Top Ten Time Management Tips From An Expert Time Manager
A Simple Plan for Getting Things Done: Top Ten Tips for Time Management
I have about two hundred things to do on my task list right now. I have no chance of getting all of these things done in the next few days or even next week, but they will all get done. Yet as each one gets done, one or two more tasks sprout in their place.
This is the nature of being a person with many projects bubbling - you’re going to have to figure out how to get it all done.
I’m about to explain to you my simple system for getting things done. It’s been my backbone of organization to produce many seasons of popular multi-million dollar television series liked “Inked” and “Queer Eye”, but it can easily be scaled up or down as your needs require.
I’ve alternated between keeping my task list in Entourage, Outlook, Ical, LifeBalance, a PDA, my Treo, and more dayplanners than I can remember. But I always seem to default back to handwritten lists, or occasionally a long typed list of things to do.
I’ve worked from context lists (David Allen, Getting Things Done), A-B-C-D priority lists (Alan Lakein, How To Get Control of Your Time and Your Life), time-mapping (Neil Fiore, The Now Habit and Julie Morgestern, Time Management from the Inside Out) and theme based mangement (Stephen Covey, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People).
In the end, though, I always come back to some sort of handwritten or typed master list of hundreds of things to do, with a few simple tweaks to identify what I need to do right now. I can definitely see how my time management/task management system has evolved from each of these thinkers.
From David Allen, my little list of projects to remind me to always have at least one task per project on my daily list (this, after all, is the basis of how things get done) , and the use of verb-oriented “next actions”.
From Neil Fiore and Julie Morgenstern, my use of “time maps” on days when I am feeling overwhelmed - a quick and dirty way to map out what I can really accomplish in the time available.
From Stephen Covey, reminding myself to make sure that my projects make me a well-rounded human and that I don’t get too focused in one area of my life at the expense of another.
And from Alan Lakein, the so simple it hurts idea that sometimes you just need a list of stuff to do in the order you need to do it in.
So how do I actually manage it all these days? I have a pocket Moleskine with a list of next actions that take up a half dozen or more pages, with little hand-drawn checkboxes next to the tasks. When I finish one, I check the box. Need to add one, I write it down. I also keep a list of projects and random lists of ideas and research I want to do.
Bill Westermans’ GSD3 system is pretty close to (and the inspiration for) my current system, except instead of putting little dots next to the “urgent/today” items I slide an index card under the band on the outside of the Moleskine.
One side of this card has a random list of the things I need to do that day (pulled from inside the Moleskine’s master list) and the other side serves as a place to scrawl writing ideas, things I want to look up, or project plans done on-the-fly.
TOP TEN TIPS FOR GETTING THINGS DONE
1. Have a small list of the various roles you play - father, artist, business owner, whatever.
2. Have a project list that includes at least one active project per role (but will probably have many more).
3. Consider a project as anything that requires more than one step to complete, and keep as few “next actions” as possible on your master task list - why write down two steps on an active list if you can only do one at a time?
4. If a project is particularly complicated, involved, or has lots of dependencies, write down an informal list of all the “next actions” for that project. This will be the “well” from which you draw your next actions.
5. Once you complete a task for an active project, write down the next task associated with that project on your master list. David Allen calls the project list “stakeholders” to remind you to always have some discrete physical action associated with the project.
6. Your master list of tasks is all the verb-based “next actions” that support your project plus all the other little crap that doesn’t fit into a project.
7. Keep a list of goals - things you plan on doing but aren’t committed to doing right now - and move goals onto your project list when they become active.
8. Make all of your tasks start with a verb - instead of “laundry” try “pick up laundry”.
9. If you’re overwhelmed, draw an hourly breakdown of your day and write down when you’re going to do whatever you need to do.
10. Keep a post-it, index card, or some other disposable piece of paper on the outside of your little notebook, and each morning review your projects and master list and write down the top ten or fifteen things you need to get done today.
All of this is much simpler than it sounds but does require a few weeks to form as a habit. Don’t worry if you have to tweak, start over, or make changes that make it work for you.
Keep it simple - really this is just a list of big goals, future goals, a master list of tasks that support the goals, and a prioritized daily list drawn from the master list (to keep you from being overwhelmed). Notes, project plans, and ideas can also be jotted in the notebook and indexed by creating page numbers.
Bonus tip: Read all the books I listed above, starting with “Getting Things Done”. Creating your own personal system is what will work best, and knowing the different approaches can only help.
Of course, if you’re already organized and getting everything you need done, ignore everything I’ve just said.
by Jerry Kolber
For more articles and ideas go to http://www.jerrykolber.com/ because that's where the good stuff is.
