need a central place to store project and reference materials. Every project should have its own folder, even if it will only contain a single piece of paper. When organising these folders, simplicity is the key. Storing them alphabetically is much easier than arranging them by importance or any other criteria.

  Most of my projects have their own folder, but in some cases they will be split up. For example, I have two folders for this website: one to store general information such as design ideas, and one to store draft blog articles.

  If you think storing a single piece of paper in a folder is wasteful, you can place a piece of tape on the folder before putting a label over it. This makes it easy to peel the label off so you can reuse the folder.

• A someday/maybe list — This isn’t really essential, but if you get a lot of crazy ideas about new projects it’s a good place to keep note of them. During your reviews you can see if any of the ideas are worth pursuing, or if they’re worth giving to someone else.

The main purpose of having all these things in place is that it gives your brain a break. You’re effectively delegating the responsibility of remembering things to paper, which gives you chance to concentrate on more important things.

Additional Items

Once you’ve got your basic system up and running for a few weeks, you may want to add more to it. A little experimentation can go a long way, so don’t be afraid to mess around with different things. Here’s a few ideas to get you started:

• Goals, affirmations and purpose — Having clearly written goals is one of the biggest steps you can take to being a more effective person. By setting goals, you give yourself an idea of where you want to be in life. More importantly, you can use your goals to assess which tasks will take you closer and which will waste your time. It can be tough to get started with goal setting, but the benefits far outweigh the initial difficulty.
• Today’s tasks — This is a list of all the tasks that you want to complete in a single day. There are plenty of different ways to do this too. It can be a simple list of tasks, a prioritised list, or a “top 3″ task list. Take some time the night before to write your list, and think carefully about how much you put on it. There’s only so much you can do in a day, and having tasks left undone at the end of the day can have an adverse effect on morale.
• Today’s stuff — This is another tray, but it contains all the reference material for the current task. It’s useful for keeping everything in one place so it doesn’t take over your entire desk.
• A schedule — This can either compliment the “today’s tasks” list or replace it completely. Start by breaking your working day into chunks of at least 30 minutes and then fill it up with what you want to get done. The article “How to create an effective schedule” covers this subject in more detail.
• Individual lists and schedules — Large projects will need their own task lists, and may also require their own schedules. It can also be useful to keep schedules for recurring tasks, such as blog posting or weekly reviews.
• A progress tracker — If you often end the day feeling like you’ve wasted your time, you may benefit from using a progress tracker. It doesn’t have to be complex, and a simple system may just involve writing down what you’ve done during the day and what went right and wrong. A slightly more thorough version involves giving yourself “points” for completing tasks, and ticking boxes when performing activities in different areas of your life. I wrote about my experiences with progress trackers in “keeping a progress log“.

• A journal or diary — Journals can have several uses. The most common way is as a book to write down personal thoughts and feelings, as well as detailing personal problems. Sometimes the act of writing down a problem can give you many ideas about how to solve it.

  Another use is to keep track of what changes have been made in your life and why. This information can be used to see if they had a positive or negative impact on your life, and writing down why you did them can stop you from repeating the same mistakes.

• “To Read” pile — Yet another tray, this time containing material you wish to read. This could be printed articles from a blog (such as this one ), magazines or newsletters. By giving these items their own place you have somewhere to refer to should you get any “dead time”. It’s also a great place to go if you’re going to be taking a bus or train and what to get something done.

There are hundreds of tweaks and changes you can make, and not all of them work for everyone. Very few systems will ever remain the same for very long, and it’s beneficial to try many different things over time to see what improvements can be made.

PC vs Paper

PDAs and Pocket PCs have become more affordable in recent years, but will they replace pen and paper? Like most things, it’s really down to personal preference.

Most modern handhelds are powerful enough to run just about any task. They can also be synchronised with your main PC to keep things stored in a central location. They’re also much quicker when it comes to searching and sorting, and you won’t get leaky ink in your pockets. However, paper is far more versatile in most areas. You can quickly scribble down notes, stick it in your back pocket without breaking it and the battery will never go flat.

I’ve used both systems, and both had their strengths and weaknesses. I initially struggled to get a pen and paper system working, and buying a Pocket PC made a huge difference to my overall productivity. Perhaps it was the excitement of getting to use a shiny new toy to keep myself organised, or perhaps the fact I’d spent a lot of money on it. Either way, it had the desired effect and was one of the best purchases I made.

