Matthew Cornell has a great little PDF out called Where the !@#% did my day go? He has offered to let me give a copy away here on Productivity501. See below for information about the contest.
“Where the !@#% did my day go?” is designed to help you adopt a daily planning routine. It assumes that you have some type of task management and calendar system in place, already. From that standpoint, it kind of picks up where other system leaves off–once you’ve captured what needs done, how do you execute? Here are some of the things I found interesting:
- Task selection – Matthew has some really good points about how to select tasks so that you feel good about what you’ve accomplished for the day. Just getting work done isn’t enough–you need to feel good about your day when you head home.
- Task order – There is a nice discussion on the benefits of different ordering strategies.
- Interruptions – There are some great suggestions for dealing with interruptions and how to integrate potential interruptions into your planning process.
- Estimation – It is hard to plan if you don’t know how long things will take. Matthew suggests that you estimate and then measure how long a task will take. That way, you keep getting better at estimating over time and your accuracy will increase.
- Worksheets – The PDF includes several worksheets to help with the planning and measurement process. I particularly liked the idea of the “interruption worksheet” to keep track of what is interfering with your planned execution.
- Examples – There are several examples of actual worksheets and plans. It is surprisingly interesting to see how someone else has planned their day.
- Measurements – The process tries to encourage a lot of different types of quantifiable measurements from tracking interruptions to giving you a way to check if you are on or off task every 15 minutes.
I really liked this quote encouraging people to try to create a work plan for the day and follow it:
It’s as if a very smart person who is intimately familiar with your work has figured out the best use of your time for the day, then written it out in plain language. You don’t have to think about what to do next. You simply work each task in order, relishing the feeling of flow and accomplishment.
I enjoyed reading the PDF. It isn’t particularly long, so it doesn’t take a huge time investment to read and I can’t imagine anyone who won’t get something out of it that they can apply immediately to help make them more productive.
Contest
To enter the contest you have to leave a comment. Give us an example of how you successfully do your daily planning or how you don’t plan or a story about your boss who doesn’t plan, but needs to, etc. (If you draw a complete blank, you can just say “enter me into the contest”.)
We will pick a winner in a week or so and send them a shiny new copy of the PDF!
Remember the immortal line of Robert de Niro’s in Taxi Driver: “One of these days I’m gonna get organizized”? That’s me. Please enter me into the contest. Please.
I plan most of my activities at the start of each week, leaving enough time open to deal with unexpected things that may come up.
Please enter me in the contest!
I take physical steps for each part of the task I am doing before tackling the project ,visualizing each step and the end to maintain focus.
where the !@#% did my day go? i know where it went. it got sucked away by facebook :)
please enter me into the contest.
I have a friend who cancelled his Facebook account for this very reason.
I plan out my day, then reality enters and everyone else’s priorities become mine. I need help at planning how to adapt my plan! Please enter me into the contest. I could use this book!
My day is filled with interruptions (I do IT and HR) so I find it REALLY hard to plan.
Please enter me in the contest. Thanks!
Here’s one thing I do that has massively increased my productivity. You know how those low-priority tasks always get pushed to the bottom of your to-do list? For example: laundry, RSVP to invitation, personal phone calls…whatever doesn’t seem as important as the rest of the things you’re juggling. Then the next thing you know, those low-priority tasks have turned into high-priorities and you’re scrambling to get everything done! What I do is to set aside an hour every week where all I do is deal with low-priority tasks. I don’t answer the phone or respond to “emergencies.” This ensures that I am always on top of my !@#%.
Thanks for the great content you consistently provide!
Thank you for your encouragement.
Matt Cornell rocks.
I use David Seah’s Emergent Task planner each and every day when I am being organized, and its there that I put down what next actions I’m going to take care of (or try to take care of). Check it out if you haven’t already seen it. He is also now selling his second run of these pre printed on sturdy paper, and the new one is great looking.
Here’s the free version: http://davidseah.com/blog/comments/emergent-task-planner-free-version-updates/
Like everyone else, I tend to record too many MIT. The day races by and I get way too little done. Today I took care of three items out of 8. One of them was Yoga because I am really trying to do yoga every day. Two others were “work” related, not health or life-style changes.
We are living in a rat race, and I have not been able to control the pace. If I learned to spend less money I might be able to work a bit less. I want to see Matt’s latest, count me in.
Lynn
I have developed my own to-do list sort of based on Franklin Covey, but I track tasks on a monthly and weekly level. I get way too depressed when I just don’t get everything done that I wanted to in a day and I hate seeing tasks rolling over constantly.
Anyway, I’m intrigued! Please enter me in the contest. :-)
I found out my cellphone has a voicerecorder, probably yours has one too!
Now I use it all day to record everything i shouldn’t forget, my phone is always at hand, unlike a pen and paper, and always usable, like when driving. At the start of my workday and after lunch I off-load the recordings to my to-do list.
Bert
I set up my daily schedule at 8 am every day morning, and then just follow the task list. Though, there are always some tasks which I am failed to finish it, and it makes me feel bad. some tasks might be put off several times, which of course is not as emergency as other tasks but still important. And the point is the feeling of putting off is exhausted. What should I do?
I’m in an IT job having miriads of visual input screens at the same time, very distracting for me.
