tricks of the trade
This has been one of those weeks when I have had to resort to every trick in the book to stay on top of my seemingly endless to-do list. (Before I sat down to write this, I set the kitchen timer for 10 minutes. Sorry, but that's all you get.) I actually had to add a second page to the planner for today just to accommodate the whole list of all the manini crap I had to get done. Most of it is personal projects (a new issue's worth of journal manuscripts to download, loose ends to tie up for the reunion, a special-order necklace to sketch out) and life sustenance stuff (paying bills, doing dishes, and all that). I work much more efficiently if I get all that to-do crap out of my head and onto paper so I can forget about it until it's time to actually do it.

One of my best tricks for tackling overwhelming projects is the 15-minute timer. Take my amazingly messy desk, for example. For the past couple of weeks it has been completely overrun with papers, software CDs, return-to-sender envelopes (damn reunion), receipts, Page-a-Day calendar discards (origami version), pens that really belong in the pen holder, and random things shed from cleaning out my planner, purse, tote bag, etc. (Okay, let's be honest — it's been thus for years, really, but it has been horrendously bad since the beginning of June or so.) If I had to devote myself to totally clearing it off and actually putting everything where it goes and/or dealing with everything, I'd be here for days. Instead, I just set the timer for 15 minutes and devote myself to dealing with what I can in that 15 minutes.

Amazingly enough, despite the office mess, I actually am a really organized person. I'm just surrounded by paper clutter, although I can usually find exactly what I'm looking for rather quickly. I just hate the way it looks.

— Interrupting to say that, wow, a big plane just flew over and it sounded really, really low, considering my distance from the airport, never mind that I'm not in the usual flight path. —

One of these days I'll get around to finishing Getting Things Done and be able to speak the lingo like the dudes at 43 Folders and A Million Monkeys Typing.
- posted by Lori @ 10:15:00 PM | permanent link | |