The main problem I had is that electronics can be very distracting. I often spent too much time trying to tweak the system to perfection instead of just using it to get things done. There was also the distraction of trying out all the new features and getting it to run games. I still use an electronic system, but I prefer to have paper copies of calendars and task lists handy.

Keeping it all working

Once your system is set up, you’ll need to keep it maintained so it doesn’t grind to a complete stop. This is done by developing habits that will keep your system running:

• Discipline with the inbox — This is quite difficult to begin with, but it’s vitally important that you don’t use your inbox as a storage folder. If you find yourself leafing through it looking for papers, then it’s not being used properly. Everything that goes IN should only be touched once before being stored, completed or binned. This is really just a habit of repetition, but ingraining it will save you hours of time.
• Carry a capturing device — Ideas will come to you whenever they feel like it. Our brain is a wonderful organ, in that it’ll come up with some splendid idea at 2am but will steadfastly refuse to remember it in the morning. Get in the habit of carrying something around that you can use to record these ideas. Make sure it’s small enough to comfortably fit in a pocket or bag, otherwise you’ll resist taking it around with you which really defeats the purpose. One more tip: keep it by your bed!
• Constantly Review Your Items — Constantly look over everything on your goals and to-do lists to make sure you’re going in the right direction and that nothing has changed. The more often you review, the quicker you can adapt to changes in circumstances. Check everything is moving forward, and review your “crazy ideas” list every few weeks to see if it any ideas have become more relevant.
• Keep your work areas clean — As soon as you’ve finished with something, put it away. This simple habit alone can help keep your workspaces clean from debris and other clutter which will distract you.

So there we have it. Organising yourself can be a daunting task, but breaking it into small chunks and slowly developing the habits necessary will help you to create a system that improves just about every area of your life. All of this might seem excessive, but just one day of being organised will let you know it’s all worth it.

There’s nothing quite as de-motivating as feeling you’ve wasted a day doing nothing. It’s easy to get frustrated, and even if you have had a productive day, the habit of beating yourself up can still keep your mood down and hold you back. Unless you keep track of what you’re doing with your time, your account at the end of the day will mainly be based upon how you feel at the time. The solution to this problem is the trusty time log.

What is a time log?

A time-log is a simple tool that lets you keep track how you’re spending your time. This is very helpful when trying to optimise your time, and it also helps to make sure you don’t concentrate on the negative aspects of your day. After a few days and weeks of using a time log, you can then build up an accurate picture of how productive you’re being, as well as when your most productive hours are. For example, you might find you’re much more productive during the first few hours of the day, or directly after you’ve exercised. Using this information you can optimise your daily performance by scheduling tasks for your most productive hours.

How do you keep a time log?

I use a very simple 3-column format for my time logs. The left column is used to note the start time, the large column contains the activity and the small column on the right is used at the end of the day to calculate the length of the session. Although the example picture is from a spreadsheet, I prefer to use a purely paper driven system for ease of use and portability.

Your own personal circumstances will determine when you start keeping track of your time. If you’re self-employed, you might want to start it as soon as you wake yup. If you’re in an office environment, it might be more beneficial to start as soon as you leave your front door. If there’s a particular part of your daily routine that you feel is causing trouble, make sure you capture it on your log for later analysis.

Once you’ve started, every single activity needs to be noted down. This includes tea and coffee breaks, toilet stops and the ubiquitous "just 10 seconds to check my email" task. Most of these are trivial activities, but it’s quite enlightening to see just how long they take when added up. To give an example, the very first time I used this technique I found I was wasting over three hours on "checking email/web surfing".

At the end of the monitored time period, work out how much time was spent on each task by using the recorded information. After a week or two of using this technique, you’ll have a good idea of areas where you need to improve. It’s also not unusual to see a direct improvement within the first few days as a result of tracking your time. Often knowing that your time is being monitored is enough to keep you on-track for a little bit longer and can help you push through to a task’s completion.

Isn’t this all a little excessive?

Keeping a time log is a very small price to pay compared to the improvements that can be gained. If you’re wasting a lot of time during the day, it’s not uncommon to double your productivity within a week or two. And remember, you can stop keeping a record once you’ve made the improvements you wanted. If ever you feel your productivity has slipped, you can start recording again.

Here are 25 small tweaks you can use to increase your overall productivity.

