Are you a paper or an electronic organizer? For the last several years, I have been an electronic organizer and I am missing, seriously missing, paper organization methods. I mentioned in my last post that I stopped by the Franklin Covey store to sort through the products to see if it was the way that I really wanted to go. I really think that paper plus electronic (let's see if that works!) is the way for me.
So, after spending 1/2 hour on the FC website trying to pick a binder for me, I remembered that I used to have a binder when I was a consultant. I sauntered over to our messiest shelves (okay, messiest when my scrap area is excluded) and there was my old Franklin Covey. Abandoned mid-year 2001. The pages are still there and the compass is still in its old spot. The last task entered was "Call AAC re: E's blister". That would be All About Children, our pediatrician's office and Mr. E was only 3 years old. I then found the reason why I switched from paper. It was no longer "cool" to use paper and a PDA was a must. 2001 was the year that I left consulting and and started to work at Rorke Data. Part of my negiotiations when I started there was the purchase of a PDA to keep track of my "busy" schedule. Tucked into my Franklin Covey paper planner was the receipt from my Best Buy purchase of my first PDA, the Palm Vx. My beloved friend until it died last year and was replaced by the Zire something or other.
What do you prefer? Paper or electronic? I would love to hear your thoughts. I posed the question to Kyle at dinner and he said that he has gone extremely low tech. He now keeps his tasks in a pile of index cards held together by a paperclip!! I guess whatever works for you is the best choice for you!
Edit (5 minutes later when Kyle arrived home): Kyle reminded me of a cool article on http://www.lifehacker.com (our new favorite website) about this exact issue. Check it out at http://www.lifehacker.com/software/time-management/time-management-on-paper-183748.php
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2 comments:
Before mocking me for my low tech means of organizing things, hear me out! For one…how much information do you REALLY need and how often? For me, I need to know…What do I have to do today? What do I need to know about the things that I need to do today? When am I going to do the things that I am going to do today? And How might an unforeseen development affect things I need to do in the near future? The pile o’ notecards is just one part of a larger organizational system- Groupwise keeps my meeting schedules and an Excel Workbook full of tabs keeps track of projects, long-term priorities and other “STUFF” Stuff includes: Gift ideas for Marcy, Packing lists for vacations, weird ideas that I think of when I can’t go to sleep, etc.. I use the groupwise and excel workbook to organize my notecards. The notecards then organize my activities for the workday.
So, notecard one is filled out every morning and consists of all of the things I would like to accomplish that day and when I would like to do them. For instance:
Read newspaper 8-9
Wander around and talk to people 9-10
Eat bon bons 10-11
Do Sudoku puzzle 11-12
LUNCH 12-1
Work on Sudoku puzzle more 1-2:30
Give up on Sudoku, watch people outside 2:30-3:30
Get ready to go home 3:30-4:30
Does this schedule always go according to plan? Of course not! The Sudoku could be EXTRA hard one day and I have to give up earlier! But, my pile of notecards allows me the flexibility I need in an environment of constant change!
Cards 2+X consist of notes on projects that I am working on or projects that I am planning on pawning off on my lackeys. Whenever, I go to a meeting, my pile of cards (with some empty ones) follow me. I use these to take notes or jot down ideas. I then keep these in an appropriate file folder that contains other meeting materials. When the day comes when I am supposed to work on this project, I bring out the appropriate notecard and add it to my daily pile. For every new meeting, I make a new card. So, I may have (in some limited cases) 5-6 cards for an individual project. I can then consult these cards at any subsequent meetings.
Card X+1 has a tiny photocopy of my next 2 months worth of appointments. Rather than dragging around a PDA with all of my meetings for the rest of my life, I can simply look at my tiny card and pencil in any necessary appointments- you must be able to write very tiny. So, now when I am at a meeting and we are trying to figure out when we can meet next, I just whip out my tiny calendar card while everyone else hauls out Franklin Planners or frantically scribbles on PDAs with those ridiculous Styluses (sp?) and non-sensical scripts. Back at my desk, I put new appointments into my Groupwise Calender.
Lest you think that I walk around with a packet of 50 notecards, I do not. In a typical day with 2 meetings, I might have 4 or 5 though sometimes more depending on the project. I do not need to recharge my notecards. I do not need to “sync” my notecards. Despite my geekishness, most people are very admiring of my notecards…though they strangely never adopt the system themselves….They easily fit in my breast pocket (with my collection of pens and photo ID!). They are flexible- If I sit on them, they do not break! If I leave them in my car on a hot/cold day, they will not “die.” When I am done with a project or a day of work, I get the resolution of throwing those cards away. Yes, most days, I must transfer unfinished tasks to tomorrow’s card- thus giving birth to another day of organizational fun and high-jinx!
So, what happens if I am out on the road and I need to know somebody’s number NOW! Well geez….you can’t plan for every contingency in life. Is it really worth it to wander around with a huge book or a fragile PDA “just in case” you need something. My calendar card comes with a tiny photocopy of my office phone list. If I need a number not on that list, I can call someone on that list to get it for me. Or better yet- be a Free Rider!- Just bug your coworkers who carry around those PDAs and get the number from them! -Kyle
My favorite method of organization is www.flylady.net.
Here is that blog I was telling you about that rivals dooce!
http://smartypants.diaryland.com/index.html
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