Preparation/Organisation: Planning and Buckets

Just a quick post today, as I want to start the month of April by sticking to my goal of posting on here (or Life is Learning Curve every) day, but have been busy elsewhere all day today.

I've done some preparation to try and make it easier.

I took everything off my desk (aka the kitchen table) and put back only things that will support me achieving my goals. I wish I knew where I'd read that great tip recently, so I could give you a link (I'll try and find it and add it later.) Plus a few things I love: a pretty china bowl for the paperclips; a beautiful tiny pink drawstring bag filled with crystals, and a plant ... thinking about it, from a Feng Shui perspective, they are all very useful as well as beautiful!

And I actually sorted through the things I removed and found proper places for them, or (deep breath) ... threw them away! (Or palmed them off onto the girls!)

I've (just about) caught up with emails and RSS feeds. I've read them all and marked those I need to action as 'unread', because if I file them in a folder (even if it's named: Urgent Action!!!) I'll forget them. If I leave them in my inbox, I won't. This goes against much of the advice given for productivity (that we should clear our inboxes daily) but it works for me. And that's what it's all about ... finding our own best ways of supporting our productivity. It might take me afew days, but I'll get round to any action I need to take, rather than finding something way beyond action, hiding in a forgotten file or folder ... sometime next year. (Obviously if action really is urgent, I just do it. Or add it to my list of things to do before I go to bed.)

I think I'm a Visual Organiser ... I read about that somewhere recently too and it was really interesting, I must try and find it ... these are the things I read and think will be useful, file them in my way-too-long list of favourites, in a folder ... to be forgotten.

My favourites are beyond useful at the moment and I really need to sort them out, but the truth is have found it overwhelming. So instead of opening them with the intention of clearing them/tidying them up/organising them properly all in one go, I have decided to do them by the end of April. I'll tackle them a few at a time. I think I'll need to do about 30 a day ... no kidding, I told you they had got out of hand! I'm such an information junkie and find so many different things interesting.



I've decided on my 'buckets!'

Having read 'Time Management for Creative Professionals' by Mark McGuiness of Wishful Thinking a while ago, I have finally got round to putting his advice about 'buckets' into action. Buckets are the places we keep information; "physical or virtual containers where you capture important information, demands and commitments so that they can’t ‘leak’ away and be forgotten. You should have as few of these as possible, but as many of them as you need."

My Buckets are:

My Diary

My Calendar

My Phone

My Monthly (Master Plan)/Daily TO DO Lists

(My Favourites List is not a bucket!)

And I have started a Monthly Writing Goals Notebook (my fifth bucket) and listed, every blog post, every article, everything I need to do this month to set up a website for student parents and everything I need to do in April for an ebook I'm writing. I haven't dated them or put them in any order, except for marking the odd one for a special day, or noting where two or more may be linked, because I think you can just be too damn organised! I like (I need) some flexibility in any schedule.

I've started Article One!

I've drawn up a detailed outline, made a list of contacts for possible sources of further information or quotes, read loads of articles on the local paper's website, and organised a list of some interesting facts and figures about blue bins and recycling in general.

I'll write a post at the end of the week about what I've done ... date on the calendar (etc.) for submission: Next Monday!

Until then, I'll do a few more posts about preparation.

:o)