1. Start as you mean to go on

2. Use positive affirmations

3. Set goals

4. Brainstorm

5. Eliminate distractions

6. Keep a journal or progress log

7. Use contextual to-do lists

8. Use a someday / maybe list

9. Take a mind dump

10. Monitor your time

11. Use a focussing partner

12. Prepare your workspace before you start

13. Take a nap

14. Take a break

15. Get yourself organised

16. Eat properly & keep your fluids up

17. Get some exercise

18. Use the four D’s

19. Learn to say "No" again

20. Work at a higher tempo

21. Limit your time

22. Start small

23. Revisit previous victories

24. Break down your big tasks

25. Experiment with different productivity techniques

The worst part about these tasks is that they suck away your energy and distract you from your major goals. Completing a task and ticking it off helps to fend off procrastination, so seeing your next action list swell with hordes of undead tasks is not helpful because it can cause you to ignore the list altogether.

How do we put these zombie tasks to bed?

Why do we get Zombie tasks?

The easiest way to make sure a task keeps coming back is to define it incorrectly. There are a few mistakes that seem to keep cropping up, and it’s important to keep them in mind when creating your next action lists.

Mistaking a to-do item with a someday/maybe — I love the “someday/maybe” list from the GTD system. If you do any kind of creative work, you’ll always end up with creating ideas you don’t have the time or energy to implement at your current point. Keeping a someday/maybe list helps you keep track of these ideas so they don’t disappear into the ether.

If you see a task on your to-do list that you aren’t going to work on for a while, it might be best to move it to your “someday/maybe” list instead. As long as you’re reviewing this list in your weekly review, it won’t get forgotten and you’ll be able to divert your energy to other tasks.

Mistaking a to-do item for a project — This is an easy mistake to make, especially if you’re not clear on exactly what a project is. A project is anything that requires more than one next-action to complete, and a next action is a physical action that will move a project closer to completion. It can take time to fully appreciate the difference between the two, but once you’ve mastered the technique you’ll find your to-do lists are much more helpful.

Not giving a task finite limits – A next action should have a beginning and an end, and should ideally involve a single activity. The reason for this is that you want to start it, work on it and then KNOW that it’s finished. If you can’t work on it for a session and know that it’s finished, it’s probably a project.

Missing previous steps — This is another problem I’ve run into quite often. I’ll see a task, but remember that something else has to be done before I can do it. It’s a good idea to enter this new task into your system, and move the old one to the project task list.

I like to plan ahead, and one of the things I don’t like about the GTD system is the lack of next action grouping. Keeping a separate task list for each project helps a little, but if you have a lot of projects it can get quite unwieldy.

Preventing Your Tasks From Becoming Zombies

Now that we know what not to do, let’s take a quick look at the qualities that make a good next action.

Something that can be done in one sitting — This isn’t an essential requirement, but I’ve found that it helps to list tasks as something that can be done in a single session. If it will take a lot longer, then it’s possible that it’s actually a project so I’ll try to break it down further.

It’s a physical action — The next action list should only list actions that need to be performed. If you’re looking over a list and having to process items as you go, then they need to be re-worded.

Finite Limits — There are set conditions for the task completing. Instead of “Brainstorm article ideas”, use “Brainstorm 25 article ideas”. This way you know when you’ve done enough. It sounds simple, but it’s an easy detail to leave out.

Cleaning Up The Stragglers 

The easiest way to get rid of the lingering tasks is to re-process them during your weekly review. I’ve found that I get a lot more zombies if I’ve been lax with my weekly reviews. It can be a difficult habit to get into, but it really is the most essential component of an effective GTD system.

Some time ago I looked at how David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” system was working for me, and pondered over some of the improvements that could be made. One of the improvements I thought about was the use of a schedule, so I’ve been experimenting with them over the past few weeks.

The overall results have been very positive, and although there’s still a lot of improvements that can be made, I’m confident that it’s worth the effort.

Why Bother With One?

• Structure — A schedule gives you a sense of structure for your day, which can help you organise your time and resources.
• Helps you focus – You’ll constantly be looking at your goals and projects in order to put together your schedule, which helps prevent them from being overlooked or forgotten.
• Highlights your limits — This might seem like a strange thing to mention, but being able to see your limits is very helpful when you’re planning your working week. We’d all like to be able to do more in less time, but seeing how long tasks actually take can stop you from overloading yourself and burning out.

