Author Archives: Kate Davis

9 reasons why it is important to finish tasks

By Kate Davis | Published: January 23, 2012
Fourth rail bridge

Photograph by flickrtickr2009

I’m a big fan of “little and often” because it helps to reduce the resistance associated with big tasks and means you don’t work on one task to the exclusion of other tasks. However, I have realised recently that my task list is not getting shorter because I work on a task, cross it off and then add it on to the end of the list; if I want to reduce the length of my task list I need to actually complete some of the tasks. The oldest two outstanding tasks I can think of are a dress I was making for a wedding in 2006 and the thank you cards from when my daughter was born; she is now 3 and I’ve had a second baby!

I’ve been thinking about this over the last few weeks and compiled a list of reasons why it is important to finish tasks. In the hope that I’m not the only person with outstanding tasks I’m sharing the list to inspire you to finish tasks.

It is important to finish tasks:

  • so you don’t waste time working out where you were

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How the technology in my life has changed during the past three years (birth announcement)

By Kate Davis | Published: November 25, 2011

Two weeks ago I gave birth to my son, almost exactly three years after my daughter; arriving the day before her birthday. It was a very different experience as he arrived within 3.5 hours of the first contraction and within 17 minutes of arriving at the hospital!

So far, I’ve been surprised to notice how my use of technology has changed in those three years. In most cases the technology was previously available, but just hadn’t made it in to my life.

  • we made the initial birth announcement by group text message as opposed to email (this is partly down to having a phone I can manage to text from and being on an inclusive package)
  • showing off our son on Skype to my sister in Japan within 5 hours of him being born, last time although I was registered on Skype I only got a webcam the following Christmas
  • my smart phone enables me to keep up to date with friends, family and news through email, facebook and news apps, and I can use it one handed so it is easy to use while I’m nursing, previously I had to find a bit of time to use my computer
    Using laptop with baby on lap

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Looking forward or backwards?

By Kate Davis | Published: September 26, 2011

Why do you keep a task list? Have you really thought about why?

At work it is fairly obvious, I’m expected to accomplish certain things as part of my job; therefore I need to be aware of my tasks and ensure I complete them. But what about at home, why do I have a task list there as well?

For some of the tasks it is because something needs doing and my husband and I have decided that I’m responsible e.g.  booking the car in for a service.  However this does not explain the majority of my task list. Many of the tasks are associated with me sorting or completing tasks e.g. reading my backlog of magazines. The aim being, once they are done I will have more time to spend on my chosen activities. This is the forward looking aspect of my task list; helping me create the future I want.

However, during some recent sorting (to make room for a new baby) I discovered several old task lists. There were two notebooks I used for AutoFocus, a diary I used for Do it tomorrow, and a folder containing lots of print outs from a method I’d created using Access as a collection and prioritising tool. Many of these were from 2008.

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What do you need for hotdesking?

By Kate Davis | Published: September 11, 2011

These days hotdesking is not necessarily about moving desks within an office, it could be working between several offices, hotels or at home. It is unlikely businesses will move away from hotdesking or mobile working so it is important to make it work for your advantage. I’ve previously given tips on successful hotdesking, but thought it was worth expanding those ideas.

My first comment is to develop your own method; what works for other people may not be the most effective for you. Secondly work out what you need and thirdly assess how you can use what is provided by the company most effectively (these last two will be covered in a later post).

What do you really need?

I messy deskbelieve you need your hotdesk kit to be lightweight and simple. When you’ve had a fixed desk it is easy to accumulate things that you believe are essential.  Even if you are already hotdesking you may have collected items, for instance looking at my desk I can see I’m currently carrying a project file to my desk each day even though the project was completed several months ago, plus my pencil case should contain just ten items, but over time it has increased to about twenty.

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Learning about achievement from my daughter

By Kate Davis | Published: July 25, 2011

Many fine things can be done in a day if you don’t always make that day tomorrow

As a two year old at nursery it is not uncommon for my daughter to come home with art work in the evening. However,  recently she gave me a brilliant demonstration of the above statement.

While I was talking to the carer about how she’d been overnight and things to look out for during the day, she had sat down at the drawing table and used the stencils to produce a drawing  before I’d finished my 5 minute conversation. As I was on my way to work, it now resides inside my laptop to act as a reminder that to achieve things I have to start, and as soon as possible.