Jerry Kolber has produced over 100 episodes of television in the last three years alone, including "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy", "Inked" (A&E), "Gastineau Girls" (E!), and "The Agency" (VH1). He is a recognized expert in the fields of creativity, branding, and productivity.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jerry_Kolber
I have about two hundred things to do on my task list right now. I have no chance of getting all of these things done in the next few days or even next week, but they will all get done. Yet as each one gets done, one or two more tasks sprout in their place.
This is the nature of being a person with many projects bubbling - you’re going to have to figure out how to get it all done.
I’m about to explain to you my simple system for getting things done. It’s been my backbone of organization to produce many seasons of popular multi-million dollar television series liked “Inked” and “Queer Eye”, but it can easily be scaled up or down as your needs require.
I’ve alternated between keeping my task list in Entourage, Outlook, Ical, LifeBalance, a PDA, my Treo, and more dayplanners than I can remember. But I always seem to default back to handwritten lists, or occasionally a long typed list of things to do.
I’ve worked from context lists (David Allen, Getting Things Done), A-B-C-D priority lists (Alan Lakein, How To Get Control of Your Time and Your Life), time-mapping (Neil Fiore, The Now Habit and Julie Morgestern, Time Management from the Inside Out) and theme based mangement (Stephen Covey, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People).
In the end, though, I always come back to some sort of handwritten or typed master list of hundreds of things to do, with a few simple tweaks to identify what I need to do right now. I can definitely see how my time management/task management system has evolved from each of these thinkers.
From David Allen, my little list of projects to remind me to always have at least one task per project on my daily list (this, after all, is the basis of how things get done) , and the use of verb-oriented “next actions”.
From Neil Fiore and Julie Morgenstern, my use of “time maps” on days when I am feeling overwhelmed - a quick and dirty way to map out what I can really accomplish in the time available.
From Stephen Covey, reminding myself to make sure that my projects make me a well-rounded human and that I don’t get too focused in one area of my life at the expense of another.
And from Alan Lakein, the so simple it hurts idea that sometimes you just need a list of stuff to do in the order you need to do it in.
So how do I actually manage it all these days? I have a pocket Moleskine with a list of next actions that take up a half dozen or more pages, with little hand-drawn checkboxes next to the tasks. When I finish one, I check the box. Need to add one, I write it down. I also keep a list of projects and random lists of ideas and research I want to do.
Bill Westermans’ GSD3 system is pretty close to (and the inspiration for) my current system, except instead of putting little dots next to the “urgent/today” items I slide an index card under the band on the outside of the Moleskine.
One side of this card has a random list of the things I need to do that day (pulled from inside the Moleskine’s master list) and the other side serves as a place to scrawl writing ideas, things I want to look up, or project plans done on-the-fly.
TOP TEN TIPS FOR GETTING THINGS DONE
1. Have a small list of the various roles you play - father, artist, business owner, whatever.
2. Have a project list that includes at least one active project per role (but will probably have many more).
3. Consider a project as anything that requires more than one step to complete, and keep as few “next actions” as possible on your master task list - why write down two steps on an active list if you can only do one at a time?
4. If a project is particularly complicated, involved, or has lots of dependencies, write down an informal list of all the “next actions” for that project. This will be the “well” from which you draw your next actions.
5. Once you complete a task for an active project, write down the next task associated with that project on your master list. David Allen calls the project list “stakeholders” to remind you to always have some discrete physical action associated with the project.
6. Your master list of tasks is all the verb-based “next actions” that support your project plus all the other little crap that doesn’t fit into a project.
7. Keep a list of goals - things you plan on doing but aren’t committed to doing right now - and move goals onto your project list when they become active.
8. Make all of your tasks start with a verb - instead of “laundry” try “pick up laundry”.
9. If you’re overwhelmed, draw an hourly breakdown of your day and write down when you’re going to do whatever you need to do.
10. Keep a post-it, index card, or some other disposable piece of paper on the outside of your little notebook, and each morning review your projects and master list and write down the top ten or fifteen things you need to get done today.
All of this is much simpler than it sounds but does require a few weeks to form as a habit. Don’t worry if you have to tweak, start over, or make changes that make it work for you.
Keep it simple - really this is just a list of big goals, future goals, a master list of tasks that support the goals, and a prioritized daily list drawn from the master list (to keep you from being overwhelmed). Notes, project plans, and ideas can also be jotted in the notebook and indexed by creating page numbers.
Bonus tip: Read all the books I listed above, starting with “Getting Things Done”. Creating your own personal system is what will work best, and knowing the different approaches can only help.
Of course, if you’re already organized and getting everything you need done, ignore everything I’ve just said.
by Jerry Kolber
For more articles and ideas go to http://www.jerrykolber.com/ because that's where the good stuff is.
Jerry Kolber has produced over 100 episodes of television in the last three years alone, including "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy", "Inked" (A&E), "Gastineau Girls" (E!), and "The Agency" (VH1). He is a recognized expert in the fields of creativity, branding, and productivity.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jerry_Kolber
Labels: power habits, time management
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