Getting Organized

I have never been accused of being an organized person. My desk is usually cluttered, my calendar isn’t up to date and my to-do list (if I even have one) is on random scrap pieces of paper. With the big move coming up in a month there is a lot to keep track of at work and personally. It gets a bit overwhelming at times and feels like I have so much to do but don’t know what to do next.

So in light of being in a stage of major life transition plus knowing that working at a church plant means juggling many things at once I’ve been on the lookout for organization/productivity tips. I came across this video of Randy Pausch’s “Time Management” lecture. Now that doesn’t sound too exciting at first but this guy’s story is pretty inspiring. Pausch was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and the video of his “Last Lecture” gained a lot of buzz online last year. He gave that lecture after he had been diagnosed with cancer and only had a few months to live (he just died a few days ago). It’s well worth your time if you haven’t seen it. Just good philosophies for life.

This “Time Management” lecture was also given after his diagnoses. It’s just as good but much more practical in nature. If you ever feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day- take the time to watch this. I like his approach because it’s not ultimately about “getting more things done in less time” but rather- using your time wisely so you have time for things that really matter like family and friends. It’s a little over an hour long but it doesn’t feel like it. Skip ahead to about the 12 minute mark when he actually starts the lecture. And I would suggest watching it on Google Video so you can make it full screen.

The changes this inspired for me:

• Started using Remember The Milk for to-do lists. It not only lets you put due dates on tasks but it lets you give each task a priority and then sort your list by priority. That’s something most to-do list apps miss. You can have multiple lists in your account (work, personal, etc.) Plus there’s tons of other features and it’s free.
• Integrated RTM with my Google Calendar and GMail account. Now I can see and manage tasks right on my calendar or in my e-mail.
• Cleaned my desk.
• Cleaned out my e-mail inbox down to zero. (Check out Merlin Mann’s Inbox Zero method for a more in-depth look at e-mail management.)
• Started to pause a few times a day for task managment. This seems like it takes more time at first, but in the long run it’s a big time saver.

Now the real trick will be making habbits out of these things. I’ll report back in a few weeks on how it’s going. (a to-do item right there!)

~ by Dave on July 30, 2008.