My daughter's five minute artwork

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Why I didn’t choose an Amazon Kindle

By Kate Davis | Published: July 1, 2011
There are some products that become linked to a particular brand name, in some cases the brand replaces the generic term e.g. Blu-tac,  Sellotape, Biro. This appears to be occurring in the electronics market with people wanting to buy Ipods instead of digital music player, Iphones instead of smart phone and more recently Kindles instead of ebook readers.
I don’t follow this trend and have a Creative mp3 player, HTC Android smart phone and Sony ebook reader. This is not because I’m against any specific brands or because I don’t want to own the same product as everyone else, but because I do my research to find the product that best meets my requirements and this is rarely the ‘easy purchase’. I’ve had my Sony ebook reader for six months now so I feel I am experienced enough to provide an explanation of why I didn’t buy an Amazon Kindle and what I think about the decision.

Sony ereader against hardback booksMy requirements

After starting my research into ebook readers I wrote a post in listing my requirements and asking people for their opinions. Having continued with my research I narrowed down my requirements further to:
  • available in the UK
  • have note taking functionality
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How I plan my day – update April 2011

By Kate Davis | Published: May 3, 2011

My personality means I like to learn and make improvements, this means I usually have an interest in new things (although I consider if they offer worthwhile improvements to my current methods or items before investing time or money in them). This has resulted in changes to how I plan my day since I last wrote about it in June 2007. It has actually been a gradual process for me, but compared to four years ago the differences are significant.

1. Review my notebook / daily log

Example page in my third log bookMy first task is to review my notes from the previous day. This enables me to add missing information to my notes (for instance I was interrupted and didn’t finish what I was writing), identify actions for other people as well as myself and categorise my notes. This provides a real sense of control that I am not going miss anything.

The actions are:

  • read through notes and in left hand column write a category for notes and actions (in red)
  • transfer actions for me to my task list
  • transfer actions for other people as future follow up reminders in Outlook
  • add the category and page numbers in the notebook index.
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My new favourite productivity tool – paper clip bookmarks

By Kate Davis | Published: January 31, 2011

Sometimes you stumble across an item or idea that increases your productivity. Recently for me, it was a gift I was given for Christmas that I understood would be useful, but did not appreciate how it would help my productivity until the last week.

The official name is Multi-Reference Bookmarks, but they are essentially small bookmarks that work like paper-clips, holding the edge of the page. Originally, I had two plans; bookmarks and reference points within my journals as I reread them. Multi Reference BookmarksFor some reason I put a packet in my handbag and it ended up on my desk at work. In a moment of inspiration I realised they would help me prioritise my tasks.

I currently have a long task that I work through using the rules of AutoFocus by Mark Forster. I use these arrows to highlight the three tasks I want to work on during the day, either because they are urgent or important. They are colourful so they stand out, the little cut out means not all the text is hidden and it is clear when I’m on a different page and not working on my key tasks because the edge of the arrow sticks out slightly.

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Is it time to stop writing this blog?

By Kate Davis | Published: January 21, 2011

As often happens at the start of the new year I’m thinking about my commitments and what I want to achieve during the next twelve months; one activity that has been frequently on my mind is this blog.  I’m approaching my fourth anniversary, but starting to question whether I should continue.

The statistics

There is nothing great about my posting trend; in fact if the trend continues I will be writing a negative number of posts this year. Even taking into account that several of my posts in 2007 and 2008 were copies of book reviews I’d previously written or journal extracts, there is still a definite decline which, perhaps not surprisingly,  started about the time I announced my pregnancy in 2008.

Interestingly though, the visitors to my site are starting to increase, despite this reduction in new posts. I haven’t discovered the reason for this yet, but maybe my site is improving its search engine ranking or perhaps it is all down to the interest in labelling keyboard keys (my most popular posts).

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Why do we ignore life essentials?

By Kate Davis | Published: October 15, 2010

Image by kaneda99

I have to admit that I’ve felt sluggish over the last few months and found it difficult to get going. I’ve looked at this from several different angles such as having the wrong tasks or working at the wrong times of day, but I’ve been missing the obvious; I’m lacking good quality sleep.

Adequate sleep is crucial to proper brain function – no less so than air, water, and food …Any amount of sleep deprivation will diminish mental performance The human brain

I’ve know for several years that getting more sleep would make me feel happier, but I suspect I’m now getting less than previously because I get so absorbed in the book I’m reading I forget to put it down (sometimes for hours).

After just one night without sleep, concentration becomes more difficult and attention span shortens considerably. With continued lack of sufficient sleep, the part of the brain that controls language, memory, planning and sense of time is severely affected, practically shutting down. In fact, 17 hours of sustained wakefulness leads to a decrease in performance equivalent to a blood alcohol level of 0.05% (two glasses of wine). This is the legal drink driving limit in the UK. BBC Science

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  • About

    My name is Kate Davis and I'm working towards a happier and successful life and this blog follows my journey. I work almost full time as an environmental consultant and project manager and I'm the mother to a beautiful two year daughter.

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