Time Well Spent

Philip and I spent some quality time together over the Thanksgiving holiday, we had 10 hours in the van traveling, so we listened to a productivity seminar, Getting Things Done by David Allen, on his ipod. Considering my recent bout with OMS (Overwhelmed Mommy Syndrome) and things falling through the cracks I can use all the new ideas I can get. There are a few ideas so far that have really helped me feel more on top of things.

The first is to collect ideas when they pop into my head, capture them somehow, on paper or a napkin whatever works to keep the idea from buzzing around my brain. If it can't be taken care of right now then it goes in the inbox.

Processing the inbox, is the organizing part. Each piece of "stuff" is taken out of the inbox and dealt with. If it takes less than 2 minutes to complete I do it now. If it only takes one action but can't be done now it goes on the appropriate action list, home, computer, errand etc.

The last tool I have found to be very helpful is a "tickler" file I know where the info is and I don't have to think about it now. When I need it, it will show back up in my inbox.

What is missing from this system is a daily "to do" list, this has been the hard part for me, but so far this is working. All the little thoughts and "I need to ..." are not buzzing around in my head and I'm able to focus on the task at hand. By limiting the places I have information stored I'm not wasting time looking for things because the info is in one of 4 places the google calendar, the action list on the computer/PDA ( I inherited Honey's old blackberry), the inbox or the tickler file. An added benefit of the PDA is it syncs with Microsoft outlook, which syncs with the google calendar. Everything I need on the go in one place.

Even with the busyness of the holidays I feel like I have a handle on what I need to do and I'm not as stressed about it. I'm not worried about what I'm forgetting because for the first time in who knows how long I have a system that I can trust. Recovering from OMS is a good thing.