Organization

4 thoughts
last posted June 18, 2016, 2:18 p.m.

2 earlier thoughts

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Step 1. Get an accurate picture of your time

The next, easiest step for getting organized is to use a calendar, and use it properly.

If you're using something like iCal or Google Calendar then you want to have at least two calendars, which I'm going to call Appointments and Information.

If you have separate personal & work calendars, set things up so you can see them both in the one app.

The Appointments calendar should have exactly all the things on it which are things that you intend to go to, whether virtually or physically. It should have every obligation that you've have that must be fulfilled at a certain time and a certain place, and it should have nothing else.

Examples of good appointments:

  • Church on Sunday at 6pm at St Saviours
  • Weekly 1:1 with $manager at 4pm on Thursday
  • Meet Bob at easyGym at 7:00am on Monday, Wednesday, Friday

Examples of bad appointments:

  • Practice Latin vocab
  • Gym
  • Do taxes

All of the good appointments have specific places and people. If you don't go to those appointments, someone will notice. If you want to change those appointments, you have to talk to someone else.

By contrast, the bad appointments are just things that you want to do with some vague intent to do them at a certain time.

Having "Gym" down on your calendar at 11am on Tuesday might nudge you to get up from your desk & go work out, but it might not. It's just an intent to go to the gym at roughly 11am. Having an appointment to meet a friend at the gym to train together is an entirely different thing.

Why bother with this discipline? Because then your Appointments calendar provides a hard landscape to your day. You can look at your calendar and immediately see all of the things you have to do without having to do any mental filtering. You can entirely offload thinking about what the time is and how long you have until a thing, freeing up valuable head space to get things done.

By contrast, the Information calendar is just a way of storing any time-bound information that you have. e.g.

  • birthdays
  • deadlines
  • dates for conferences you might like to go to

As soon as you notice either calendar deviate from reality, fix either the calendar or reality.

Once all this is done, you'll want to check your calendar first thing every day.

If all of this is obvious, and you're already doing it, then congratulations, you're already ahead of many people I've spoken with and clearly understand one of the key elements of time management: having a reliable exobrain.

1 later thought