Creating a Simple Schedule

Here are a few recommendations to help you when you’re creating your schedule:

• Create it the night before — Creating your schedule the night before gives your subconscious time to process everything on it whilst you sleep. It also means you’re able to get on with your work as soon as your day starts, instead of having to figure out what needs doing first.
• Use large blocks — Don’t divide the day into chunks that are too small. Hourly blocks are generally large enough, but it can take time to get into the flow state required by some tasks so you may need 90 minute or 2 hour blocks.
• Group similar tasks — If you have a lot of small, similar tasks, it’s best to stick them all in a half hour group and just dash through them. Clearing up all of these small tasks will give you a sense of satisfaction and leave you feeling energised.
• Schedule your rest and relaxation — Working for long periods without a break will eventually take its toll, so schedule some time to get up and have a walk around. If you’re an early rise, you may also want to schedule a 30 minute nap around lunch time. This can give a much needed boost of energy, and will stop you flagging later in the day.
• Keep it flexible — It’s very difficult to predict how long each task will take, so make sure your schedule is flexible and can cope with a reasonable amount of unexpected delays. One important point: don’t fall into the trap of using your relaxation time as a “buffer” zone. Relaxation time should not be seen as something that is a luxury, and should be treated as important as any other activity.
• Know your limits — We’d all like to be able to get more done, but it’s important not to overestimate how much you can physically do. If you don’t give large tasks enough time, you risk creating a backlog as the day goes on which will bog down your mind and demotivate you.

You may need a few days to get into the groove of using a schedule, but the more often you do it the more proficient you will become.

Optional Extras

As you’ll notice from the rather colourful photo, I colour coded the tasks on my schedule. I tried two main methods of colour coding during the trial. 

The first method I tried was to colour code by category. This seemed like a logical idea at first, as I could see which projects were getting the most attention and which were being neglected. I soon realised that I would run out of colours if I used a different colour for each project! I modified the system slightly to use colours for more general categories, such as “computer projects”, “business projects” and “personal projects”.

After a few weeks of this system, I switched to colour coding by priority. I used the Covey Quadrant style categorisation for this method. If you’re not familiar with Covey’s four categories, they are:

1. Urgent and Important Tasks — Firefighting, pressing problems and deadline driven tasks fit here.
2. Important and Not Urgent — Tasks that need to be done, but aren’t particularly urgent. This is the area your should spend most of your time on.
3. Not Important and Urgent — Things like some phone calls and meetings.
4. Not Important and Not Urgent — You should look carefully to see if these activities are worth doing at all.

So far this method has worked the best, as it forces me to look at the bigger picture and to be more careful about where I spend my time. It might seem like a clash between the relatively priority free GTD system and the rigid quadrant based thinking, but really helps to keep a tight focus on what is important and what isn’t.

Future Improvements

Although using the quadrant method of sorting tasks worked well, I think there is room for improvement. I tent to think that most tasks are important or they wouldn’t be scheduled, so it’s pointless to classify everything as a quadrant two task. One method I’d like to try out is Steve Pavlina’s 50-30-20 rule (the Pavlina Pyramid?) for sorting tasks. These segments are:

1. A Tasks — These are tasks that will yield significant benefits over a 5 year timespan (and beyond).
2. B Tasks — Tasks that will bring benefits over the next 2 years or less.
3. C Tasks –These will only bring improvements in the short term, and probably won’t be remembered further down the line. However, ignoring them could cause problems at a later date.

You’ll notice his system of prioritising is much more focused on long term goals and benefits, which can often be left behind in the rush to get something complete.

I started using GTD in my final semester of university, and I’m quite sure it’s the reason I managed to stay (relatively) sane in those final few months. As much as I hate to admit it, I was incredibly unorganised in my first few years, so any kind of system would have made a big difference. I’d heard a few developers talking about GTD on some game development forums, so thought I’d give it a whirl. Whilst I didn’t achieve a “mind like water”, I did manage to reign in all my tasks into one place. Considering the position I was in before (“mind like whirlpool”), I was quite pleased.

The bits that work

The Two Minute Rule

Like Dave, I find the two minute rule to be incredibly useful. I would often look at even the smallest of tasks and decide “I’ll do it tomorrow”. Not a good habit. There’s only so many times you can put a task off until it becomes urgent, and getting into the “I’ll do it tomorrow” habit is a sure-fire way of getting yourself into trouble.

