I used mind maps from time to time, a technique that I taught myself based on a phrase that I heard someone else speaking.
I take a sheet of A4 paper, draw a small circle in the middle with the word ‘me’ in it and then I draw arrows to the edge of the circle. I then segment the page through different aspects of my life and what, at that time, is going on in those aspects.
It usually goes something like – self, family, Alison and I, TCC (The Campbell Clinic), TCA (The Campbell Academy), outside stuff, training. I then make notes of what’s going on in each of the sections and visually I see what’s wrong (there is always something wrong) and I try to fix it.
It’s probably time for one of those right about now.
I use a Franklin Covey day planner, introduced to me by Chris Barrow many years ago, which is paper based organisation. When things are very good I spend 8am – 9am on a Saturday morning revising the previous week and planning the next week, highlighting the areas that have to be done on a Monday. I never, ever get to the end of the week having finished the list in the Franklin Covey planner and it passes over to the next week or even the week after that. When things are really difficult I write the list on the Saturday and don’t open it again until the following Saturday, although at those times it’s surprising how much of the list i’ve actually done.
When something’s been on the list for 2 – 3 weeks it usually comes off the list because it wasn’t that important after all.
I use Evernote to make quick notes on my computer of things that can be ultimately transferred into the day planner or big strategic notes that I want to return to later like the ideas for a new course or things I have to do with the practice. Big exercise plans go on Evernote too and it’s always there in the cloud. I can search for it easily and find it again. I have sections in Evernote for TCC but also for my exercise and training stuff, so for example, I keep a list of things I need to take with me when I travel abroad for exercise like to Girona with my friend Craig and then I can re-visit this as a tick box and pack very quickly for the next time.
I use digital dictation but I’ve blogged about this lots of times. You can read about that here.
I now use inverse principles in time management so I don’t emails at all on my phone because that wastes my time. I don’t have Facebook on my phone because that wastes my time too. I probably check Facebook now once a month and none of the times I’ve checked it in the last little while has it been in anyway useful.
Finally though, I am getting harsher and harsher in the way people contact me. I tend not to do replies to texts for people whose number I don’t know - people who have my phone number have started to text me asking for clinical advice and I don’t know who they are. Generally I just delete that and they can find me some other way.
I think Whatsapp is terrible because it logs whether you’ve read it or now and therefore causes problems if people think you haven’t responded quickly enough.
I try to do emails on a Wednesday and a Friday and I answers phone messages in admin sessions or when i’m in my car or walking my dog.
Mostly though I review my time management stuff whenever I get time to sit and reflect. This is not perfect in any way, shape or form but if there’s any bit of this that works for you then grab it, steal it and make it better. Once you’ve made it better send it back to me and tell me what I should do instead.
Time is the commodity; it’s the biggest issue we face. We have 4,500 to use.
Blog Post Number - 1269
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