Last updated February 09, 2008
Common-sense time management
For much of my life, and especially as I have left my 20's, I have felt like a victim of time. I've struggled to "manage" my time, and tried to "save" it, but mostly watched it pass me by with ever-increasing panic.
I've spent more time trying to organize & prioritize hundreds of items on my to-do lists than I've spent actually getting things done. I have fought and struggled to find a time management system that would encompass everything perfectly, in a neat and tidy fashion, and tell me exactly what to do when. And I haven't found a single one that doesn't just make me crazier than I was when I started.
I think that our culture (and by "our culture" I mean that of middle-class Americans, since I can't really talk about any culture I don't belong to) has an unhealthy obsession with time. And I think most of the time-management gurus are feeding us B.S.!
To pick on just one of those gurus, I've tried using Getting Things Done on two different occasions, with several different containment systems, and both times, it drove me insane. I found that my list of things to do grew daily and I accomplished almost nothing - no more than I'd accomplished before. I spent a LOT of time entering and contextualizing to-do's that I've still never done. The idea of catching all to-do's in a system was a lovely idea that didn't pan out at all for me..
The key element of time management, as far as I'm concerned, is quite the opposite - recognize (1) all the things that you don't actually HAVE to do (e.g., no one will die if it doesn't happen) and (2) all the things that you don't need a reminder for because something physical will prompt you (e.g., a book you can set by the door to remind you to take it to the library) or that are way too significant to forget. These are all things you don't need to write down at all! The #1's you can safely forget about! The #2's you will remember to do regardless! Simple! Nothing to organize, prioritize, categorize, or manage!
The thing not to miss here is just HOW MUCH stuff you DON'T have to do. Give yourself permission not to have a picture-perfect life. You don't have to dust the baseboards weekly, you know? It doesn't matter if you never get around to putting all your pictures into a neatly organized scrapbook. No one is going to die over this. The ONLY things you HAVE to do are the important ones that other people are absolutely depending on you for, or that are essential for your own health and happiness. The rest you CAN do, but they're optional - so don't write them down so they can weigh you down with a false sense of obligation!
So after you ditch the won't-forgets and the don't-have-to's, what does that leave? Only (3) - events & to-do's that are essential but forgettable. For essential-but-forgettable events, calendar them where you'll be reminded - a wall calendar or online calendar that can email or text you when it's time. For essential-but-forgettable to-do items, find a place (electronic or physical) to put a note where you will be reminded at the right time and place.
This is why it's great that a lot of service stations put a little sticker in the corner of your windshield to tell you when to get your oil changed again. It's an essential but forgettable task, and you get reminded at a time you might be able to do something about it.
If you get the task while in the wrong place to leave the note, then stick a note to your wallet or checkbook or key fob that tells you to set up the note when you get to the right place.
The final key is DO IT NOW - the moment you spot the reminder. This mantra will serve you well. Most things can be done much more quickly than you expect. Just get it over with - don't let things pile up. You'll find that they really don't pile up if you simply remind yourself of ONLY essential things. I rarely have more than 3-5 reminders around me at any given time.
Yes, of course, you can do the other things as well, the things you didn't write down - but you can do them when you choose, if you please, and not as a task. Not everything in life should be an item to cross off a checklist!
I can't tell you how freeing it has been for me to adopt this totally common-sense -system. Everything I really need to do is pretty obvious, it turns out - I was overcomplicating things. Realizing that I was spending time tracking things I didn't need to do at all or wouldn't have forgotten anyway was huge for me.
This is only one aspect of getting free of time; more articles will follow!
Action steps:
- Take your current essential-but-forgettable dated items - deadlines and events - and move them to a simple physical or virtual calendar. I recommend Google Calendar - set it up to text message your phone with reminders.
- Take your current essential-but-forgettable to-do items and move them to physical or virtual reminders that are contextual so that you'll see them when you need to. (It's okay if you see them a few times before you can act on them.)
- Trash the rest of your system.
- Give yourself permission to NOT do anything else unless you really want to!
By:
Hilary
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