Have you too experienced arriving at work Monday morning, skimmed through what you’ve got to do this week and felt so overwhelmed that you’ve felt completely blocked out? ??You can’t get started and you get nothing done, and this in itself doesn’t exactly improve things.??If this is the case, you’re not alone.
It’s in moments like these ..
To be effective on your own as if you were isolated in your own bubble is one thing, but what about when we work together with other people, in a project or in any form of team?
As soon as we are more than one person, it is easy ...
In times like these, it is more important than ever to work efficiently in the sense that we spend our time doing the right things. ??Now is the perfect time to better refine and elucidate our tasks and assignments so that we really have time for the most important ones, meaning, those which ...
Are you in the habit of writing a new to-do-list every morning? Do you have to transfer tasks from yesterday’s list to today’s list, because you didn’t have time for what you had in mind? ??
Do you then feel ...
Every now and then, I am invited to speak about structure and productivity at breakfast- or lunch-seminars hosted by business networks, business associations etc.
A short while ago, it was at a Rotary Club in Kungälv, Sweden, and again I was astonished by with what warmth the Rotarians receive their guests (me included). As tradition dictates, I had the privilege to sit at the president’s table and we began to talk about ...
Do you feel that you’re constantly lagging a little behind with what you’ve got to do, that you always complete what you’re working with at the last moment, that deadline is always a bit too close??? From time to time I experience this myself and ...
If you are in the habit of using a to-do list, it probably mostly consists of tasks you’ve realized you have to do and therefore wrote on the list. They are tasks you will carry out soon after that and then cross off or delete.?? But you have to keep even less information in your head if you let the to-do-list generate new tasks on its own.?? We all have tasks we perform on a regular basis. It may be tasks that you ...
Do you remember the early 90’s legendary series “Twin Peaks”? Each episode contained at least one scene in which Kyle MacLachlan’s character “Agent Cooper” grabbed his dictaphone and began by saying “Diane,…” and then freely recorded his thoughts onto the tape.
?The story never revealed who ...
Some of us are fond of electronic gadgets, such as an iPhone or a smartphone with calendar- and task-functions which can be synchronized with the desktop computer or the mail server.
There are many advantages with digital systems. One can easily sort and filter out the to-do lists, you’ve got better opportunities for back-ups, etc.
But there are also ...
There are some things we’ve got to do which, like the constant buzzing of a summer fly, annoys us so immensely that it makes us spend too much time and energy on grieving over and dwelling on it, or maybe even walk around really irritated due to it.
We lose perspective, and not only do those annoying things feel numerous, ...
Do you all too often experience that you are bothered or disturbed by your colleagues? Do you feel that you can’t go through the hallway without getting called in to someone’s office when you have the least time for it? Do you repeatedly get interrupted just when you are at a critical stage in the task you really need to focus on?
Sure, occasionally you want to tell them off for interfering, but at the same time you are after all working together to bring the business forward.
And it is hardly that ...
You can easily be led to believe that the piles on the desk primarily are an aesthetic problem; that it gives a negative impression to someone who comes to pay a visit.
Or, that it’s only a problem with order; that the piles make it difficult to find the documents you are looking for when you need them.
But, unfortunately the problem is more serious than ...
This whole business of good structure – isn’t it sometimes the case that we really feel that we would need to work more effectively in our everyday life, but we just don’t know where to start? It’s just too much right now and we can barely keep our heads above the water.
We’ve got so little time that we don’t have the time to change the way we work, even if it’s in order to get more time to work with. It’ll have to be some other time, when we’ve got time.
But, if we continue like this, will the day when we have enough time to start working more
efficiently ever come? Do we really have to wait?
Not the way I see it. Right now is the second best time to start. The best time was yesterday.
So, let us now take only one simple step in the right direction. What would that be?
One of the most valuable components of a structured, effective, personal way of working is the weekly update.
If you in your everyday life complete and add tasks to your to-do-list, creating a continuous in and out flow of tasks, it is in itself a good thing. But it often tends to result in a situation where only the tasks of immediate importance are completed, for example the most recently added tasks or those someone recently reminded you to do.
There may be tasks here and there in the to-do-list that you added a couple of months ago, which are of vital importance for your business, but which you couldn’t do anything about at the time. Now might be the right time to complete such a task and if you do not at regular intervals go through your to-do-list, it can easily get lost in the crowd.
This is where the…
An effective way to easily get the right thing done at the right time is to use a to-do-list where you write down everything you have to do and check them off the list once you have completed them.
As I see it, the greatest benefit with this is that you no longer have to keep everything in your head and instead you can relax, knowing that everything awaiting completion is on the list.
But, aren’t we quite a few who have decided to start making to-do-lists, got it going and after a while noticed that all the things we don’t have time to do are what’s on the list since we are only doing the things we are trying to remember? Where and in what format you choose to keep your list is crucial as to how well it will help you.
Here are ten, no, eleven tips to how to be successful with a to-do-list that works in the long run.
I have a penchant for always having something with me to write or record in. It can be a notebook or a stack of index cards.
At least for me, ideas are volatile. As I mull something over ...
Do you ever experience from time to time that you are just completing task after task, doing one detailed thing after another, and everything is spinning so fast that you can’t grasp what’s going on, and that you don’t even have the time to reflect on what week it is and what’s coming up next month? Join the club.
It’s one thing to be in a flow, to feel that everything is clicking and falling into place, that you move from clarity to clarity and are getting things done, but that is not the situation I am talking about.
The condition I have in mind can be recognized by that you feel a week has just begun when it suddenly is Friday, you are astonished to realize that a certain meeting was “this week already?!” or that you are always running out of time when you are close to a deadline. To use a worn, but none the less illuminating expression: “You can’t see the woods for all the trees”.
My solution to this situation is ...
We can’t do everything we need to do everywhere or anywhere. For some things we need a computer, for others access to a phone and some things can only be done in the office.
We gain concentration if we at each point in time only need to care about the tasks that are available to work on where we are at the moment.
So, how do you determine what can actually be done here and now, from all the things you need to do?
The answer is ...
Yes, sometimes I actually dream of changing path and become a bicycle messenger. There is really something alluring about the bicycle messenger trade. I mean, getting ...
When you are experiencing more chaos in your workday than you are comfortable with and you wish to improve the structure of your day, it is fully understandable if you tremble at the mere thought of the extent of the changes needed.
Perhaps you are hesitant and are even doubtful as to whether it is even possible to change, and you might even fear that your particular situation is a hopeless case.
I am convinced that no circumstances are hopeless and I am equally convinced that you can make significant changes with small means.
Do not try to make all improvements at once, but choose to work on one aspect at a time and you will experience greater success. When the first change is done, move on to the next, etc.
Nice and easy, you will end up more structured and with more time on your hands by taking it one step at a time.
Here are three ideas on different steps to begin with.
