I’m writing this post a few hours before a major snowstorm hits. I could write an entire blog post as to the many reasons why I’m not happy that it’s going to snow, but I’ll spare you all from having to read that. Most of all, while I’m not happy it’s going to snow, I’m ready for it to snow.
I have a few broad rules that I apply to everything in my life, one of them being “Be Ready for Any and Every Thing.” Does that mean I always avoid risk? No. Everything has risk. You can’t prevent everything and so many things, (read: all things), are not 100% safe. As such, I’m not suggesting you avoid risk (because you can’t), but rather, you should be prepared to respond to risk.
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We’re getting down to the wire, and 2016 is about to be over. My New Year, New You series is drawing to a close…now that you’ve managed your to do list and your calendar and gone paperless, you need to set up some goals. A quick note on resolutions vs. goals. To me, the word “goals” conjures up a sense of importance, whereas “resolutions” feels more like “I’m gonna try hard but who knows!” That’s just me. Whatever YOU call them, goals or resolutions, you need a plan to make them happen. Today, I want to write about how to set your goals. This is NOT a post with advice on what goals to set (although I’ll share some ideas to get your wheels turning). This is a post that approaches goal setting as a task, and the best ways to keep track of your goals and accomplishing them. I’m not a psychologist or therapist (I am, however, an expert at telling people what to do). You’ll need to decide what’s important to you.
Now that it’s December and we already covered task management, we need to decide how to manage our time. Because guess what? If you have the most organized digital storage system and the most awesome task management system and your calendar is a hot mess, well, then nothing else matters.
Over the years, I’ve tried various approaches to calendar management. I’ve used theme days, time blocking, all kinds. Some of these worked, some of them didn’t. For this post, I hit the Internet to find the best tips and advice for calendar management. There’s no shortage of articles out there with suggestions on managing your calendar, but I wanted to know that my system was going to work for me. I’ve covered my digital filing system and task management system before; both draw from various methods and workflows, and both just work. Why? First, they’re easy and don’t require much thought. As such, neither system impacts my work or takes time to keep up with. Second, every item or task, regardless of what it is or what area of my life it falls under, goes through the same flowchart-of-sorts. Are you someone who doesn’t use a to do list? Then I am in awe of you. I blame my Type A ways, but not having my tasks on a to do list gives me anxiety. As part of my New Year, New You series, I’ve been working behind the scenes testing some task management methods. The most important part of any to do list is actually doing the things. You can have the best to do list, most effective workflow, but if you’re not motivated or active, well, the best app in the world can’t help you. (PSA: if you’re not motivated because you suspect you may be suffering from depression, please seek help. Depression is not a joke, and there is no shame in getting help in whatever way works for you). Today, before Monday’s post reviewing the first method, I want to talk about how I keep a to do list. I’ve used various apps over the years, and I know there are three things that are “must haves” for me:
If you poke around in your phone for a bit, you’ll find that keyboard options usually include a personal dictionary you can use to add words to avoid the dreaded "AutoCorrect screwed me." You can use this same set-up to save time (and typo frustrations) for things you type often or don’t want to use internet slang (on a somewhat related note, if you find your phone cleans up your language, you can use this or a new contact to avoid. Read more here).
Here are some examples of shortcuts I have set-up:
A few notes:
Here’s how you can do it in iOS - we’ll go with lol and make it “Laugh out loud!” |