IrishOboe

(This is continued from Part I and Part II)

The System (Continued)

1. General File System (see Part II)
2. Tickler (see Part II)
3. Calendar (see Part II)
4. Actions Lists.  These lists sit right at hand in slots directly under my inbox.  These are not your ordinary “to do” lists.  They are lists designed to make a spare moment as productive as possible.  Now that I’m a stay-at-home-mom the main lists I use are “At Home.” “At Computer,” and “With Stephan.”  I also have an “Errands” and “Calls” list and I still have a “With People” “At Anywhere” and a “Waiting For” list, but I don’t use them as much anymore.  As you can see the lists are divided by location or necessary ‘equipment,’ such as the computer, a phone, or a specific person.  This means whenever I am in a specific place, with a specific person, or have the use of a specific devise I can use the time immediately and effectively because I can pull out a list of things relevant to that situation.  The only thing I need to decide and scan for is the best item to pick given the time I have, my energy level, and the importance of the task.  There is no order to the list, I just add and check off as I go along.  I really appreciate the GTD idea that you can’t prioritize now what needs to be done tomorrow – priorities are always changing because you never know when a child will get sick or the weather will turn too beautiful to stay inside.  The decision of what to do with my time is made at each moment fairly effortlessly because the state of affairs is always at my fingertips.  I LOVE the sense of freedom and peace this gives me!  I can fully enjoy playing with Joseph, or taking the time for a friend knowing that nothing pressing is waiting to get done.  I can also more easily refuse an invitation or tell a friend I cannot talk at the moment because I know exactly what is waiting to be done and why it needs to get done.  Then I can DO it because each item on an Action List is carefully kept to one simple step and all necessary information or tools is referenced or in the plastic sleeve itself.  For example, I have a entry on my “At Computer” list that says to research an exercise class for those recovering from birth.  A simple (ss) after the entry tells me to “see sheet” and in the plastic sleeve there is the brochure for the class with the website on it.  If the items are listed well there is no need to procrastinate because I need to do something before I can do the task itself.  It’s just one step and I can check it off, though of course usually a task generates another task, but you can at least check something off right away.  Let me give an example from inbox to action list.  A lady at church gave me her number because she offered to help out once the baby arrived.  Before, the number would sit on my desk waiting for me to have the guts to make the phone call (and most of you know that’s a HUGE barrier for me).  With the system, the piece of paper got tossed into my inbox right after church.  When I processed my inbox I asked myself “What is the very next babystep that needs to happen with this?”  For some, just putting it on the “calls” list would be enough, but not for me.  I decided to put an item on my “At Home” list that says “plan a get-to-know-you meeting with (name) so she can help with the baby when here. (ss)” and then chucked the phone number paper in the plastic sleeve.  Once I do this task (which is just thinking) I’ll have a clearer vision of what I want to say when I call her up, so I can then put an entry on my “Calls” list that states specifically (in brief) what I will say and ask when I make the call.  Then when I have a moment of peace by the phone I can look at my “Calls” list (or I may decide to schedule the call) and everything I need is there: the name, the number, and basically what I want to say.  Now there is very little to keep me from just holding my breath, picking up the phone and getting the call done.  Of course for some that is ‘way too many steps for a simple phone call, but for me, it’s what I need to actually get it done with as little guilt and little time as possible.  At least this way things keep moving bit by bit rather that stagnating and building up inertia and a “oh that task - I really don’t want to do that one” stigma.  As I wrote that last sentence (pointless aside: I really dislike it when authors write things like that in their prose, but I’m a blogger just trying to get some ideas down before bedtime) Stephan interrupted me with a question and it reminded me that I wanted to give some money to a certain cause.  I could have written the task down directly on a list, but because I like to make the items on my list as simple and easy to do as possible I prefer to jot down the thought and toss it in my inbox.  Soon enough I’ll process the inbox and be able to do the necessary thinking to properly prepare for taking action.  At the moment, I don’t want to take that time away from the precious computer time I have to get my thoughts down for the blog.  Besides, I’d get derailed.  Now where was I?  Action lists.  That pretty much explains them.  When the paper gets full (one single column of tasks) I review each remaining task and either transfer it to a new sheet of paper, rewrite it because I’m procrastinating on it for some reason and have to identify a smaller first step, or decide it’s no longer necessary and cross it off.  A list that’s getting full inspires taking care of lingering tasks so I don’t have to transfer them, and the lists always stay pretty and clear.  No more scraps of chicken scratch lists still lying around because there’s one or two items still not complete!
5. Project Folders:  These folders sit on my desk also within easy reach.  Like the general reference files, each one is just a manila-type folder with a post-it label.  Because they are active folders they are at-hand rather than filed (aka buried) with the reference folders.  David Allen of “Getting Things Done” defines a project as anything with more than one discrete task.  I’m a bit looser with the definition and generally define a project as anything where the discrete tasks don’t flow naturally one to the next and thus need some level of organization.  My example of receiving the phone number from the lady at church is a good example.  I made it more than one step, but I don’t need to make a project folder for it because each next step is fairly obvious to me.  Other projects need more organization, for example, I had a “Christmas” project folder in which I organized everything for the holiday and surrounding activities.  When it came time to think about Christmas, I made a folder and started with a brainstorming session.  I use the Natural Planning Method suggested in GTD.  First define the purpose and principles (and write them down on a clean sheet of paper with the project name as a heading) then jot down your vision – what would WILD SUCCESS look like?  Don’t worry, this doesn’t violate the “good enough is better than perfect” principle – this is just a brainstorm, not a “to do” list.  It helps to define what’s important to you want if you let yourself dream big.  Next is the “brainstorm” where you jot down every idea that comes to mind without judging it – just let the ideas flow from mind to paper.  Cutting and choosing comes later.  I usually do those three steps at the same time and then feel pretty tired but much better because all my ideas and worries and “must remember to do this” thoughts are captured in a place where I know they won’t be forgotten.  Later I do the “organization” phase where I evaluate all or some of the brainstorm ideas (depending on how big the project is this can take several iterations), prioritize them, and break them down into “next actions” so I can enter them into my Action Lists.  Not every project needs quite that much organization and thought.  I have a master project list that sits with the project folders and is called “Current Projects: List and Loose” where I keep a master list of all the currently ACTIVE projects.  I box the ones that have their own project folder so I can see the state of things at a glance.  An example of a project that doesn’t need a folder is renewing my alien card.  There were a number of different documents I had to gather from difference sources so it was a multi-step project I didn’t want to loose sight of but it was pretty straight forward and didn’t have lots of papers associated with it so it didn’t need a brainstorm or a separate folder.  Whew!  If you’re still with me, I’m impressed!
6. Trash or Recycling: Nothing fancy here – just get rid of guilt and clutter!

The system needs review, tweaking, and general work against entropy, but that can wait for another time.  Basically, the system breaks everything down into such little pieces that when things start to unravel all you have to do is pick one of the pieces to bring back to speed and you can move onto the next and get everything back in order fairly easily.  Now when I feel life is getting too scattered, the system is fraying and I feel like I need to “just get my head together” I can take an hour or so and really get my head together.  I don’t let myself DO any task, I just get things back into an orderly state so I have proper perspective on what there is to do and have peace about where I stand and how I’ll move forward (and the courage to cut things if it’s really too much!).  What peace!

My email system/inbox doesn’t work quite as well, but it’s getting there.

And there you have it, my life exposed.  If you got through it all I hope you found some of it useful!  All the best at finding the system that works for you!

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