Posts tagged life management

I’ve really dropped the ball during the last few weeks, and I’ve decided to just let things slide until the new year. With the calendar turning over, I aim to start again with a fresh slate, to fill to the brim with ideas, tasks, and all sorts of other wonderful things that will keep me busy (but hopefully not overly stressed).

Chris 2012 begins with a DayRunner two-page-per-day planner. I unfortunately bought the slim binder for the planner, so I’m only able to hold two or three months at a time (the latter quite uncomfortably), but I’ll take that over a one-page-per-day planner, as I really need that entire second page for journalling moods, tasks, and activities.

The second step is a new phone and hopefully IQTELL’s new GTD service. I plan to get a WP7 handset before the end of January (preferably, as early as Saturday). I had hoped that Telus would have had the new Mango era handsets out by now, but it seems all I can do is pick up the old LG Optimus 7. Hopefully by the end of the year, the new sets will be out, and I’ll have the money to buy one outright.

As for why “hopefully” for IQTELL? While mobile apps for Android and iPhone are in the pipe for them, so far there’s no word of a Windows Phone app. Perhaps if they paid me, I could help them with that, but it seems they’re more likely to do one in-house or not at all.

The third, and probably most important step, is maintaining a positive outlook on everything, and maintaining focus on the here and now at all times. A lot of the problems I have with my projects is that the stress from other things in my life bleed over and prevent me from concentrating and putting all my energy towards what I want to work on. This of course leads to more stress, bleeding over even more into everything else… A vicious downhill cycle. In 2012, I need to redouble my efforts to manage my workload, my stress, and my attitude. Without that, the rest means nothing.

I hope that in the coming year, I will be a far more happy, effective, and organized person. Wish me luck!

Since August, I’ve been keeping track of my tasks, accomplishments, and moods. This plays an important part in my life management system, because it helps me avoid procrastinating (for the most part) as well as determine what might trigger mood problems for me. Every evening, I do a daily review where I see what I’ve accomplished, how I’ve felt throughout the day, and what improvements I can make for the next day.

I keep track of all of this in a nice little notebook I got at Dollarama (if there’s one near you, check the stationary aisle for item code 05-3010719). However, I’ve also created a PDF version of the tracking form for anyone who might also find it useful. You can download it from Dropbox.

On the left, I keep a list of tasks I need to accomplish throughout the day. As they’re completed, I check them off. Anything I do that isn’t already on the list gets added and checked as well. And if something becomes no longer relevant, I simply strike it out.

On the right, I note down what has happened to me or that I have done (other than tasks). I also put down a number from 1 to 5 based on how I felt at the time. I’m thinking of also tracking the actual time that these events occur, but right now, I don’t keep that information.

Every night, before I go to bed, I review these lists and judge how I felt overall through the day on the same 1 to 5 scale at the top of the sheet. Then I set up a sheet for the next day, including copying any incomplete tasks. Sometimes, if I know a particular incomplete task can’t be completed the next day, I’ll set up a sheet for another future day. Right now, my notebook has the template laid out for two weeks in advance, with tasks listed as far off as the start of October.

If you need a bit of help tracking on paper what you need to do, or want to follow your emotional progress through the day, you might find this helpful. I’ve certainly found it useful to keep a grip on my own life. Let me know how useful this is to you, or if you have any suggestions!

Going through the process of GTDifying my life, I read David Allen’s “Making It All Work” recently. While I picked up a lot of important lessons from that book, something that particularly struck me was the chapters on perspective. As part of my reading, I tried stating some of the perspective chapters as questions to myself. While the questions aren’t big ones, their intent sure is, and the answers should be deep.

I’ll be spending the weekend trying to figure out the answers to these questions, and use them to help kickstart the GTD process for myself:

1. What do I need to do now? (Runway; next actions)
2. What am I working on in the short term? (10k feet; projects)
3. What am I responsible for? (20k feet; areas of focus and responsibilities)
4. Where do I see myself in a year? (30k feet; goals and objectives)
5. Where do I see myself in five years? (40k feet; vision)
6. What do I stand for? What is my purpose? (50k feet; purpose and principles)

This is ridiculously compressed compared to the actual content of the book, but it may serve as a good starting point for me or anyone else who has been on the fence about GTD or just hasn’t been able to maintain it. Perhaps you might want to ask these questions of yourself even if you’re not into GTD yourself.