Comments on: Working the List

By: @Stephen

@Stephen — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 02:41:04 +0000

Hi Todd, thanks for coming by. I agree with that! In fact, there is something to be said for the permanence of notebooks, too. I lost a bunch of stuff from college when 5.25″ floppies went away. I still have my journals from HS and they can be accessed today and tomorrow!

By: Todd Jordan

Todd Jordan — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 02:15:52 +0000

Every time I get totally wrapped up in online or electronic tools for keeping tabs, I forget them. They aren’t in my face and in my pocket like a notebook is. In the Navy, I carried one all the time. Went through lots of them. They were of huge value to me.

Everyone these days at work keeps their ‘knowledge’ in Word documents or Excel spreadsheets. Down side? You have to absolutely remember that you created them, and where you put them. Not the case with a notebook you carry in your pocket.

By: Ben Brooks

Ben Brooks — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:49:21 +0000

Stephen I am just the opposite of you, I never use paper so I can definitely see how digital systems just don’t work for you as paper just doesn’t work for me.

You mentioned having the system be complex enough to be interesting without being cumbersome, that certainly I think holds true with most people. It seems that when my system loses the complexity that I stop using it, this is usually when I revamp some aspect of it.

Thanks for the posts.

By: @Stephen

@Stephen — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:34:18 +0000

Hi Terri, thanks for your comment and e-mail.
I know exactly what you mean, it is very easy to spend all day on two-minute tasks and putting out fires – without doing any of your important work.

The best way that I have found for getting some parts of those big projects done is to set an appointment with yourself to work on it, no matter what! I suggest that you make it a Most Important Task for first thing in the morning, before you even look at e-mail or touch the in-box on your desk.

Right now I have several e-mails to read and my in-box is a disaster, but I have spent a good chunk of the morning working on a HUGE project. And I got a lot of it done. Now that the project appointment is complete I can address the rest of my e-mails and tackle the 2-minute drill that is my in-box.

By: Terri Schwomeyer

Terri Schwomeyer — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:04:44 +0000

I have been reading your posts for a while now (they are very good, thank you!), as well as some other productivity feeds and books. One item that seems to be consistent is that if something comes across your desk which will take two-minutes to complete, then do it. If it’s a fire, then complete it. What I haven’t read about is how to manage a job where most everything can be completed in two-minutes or is a fire that needs to be addressed right away and where you still have big projects to tackle. It seems to me that I can not sit down and work on certain projects except after everyone else has gone home at the end of the day, because I do not have chunks of time to just sit and concentrate on the project until it becomes a fire which needs to be done tomorrow. I’ve tried scheduling time in my Outlook to allot for the work which needs to be done, but it just doesn’t seem to work, and I haven’t read any suggestions to help solve this.
I would appreciate some pointers. Thank you.