Taking up the two minute rule helped me to break this habit, and made me far more productive. Anyone who suffers from procrastination will know that once you’re started, nearly all resistance vanishes. Thrashing through a list of two minute tasks often left me with more energy to pursue the bigger tasks.

The Someday/Maybe List

This was another simple change that I’ve employed. I have a lot of ideas, and I usually think of new ones when I’m supposed to be doing something else. It surprised me that I’d never thought of keeping track of all these ideas in a single place. The “Someday/Maybe” list is a place for me to make a note of all these fantastical ideas, and writing them down means I won’t be distracted by them whilst I’m working.

Having an “In” Tray

University generated a lot of actionable items, such as coursework, research subjects and a small forest’s worth of lecture notes. Before I had an in-tray, they used to just sit in my bag and wait for something to happen. As you can probably imagine, this was note the most effective system in the world.

Contextual “To-Do” Lists

My time was generally split between four places – university, home, walking through town and sitting on the bus. Dividing tasks into contexts instead of subjects eliminated a lot of mental sorting when in different locations. For example, if I needed to buy something, I would put it on the “@Town” list, which I’d check when in a position to do some shopping.

I also had an “@Bus” list, as the journey lasted around an hour, so it was a good place to revise my notes from the day and plough through a list of small tasks.

The bits that don’t work so well

Projects

I like the idea of the “next action”, but I like to plan further ahead than a single action. Writing software can be a very daunting task, and there’s often a whole heap of things that need to get done. Next actions are often very small, and it doesn’t seem like the best way of managing a large scale project.

Perhaps keeping track of all this is beyond the scope of my current GTD system, but I know other developers have used it to perhaps some tweaking is in order.

Keeping It All in One Place

I regularly switch between the computer and my desk, so finding a way of storing these tasks and projects has become quite a challenge. I’m still a fan of using paper, but it’s much easier to modify tasks that are being managed on the computer. Sometimes I find myself writing the same thing on paper and on the computer, which is very frustrating.

No Scheduling

Whilst to-do lists do the work of deciding what needs doing, they don’t help with when it needs doing. The calendar can remind you of deadlines, but there seems to be a gap between the action and the deadline. In a way, this is connected to my problem with GTD’s management of projects and my own tendency to plan things out quite thoroughly.

How do I fix these things?

Over the next few weeks I want to modify my entire system to iron out these problems. My current plan is to keep a project plan at the front of each project’s folder, and to schedule my day into hourly “blocks” where I can work through the project’s list of tasks. Project milestones will get added to the calendar, and I’ll trial a completely paper-based system.

Has anyone else encountered these problems with their own systems (either GTD or something different)? If so, how did you remedy them?

In the last thrilling instalment, I briefly covered my progress log, a book which I use to keep track of how close I am to achieving my major goals, as well as my overall level of productivity.

In this entry I’ll be describing:

1. How I create my 90 day goals.
2. The points tracking system I use
3. The “b-Alert” system

Creating my 90 day goals

As mentioned in my last entry, I have a total of 21 goals to achieve in 90 days, divided equally into seven categories. I got this idea from “The Power of Focus”, and I’ve found it helpful for making sure I have balance in my goals. I use the following categories:

• Financial – This covers how much money I want to earn and how much I want to save.
• Business – This concentrates on what I want to achieve with my business, and where I want it to be once the 90 days are up. If you don’t run your own business, this area would cover work instead, and may include goals for promotions, raises or important tasks you want to achieve.
• Fun – Sometimes it’s easy to forget the fun side of life, so I use this section to note any fun things I want to do, as well as how many days I want to take off work.
• Health – This makes sure I’m thinking about my exercise and diet plans.
• Relationships – This includes family and friends, as well as work relationships. It’s important to nurture your most important relationships, and to make time for the people in your life that matter.
• Contribution – I like to do my bit for others. My contribution goals tend to focus on my work with the Scout Association, as well as helping people on software development forums and producing material for when the rest of this website goes live.
• Personal – The last section contains any goals that don’t quite fit anywhere else.

I use mind-mapping to create goals for each area, and then decide on the time span for each goal. I may wish to achieve some in less than 90 days, and others may be longer term goals. It’s important to note that I usually have more than 21 goals at this point, so I pick the three most important goals from each category, and these become my 90 day goals. I keep a note of the other goals, and these will usually become integrated into my weekly goal setting session.

