Organize More

Do you start a lot of projects and have a lot of uncompleted jobs and projects all over the house?  

-          half-knit sweaters stuffed in closets

-          7 books with bookmarks in various places

-          clothes in the washer that don’t make it into the dryer

-          return 10 of 20 emails and get side tracked, never to finish

-          paint part of the deck and pledge to finish before the season is out

This happens to all of us and is due, in part, to the information and task overload that we are burdened with every day.  We think that we should be able to do everything and so we start everything with every intention of finishing everything.  The problem is, other things pop up in the middle of everything, and nothing seems to get done!

One strategy for stemming the tide of “starting” and starting a revolution in “finishing” is to block of adequate and realistic time slots on our calendars to work on each project.  During the time set aside for a particular project, we don’t work on anything else.  Until a project, in a particular category, is complete; we don’t work on anything else.

For example, if I block off time to knit a blue sweater for my sister on Tuesday evenings for the next two months, then that’s what I’ll do.  I make it a point to not start any other knitting projects until the sweater is complete.  I also make it a point to use my Tuesday evenings to knit, and not work on other things.

Rather than check email incessantly during the workday, I block off time slots in my day to do nothing but correspond via email.  When the email is complete, I move on.  I do the same with phone calls.  If I am working on a project, I do not answer the phone.  I will return the calls immediately upon completion of my project.

Because of the information overload that has become a normal part of our daily lives, we have lost focus.  We have lost some of our ability to give all of our attention to one thing at one time.  We have become multi-taskers by default, giving bits and pieces (scraps really) of ourselves to each task.  I am very very guilty here.  I prided myself on my ability to multi-task.  I drove myself nuts. I had too much going on all the time.  Things got finished, but by the seat of my pants at the last minute.  People expressed their amazement at how I was able to be so productive.  Little did they know, that type of productivity was killing me.

I have since learned to focus.  I’ve prioritized the tasks in my life and in my work.  I still get a lot done… but I try (I don’t always succeed, but I do try) to start and finish things, before starting others.  I consciously attempt to be present in the moment and to focus on the task at hand, be it an important presentation for work or washing the dishes.  All are deserving of my time and my attention.

Practice focusing this week.  Set time limits for tasks.  Do only those tasks. Schedule everything in.  Prioritize.  Take the unimportant “stuff” off of your list. Let your brain settle down.

You’ll find that things get done faster and better and that you have more satisfaction at their completion.

What are you going to finish this week?