Organizing Your Time

[AmyBoz]

Hi all! The busier I get, the more I find that I need to organize, not just my own time, but my family time as well. As the reigning queen of the to-do list, I always enjoy reading about time management and try to put the ideas to work for me.

Today I was re-reading my new favorite book, Donna Smallin's The One-Minute Organizer: Plain and Simple and I came across some of these ideas. I'd like to share them with you. Some are common sense. Some you may already do. However, a little reminder now and then never hurt anyone!

Create a master list of things to do. From this list, create your daily to-do lists.

Put the 80/20 principle to work. Only 20 percent of the things on your to-do list are priority items. If you have 20 things on your master to-do list, identify which four (20 percent) are the most important, and focus all of your energy on getting those things done.

Evaluate every item on your laster to-do list. Move any tasks that would be nice to do, but aren't necessary, to a separate "would be nice to do" list.

Decide which one thing on your daily to-do list is the most important thing to get done. Do that first.

End your work day by writing a to-do list for the next day.

[baxjul]

Thank you so much, it seems that I never have enough time. I can't seem to get caught up on anything!

[Early Bird]

Give me some examples of the master to-do list? Would it be 'laundry' -- a big job; or would it be 'wash 1 load laundry'?

[AmyBoz]

I would say that the master list for the week would say: "Wash, Dry, and Put Away Household Laundry" Then, a daily to-do would say "Monday - Wash and Dry 1 load of Laundry" "Tuesday - Put Away Laundry Load #1" etc.