Tracking my progress

I use a modified version of “The Printable CEO” for my daily tracking, and although it doesn’t look as good as the original, it gets the job done. I keep the list of activities that are worth points on a seperate piece of card, which also acts as a bookmark. The list itself is modified from the original, and it now reflects my interests and line of work.

Even though I’ve only been using this part of my system for a few weeks, I’ve already spotted a few patterns. It’s a great way to identify which areas need improving, and also which days are least productive. So far Monday is my worst day, and Thursday my best. Curious.

The “b-Alert” system

I read about the “b-Alert” system in the book “The Power of Focus”, and I really liked it. It’s not particulary complex, and it only takes a few seconds to update it at the end of the day. The idea is to make sure you have balance in your daily activities (much like creating balance in your goals).

“b-Alert” stands for:

• Blueprint – This might consist of a few “to-do” items, or it might be something more complex. Either way, it’s good to have an idea of what you want to achieve during the day.
• Action – Action is the most important activity, hence the bold letter. Not action = no results.
• Learning – A daily dose of learning helps you increase your own knowledge, and stimulates your mind. You don’t need to devote hours of study in the library, and what you learn doesn’t have to be profound. Don’t limit yourself to a single source either. Books, journals, and magazinesare all good sources, but what about blogs, podcasts, audio tapes and even interviews?
• Exercise – It only takes thirty minutes a day. I always exercise for 20 minutes every morning, and although some days I really don’t want to, it’s made such an improvement to how I feel that I really wouldn’t want to give it up. As with learning, vary your sources of exercise. It doesn’t have to be a fourty minute session in the gym thrashing your biceps, it can be a nice walk or a bicycle ride.
• Relaxing – If you’ve worked hard, you deserve time to relax. Spend time with your loved ones, admire nature or have a nap! The break will do you good, and leave you feeling recharged and ready to face whatever challenges life decides to throw at you. Remember – you deserve the break, so don’t feel guilty for not working. If you work for yourself, this can sometimes be hard to do but it’s important that you don’t let yourself get burnt out.
• Thinking – A little reflection can go a long way. This is what I use the “What went right/wrong” sections in my progress book for.

My book has a grid for tracking this, and once I’ve worked on a particular section I circle the letter. At the end of the week it’s quite easy to see which areas aren’t getting the attention they need. You don’t need to work through the letters in order, you simply use them as a guide for planning your day.

I’ve been keeping a progress log since the end of August, and although it’s still far from perfect, it’s been a great help on my self improvement odyssey. Recently I’ve modified it slightly to use a version of “The Printable CEO”, and although I’ve not been using it for very long, I do feel like it’s made an improvement.

Even though I use computers most of the time, I prefer to keep my log on paper as it means I can review it when I’m not in my office. I also think it gives it some character, although that’s entirely down to personal preference. I also do everything by hand – no printing here. Perhaps “The Drawable CEO” would be a good name for it.

The basics

Using both sides of a single page for each week, I keep track of the following:

• Weekly goals
• My points monitor
• My “b-Alert” tracker
• What went right
• What went wrong

I added a transparent pocket to the inside of the book, which I keep my 90 day goals in. I have 21 goals, divided into seven sections. In part two I’ll explain these sections in more detail.

Each page starts with the date, and then the top three goals I wish to achieve for the week. I put checkboxes in front of each goal so I can tick them off when they’re complete. The original system had me setting three goals for each day, but I felt this crowded the page a little too much and also distracted me if I had goals from the previous day that I hadn’t completed.

Underneath this is my points tracker, and then underneath that is my “b-Alert” tracker. I took the b-Alert system from “The Power of Focus” (reviewed here). I also use the goal setting tips from the same book to make sure I’m covering the important aspects of my life. This will be covered in more detail in part two.

The back of the page is divided into two sections. The top two-thirds is “What went right”, where I note anything important that was achieved. Reading over this gives me a boost, and helps remind me of what I’ve achieved during the week.

The remaining third is “What went wrong”, which allows some analysis of where the week could have been improved. I deliberately kept it to a third to prevent myself from being overly critical, and also to focus myself on the major issues.

Where possible I use bullet points, as it makes it easier to scan for a quick overview. It’s useful to look over this during my weekly review, as it helps me find areas for improvement.

In part two, I’ll cover the trackers in detail, and also explain how I ensure I have balance in my goals.