• Recent Articles

  • Mindful Computing
  • Mindful Voting - The 2008 Presidential Election
  • Hair Transplant Surgery Review
  • Mindful Living for the Self Employed
  • Finding Affordable Health Insurance
  • ZenniOptical.com Review
  • How Does Science Contribute to Knowledge? (Truth Vs. Practicality)
  • Is All Knowledge Good?
  • How to Live an Authentic Life
  • Ethical Animal Treatment - My Cat is Smarter Than Your Baby

• Categories

  • Featured
  • Mindful Food
  • Mindful Growth
  • Mindful Health
  • Mindful Ideas
  • Mindful Living

• Archives

  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007

• Search

Article Writing Service
Fresno Jobs

The following article is part of the “Getting Organized” series.

Now that we have considered some strategies for getting organized at work, let’s look at some quick ideas for organizing your personal life.

Use Lists to Stay Focused
Although many new time management experts argue against lists, I am still a huge fan of this “old school” tool.

I use lists virtually every day as a way to keep my mind open and free for other things. Anytime I think of something that needs to be done, I immediately “download” to the list. Then, later that day I make time to “upload” my daily list to my on-going lists that I usually manage on my computer.

You know the drill. Use lists to keep yourself on task.

Batch Routine Tasks
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again - batching tasks is perhaps the greatest time management tool for today’s world.

Here’s a sample list of some things I’ve found it useful to batch in my day-to-day life:

• Laundry
• Shopping
• Phone Calls
• Errands
• Online Tasks
• Mail/Email

I have also found it helpful to batch many things together - a batching of batches, if you will.

Maintain Your Calendars
The calendar is another classic time management tool that’s still in fashion. The only major change these days is most of us have three or four calendars to manage instead of just one.

Try your best to keep these synchronized while leaving each one to its own purpose.

Make Time to Relax and Have Fun
Of course, staying organized is ultimately about freeing up more of yourself and your time. You don’t want to turn into an automaton or anything, but planning to have fun and enjoy life isn’t a bad idea either.

Consider making a list of fun things you’d like to do and then look that list over when you have a free weekend. Trust me, once you start applying these principles on a regular basis, you’ll need something to do.

The following article is the first of three in the “Getting Organized” series. Stay tuned for more this week!

Work is easily the most important part of life to organize. If we hope to get the most out of our career or job, getting organized can help deliver results much faster. Perhaps more importantly, a strong organizational system at work can help ease stress and make the working day far more enjoyable. I know it sounds strange, but work doesn’t necessarily need to be hard.

What I offer here is not meant to be comprehensive by any means. These are just a few tips I have found very effective in my experience.

Focus on High Value Tasks
To get the most out of your time, you need to use your time wisely. At work, the most important thing is really just knowing what the most important thing is in the first place.

High value tasks are those that help you achieve your goals faster. For example, a salesperson would likely focus on the number one activity that will help generate more sales - likely, calling on new clients. A writer would need to spend most of his/her time actually writing.

How does this apply to your vocation? What is the single most important task? You might determine this by considering what you would do if you only had 4 hours instead of 40 hours to do your job every week.

Manage Your Email
I really can’t stress this enough. After reading David Allen’s classic work GTD, I became an instant evangelist of this idea. I still use it today.

The key with email is to “zero out your inbox” by the end of every day. I know you probably think it’s just easier to keep all of that email in the inbox for that day when it just might become important. Trust me, if it’s not important now, it’s probably just not important.

What’s the best way for you to manage your work email? Is your inbox in need of a spring cleaning? Do you need to get a document storage California service like my client David manages?

Batch Routine Jobs
Here’s a time management rule I apply in many spheres of my life - batching. Do you have a list of things that need to be done every day, or every week? Most of us do.

Consider taking these activities and doing them at one time or in one sitting.

Do you have phone calls to make every day? Do them all before 10am. Do you have financial records to update periodically? Gather those receipts in one place and setup a specific time for doing it in one batch.

What tasks can you group together every Monday, for example? What do you find yourself doing again and again throughout the day that can be done at one time?

Leave Work at Work
Here’s advice I wish my brother would take. (Geez, I hope he’s not reading this. Actually, Bryan, if you are reading this, kudos to you!)

The goal of time management, especially at work, is to get more out of work time. But sometimes we can easily make the mistake of just making all time work time and thus missing the point.

Yes, we do work to live. But I refuse to live to work.

You will have your own reasons for getting organized at work. I would strongly suggest setting a goal to make more time for your own life.