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Matty · 01-23-2012, 07:09 AM

I have always had the problem of being a little scatter brained when it comes to remembering everything I need/want to do. I also have trouble self motivating, and make to do lists to force myself to get motivated to get things done. Every morning, while I'm drinking my coffee, I use a dry erase board to list everything I need to do that day. It's sad, but that's the only way I can keep from wasting all day on Pirate or just doing nothing. If I have a good, solid list, I will bust [censored] all day. I also have the bad habit of starting a project, then getting side tracked and losing interest.

I also have the problem that while my mind is running all day and thinking of what I need to do, and I come up with ideas to market my business, and even ideas for what I want to do with other ventures, when I get a chance to actually do it, I draw a blank. Having a smart phone has helped, I can put stuff into the calendar, or make notes, I used to carry a notepad everywhere because otherwise I would forget half of what I was thinking.

I've decided this year to set some goals for my business, future business stuff, etc. I always blew off people who made 5 year plans, but I figure I'll give it a shot. I sat down last night and made a list of everything I wanted to achieve, and set a due date for getting there, now I need a way to motivate myself to get the small steps leading up to the big picture.

I played with google calendars a bit, and I like it because it's tied to my phone, but I can't see a way to make sub goals and it's hard to see the big picture. I need to see the big picture everyday in order to stay motivated to see things through.

So, who else has my personality and what are you doing to organize your life and keep yourself motivated?

***The Boss*** · 01-23-2012, 09:54 AM

Sounds like me. If I get focused I can complete any task, i just have too many distractions (like typing this while at work!!)

I have a big white board in my home office that I use to list all the major projects in one color and major sub tasks of each in another color. Its facing the office door so just walking in I see it right away. However, my desk is turned 180* from that, but its easy enough to glance back at it.

Also, once a week I write down the same or slightly modified list in my Rolla binder and check that daily for what I should be working on.

I just need to stay focused. Working from home makes it far to easy to switch to something else some days. Also, a clean office offers much fewer distractions, so I give it a good once over 1-2 times a months, removing old papers, organizing the desktop organizer, etc.

Tango · 01-23-2012, 04:54 PM

I use Palm Desk top. You can have it on both your PC and your Phone.
Has (Tasks) Todo lists by catagory and contacts. Project tasks, daily reminders, meetings.

If you use some planner like that PLUS a methodigy it helps alot. Franklin Covey has a class/book on "What matters Most" which I found good.

***The Boss*** · 01-23-2012, 06:11 PM

I've been through two Franklin Covey project management type courses and they were okay. I was already doing most of those things anyway, so the reinforcement was good. I still find it difficult to juggle my various projects at times (depending on time lines), but in general their recommendations were the same as I was already doing and it was working for me.

Normally I have 1-2 projects that I can use these methods with and I can keep sane, but the past two weeks I am up to 7 critical path projects and I am feeling like I am getting my [censored] kicked. Way too many things to be doing and keeping track of....

I really need to re-evaluate my PM strategy

BlueRam2500 · 01-23-2012, 07:13 PM

Matty I do the same thing, even though I can put stuff into the calendar on my iPhone. I have a pad right by the couch where I write stuff down and take it to work with me. My mind races 1000000000x a day with all different stuff, from ring shopping to the quad to summer plans. I went back to school and am finishing next June with my teaching certificate so that is my main priority now.

Tango · 01-23-2012, 07:21 PM

I think Franklin is basic, but their methodology and some "don't sweat the small stuff” can keep people focused and from getting in ruts.

7 projects is a bit much, are you still working on the catastrophic stuff?

***The Boss*** · 01-23-2012, 08:58 PM

(01-23-2012 07:21 PM)Tango Wrote: I think Franklin is basic, but their methodology and some "don't sweat the small stuff” can keep people focused and from getting in ruts.

7 projects is a bit much, are you still working on the catastrophic stuff?

Yes, still working on it in a sense. We are redesigning our core software and I am working on the migration of many parts of it from the old formats to the new ones. I have a few natural catastrophe models/data components I am working on as well, but mostly is data manipulation/conversion, etc right now

yes, seven is a bit much, but I am trying to deal

Matty · 01-24-2012, 05:20 AM

Well, my list is long, and I'm setting some benchmarks I want to be at business wise in 5 years.

I started tonight by making a list of what I currently have to do, then broke that down in word to substeps and individual steps to achieve each task. I'll transfer a hand full of those to my little dry erase board on the firdge each day to wittle them down I also typed out my long term goals and broke down the steps to reach them.

The addition I am building has an office, and I plan on doing one wall with dry erase board to map everything out so I can look at it every day.