GET IT DONE!How to get organized and get stuff done

Full Disclosure: I don’t like to waste time

• I walk the line between organization and OCD

• My house is not all that neat – but I know where everything is• If you want a clean house, have a dinner party

• My grocery list is in Excel

• I do things in a logical order – work, cleaning, errands

• I organize what I can amidst the chaos

My Organizational Guides

• David Allen

• Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

• Leo Babauta

David Allen: “Getting Things Done” ®

“You can do anything, but you can’t do everything.”

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KWG9M2E/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?ie=UTF8&btkr=1

Write down everything that’s in your head –brainstorm, no editing

“Do I have to write it all down?”

“No, just the stuff you want to get done.”

If it’s something you naturally do –i.e. wake up, brush you teeth –don’t write it down

Exceptions:

• Calls/email/organize

• Billable hours

If something is only going to take 5 minutes, don’t write it down - just do it

Mix work, home, health, and personal goals – you are a 3D human being!

• Start a separate “big project” list –break big projects into parts –what has to happen today to move the project along?

• Take off the Cs

• Pull meetings from your calendar into the week – how much time do you have left?

• What has to happen today? Tomorrow? What can wait till Thursday? Plan your day looking at meetings within the week

Look at your big list and prioritize – A, B or C

• Check if done

• Dot if in process

• Arrow if you move the task to another day

• X to take off the list

At the end of the day:

Group things if it helps –by calls, emails, big projects, or by client

• Use pencil to keep your calendar clean – dates change

• Review your calendar on Sunday -Monday plans come from Friday and from what’s due this week

• If you’re working with a team, review again at the end of the week to discuss plans for the next week

Use one calendar for meetings, due dates, and to set up blocks of “task time” for yourself

• Call notes, meeting notes, contact info, billable hours

• Keep a pad of paper in your bag and by the bed – add those notes later to your planner

Keep all of your notes in one place – in your planner

• Paper planners combat the suck of the Internet

• Work without going to your desk

• Re-writing a task = incentive to do it or delete it

• Keep track of what you are waiting for as well as what you are working on

• Use uniform ink

• At the back of my planner: travel docs, contacts, passwords, business cards

Paper versus e-calendars, planners

Use an monthly index at the front of each month for easy reference later to find meeting notes, contact info

In order to get more done, you are going to have to make some sacrifices

In order to write, I cut:

• TV

• Movies

• Novels

• Magazines

• Travel $s

Cut things that take away your time and your energy

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Flow

“People who learn to control inner experience will be able

to determine the quality of their lives.”

https://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow?language=en

• You know you’re in flow when time slips away from you

• Flow is focus

• The trick behind flow is prioritizing the essential you and spending time there

Leo Babauta: Zen Habits

“Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is

the axis on which the whole earth revolves.”

Thich Nhat Hanh

http://zenhabits.net/about/

• Do what you love first in the day

• Don’t like a habit? Create a new one

• Test yourself; try things that are hard

• Clear the clutter

• Pack light

• TMIs

A few additional thoughts…

If you are a boss, a good part of your job involves being in meetings and being interrupted

• If you want to get tasks done, schedule time with yourself• Do not bring your phone into your “Task

Time”

• Wander around with your direct reports – that’s where you hear the good stuff

• When you have formal meetings: short, walking, with a tight agenda is ideal; face the FOMO

Files v. Piles

• If something is on your list, trust that you’ll do it – you don’t have to “see” it on your desk

• Go through your “in process” folder on Sundays

• Go through your “hold for info” folder at the end of the week

Put things away in the same place -everytime

Use travel time for reading, writing, and great conversations

Want to get a project done? Set a deadline

Carry earplugs

Don’t work 10 and 12 hour days

Don’t expect work to be your everything

• Sleep

• Eat healthy food

• Take stretch breaks

• Meditate

• Get outside

Get this into your planner –track it if it helps!

Take care of yourself

Want to learn something?

• Be curious - ask questions; become an expert at what you do

• Take a class; listen and participate as if you need to teach the class

• Talk to strangers

• Read books

• Write out a list of 50 things you want to do before you die

When was the last time you did something for the first time?

• Be a strong, reliable brand; don’t make promises you can’t keep

• Be pro-active – if you’re missing something, ask for it

• Build your brand everyday, with every task

• Be 100% reliable

• Don’t waste anyone’s time – run on train time

You are your own brand“What is your tagline?”

What’s the best way to cook vegetables?

What’s the best way to be organized?

How do you stay organized?

Janie Downey

C0-founder Catalog University

jdowney@cataloguniversity.com

207-233-3339