Category Archives: organisation

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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14 things that delay me leaving work

By Kate Davis | Published: June 10, 2010

I  hotdesk. Every morning I start with a desk and monitor, and at the end of the day I pack everything away. This means it’s easy to keep a clear desk as there is no time for items to build up; or does it?

I used to work with someone who kept a perfect clear desk. Although he worked on several projects his desk usually contained his notebook, pen and mug. I loved the space,  but by the end of the day mine usually contains significantly more. To help identify my problem, I kept a record, over four weeks, of what was on my desk at the end of the day.

items on my desk at end of the day

In total, there were 35 different items on my list, with the 14 most frequent offenders being shown in the graph above.  Some of the other items were:

  • keys
  • web cam
  • bottle of ink
  • coins
  • exhibitor badge.

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Review of my daily log

By Kate Davis | Published: March 3, 2010

Over a year ago I asked for advice on how to keep a daily log and I used a lot of the suggestions when I started my own log. I kept my log from August to October 2008, a few days before I left work on maternity leave. I also started a log at home while I was on maternity leave (yes, it seems particularly odd to me that I did this with a new baby as well).

Before returning to work in November 2009 I reviewed my previous logs to see what worked and what didn’t and thought I’d share my thoughts.

Overview

I have found keeping a daily log at work worthwhile because so many of my thoughts are captured and can be reviewed later. Obviously after having a year off work my mind hasn’t retained all the details of my job and I’ve been able to refer back to my log to help me out e.g. finding the name of a file I couldn’t locate on the server. However, my system was too complicated and as I wanted it to be ‘perfect’ it was difficult to keep up to date. To help improve my system I did a lot of reading and I’ve included links at the end of this post to the sources I found helpful.

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Needing a new organisastion system

By Kate Davis | Published: February 2, 2009

Organiser templateI am a big believer that it is important to develop your own organisation system that works for your lifestyle, so I have spent a lot of time developing my own organiser.  In the last two years I have tried both paper and electronic systems and finally settled on a system using Rollabind discs and a page a day sheet I developed.

I like my diary to show time slots so I can clearly see when appointments are to ensure there is enough travel time and no overlaps. Instead of having a long home task list the idea was to provide a task list a day where repeating items could be added after they are last completed and other tasks added following the ideas of Do it tomorrow. Making use of the flexibility offered by Rollabind, I developed a second task form for my work tasks that covered the green area shown, enabling me to separate my home and work tasks, but using the same diary.

All of this was in place before I finished work to ensure once I was on maternity leave I would have the system to help me get things done. However I soon realised it was no longer suitable.

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Getting back on track using repeating tasks

By Kate Davis | Published: June 10, 2008

It can be difficult to get back on track when you’ve lost momentum. This is certainly the situation I’ve found myself in at home over the last few months. However, I feel I have finally started getting there.

I think the key is in repeating tasks. By their nature these are tasks that are done on a regular basis, and I have a mix of tasks that I ‘should’ do and those I want to do. What I’ve done over the last couple of weeks is to focus on those ‘should’ tasks, because although they are chores they have a big impact on my surroundings and therefore my emotions. For instance one of these tasks is to tidy the house and I know that by having a tidy environment my brain finds it easier to focus on achieving the things I want.

The other important aspect is that because these tasks are repeated on a regular basis it is not necessary to complete them in one go, instead it is recognising that the task is started and progress has been made; “little and often” is the key phrase here. So when I was tidying the house, I started by ensuring the floor was clear and then the next time I tidied the surfaces and continued building it up each time. It meant each time I action the task I am affirming what I have already achieved, but also taking it further.

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Ask Advice: working on multiple projects

By Kate Davis | Published: April 28, 2008

Things are challenging at work at the moment and it is making me question further whether my organisation system is fit for my job.  Since the beginning of April I have gone from working on two closely related projects for the same manager to four different projects for different managers.  This is proving difficult, especially as they are all urgent now.

My current system prioritises tasks based on deadline and priority level on a last in first out basis, however this does not take into account that I have to ensure I share my effort across the different projects.  I also have different allowances for the amount of time I should spend on each project, so it is not as simple as just working on one task for each project in turn.

So, do any of you work on more than one project at a time in this way?  What has worked for you?  What tips would you suggest I try?

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In need of a new organisation system

By Kate Davis | Published: April 22, 2008

I really like my current organisation system, but I have noticed one serious flaw recently; it is very easy to procrastinate when I’m selecting tasks.

My energy levels have been very low over the last few months so I am frequently coming home and going for a lie down followed by bed. This change in my evening activities is becoming noticeable in what I am not achieving, such as writing blog posts, tidying the house or, I have to admit, completing anything off my list. Although things are better at work I am also finding it more difficult to focus there than usual.

I need to develop a new system that quickly highlights the next task I should be working on, instead of my current approach of looking through sheet after sheet of written actions. However I’m not thinking of replacing my system because I think the fundamentals are good, I am just looking for different ways of using it in a more efficient manner.

I think this means trying digital solutions, however I am aware of two issues with going digital. One I have not found a digital solution that meets my needs in the past and two I LOVE digital so I know I can get carried away and end up spend my time perfecting the solution rather than completing any of the tasks on the list.

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Can Getting things done and Do it tomorrow be combined?

By Kate Davis | Published: February 25, 2008

Getting Things Done has a huge global following amongst people working towards improved productivity, while Do It Tomorrow and Other Secrets of Time Management appears to be rising in popularity. I used ideas from both of these books in the development of my organiser and it is working very well.

I’ve been interested to notice over the last week that discussions on how the two systems can be combined have taken place on both the Getting things done and Mark Forster’s fora and of course I’ve provided my comments on both.

If you are interested in either of the systems I would recommend having a look. I’m always interested in knowing what other people think, so please let me know any thoughts here, or I’ll see you in one of the discussions.

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Ask advice: How do you use contexts?

By Kate Davis | Published: February 20, 2008

Contexts are a key part of Getting Things Done, in fact they are the first step in deciding what action to work on next. The basic idea is to list tasks by what you need or where you need to be to complete them e.g. computer, telephone, shop.

When I developed my current organiser I did not include contexts because I spent most of my time in the office. I recognised in May last year that utilising the contexts could be very helpful. As things are very busy at work again and I’m away from the office for about the half the time I think now is the time to consider contexts further; particularly as I now have a Blackberry and a laptop that both open up lots of possibilities of getting actions done as I travel.

My current next action list has hardly changed since I wrote about it in June last year; the only change is the addition of a priority column. I’m not convinced that by adding a new column for contexts will necessarily help because they will be all mixed up.

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Organising my home tasks with a week planner

By Kate Davis | Published: January 30, 2008

homeweekplanner1.jpgI am a big believer that a good organisation system should work in the office as well as at home. So when I first created my day planner for work I used the same format at home.  It was successful, however it took a long time to plan a work day evening reducing the available time to actually get things done. I also became aware that many of the tasks that I was completing were of a similar type and not reflective of the range of tasks I wanted to do. So I wanted to develope a system that is easy to complete and ensured a good mix of tasks.

I liked the idea of Stephen’s week calendar where you can see a week on one page and thought a similar approach would work for my home tasks. The first version of my home planner included an area for repeating tasks , however now that I have a RollaBind organiser I have introduced another way to deal with repeating tasks , reducing the space I need on my home planner, meaning I could reduce the size of the form from A4 to A5.

The form has four areas:

Also posted in My organiser | 4 Comments

  • 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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