I started using VisuaWin in order to have multiple virtual desktops available in which I organise the browsers, terminals, screens, feeds and whatnot according to the different projects I work on. This way they don’t interfere with normal work, keeping me focussed more easily, and when I need to taskswitch I just turn to the desktop which holds the tools for that project.
Linux users can do this out-of-the-box, other virtual desktops exist for windows.
regards, Bert
Hi Folks.
Terri S: Exactly: “On the ground” execution of tasks must happen – that’s where all the action is. In addition, unless those tasks are driven by the higher leve things we want to accomplish (projects which serve goals/purpose/etc), it’s busywork. Having lists for each is the trick, as is reviewing them regularly. Freeing up chunks of time is difficult in most jobs – there’s just too much on our plates. Have you tried blocking out “sacred” time that no one gets to interrupt (including you)? Just start with 1 hour a week and try it. Stretching work time into family/other time is slippery, and is why my guide is focused on giving you the satisfaction of a “day well done.” This makes it easier to go home and let go, I’ve found.
Chris Brown: It’s probably not the tool, it’s the technique?
rbee: I’m glad to know visualizing works for you. I’ve not added it to my practice.
shannon: I was sucked into Twitter big-time, but dropped it a few months ago and have never looked back. For me it wasn’t as personal as Facebook, though, and I was treating it as an (overdue) experiment. In following my guide you’d put “process Facebook” on your plan, with the goal of getting some control over it. You might try this trick: Every time you RE-do a task (email and FB, esp.) put *another* checkmark next to it. Similar to http://matthewcornell.org/2009/10/track-your-multitasking-and-be-surprised.html
Christine Mc: A job like yours *requires* being responsive, and so you need to have solid methods for fitting in work when it’s “quiet” (if ever :-). Coming back to a daily plan helps, I’ve found. You must make realistic ones, though. In my guide I show how to use daily planning as a platform for exploring your days, including what’s realistic given your particular job. Challenging!
Antonia: Great strategy. I have one of those sessions organically – “Jeez, I’ve got to clean up all this little stuff!” In the guide I show how to create a mix of big and little so the latter doesn’t become the former, as you point out :-)
Lynn O’Connor: Nice thinking, as usual.
I own my own business but am also trying to juggle breadwinning (in this economy) with running home and family (I have twin 4 year olds) Please enter me in your contest; I could use some help.
Anne: Re: rolling over tasks, that’s a limitation IMHO of calendar-based systems. The focus is on what you *didn’t* do, rather than the natural opposite. The daily plan I describe is based on a master tasks list, so you don’t see those tasks come, then come back.
Bert: Voice recording is a fine capture tool. The major limitation is transcription time. I.e., time savings are on the front end, not the back.
flak: Failing to finish, as you put it, is discouraging. Part of my guide describes how to get a “touchdown” where everything is checked off at day’s end. It can be a challenge to lower your expectations to match your reality, but it feels good. I have clients who do this reguarly, then have time for “extra” tasks. For those “stale” tasks you can’t get traction on, I suggest “Analyze why not finishing [task x]” as the replacement task.
Bert: I love it! I have clients who like virtual desktops too. Thanks for the tip.
Hi. Please enter me in the contest. I have worked to implement GTD for a while (I even attended a David Allen seminar). I use OmniFocus on my Mac to organize my absurdly long to-do list. I teach for an online university, and have a seemingly continuous list of assignments to grade, course updates to make, etc. Often the list is so overwhelming that I’m just paralyzed for the day, and manage to get none of it done (today is a good example…why do you think I’m reading blogs?) In addition to that, though, I’ve made a commitment to not spend any more money on organization materials for this year, since the money I’ve spent so far hasn’t resulted in any increased productivity. So…this contest seems to be the only way I can read this PDF and keep my word to myself about money. :-)
Louise: As you know, staying on top of your work and being (appropriately!) responsive are keys to success. Mix in household management and family time, and it becomes more important for balance. Yep.
Katie: Re: absurdely long lists and paralysis, I hear you. GTD is fantastic (I can’t understate its influence on me), and at the same time, once you capture everything you start to have new conversations with yourself and others. The daily planning method I wrote about helps manage all those tasks by making the list effectively smaller and possible, with the attendent psychological relief. Having a checklist of things you need to do regularly (grade, etc.) fits perfectly: You mix those items in each day as needed. Re: Spending more money, I completely understand. Know that my method has simple requirements (a master tasks list), is easy to understand and implement, amplifies the time management work you’ve done so far, can have a big payoff, and – as a bonus – costs about 4% of a David Allen seminar. ;-)
I recently made a change in my daily planning. I used to have a hard time executing a review of the next three days, and decided instead to reschedule it in the morning before I build my scaffold for the day.
It’s helped,and I now have a clear idea of what’s ahead, before I undertake the very first task in my scaffold.
I try to establish an ever evolving system to handle each thing. On Sunday evenings I overview the weeks goals, breaking them down into the tasks required to reach the goals. The I try to plan them into the days of the week around travel and meetings, etc…
I need clarification and help… Please enter me in the contest!
I was once religious about keeping a to-do list in my Franklin-Covey organizer, but I looked at it today and there are cobwebs, just in time for Halloween. My to-do list got abandoned about 6 months ago when I realized that my to-do list was one item: Put out Fires. I would like to get back to being organized, so…
Please enter me in the contest!
I plan my day using 3 Most Important Tasks and then work from my context to-do lists. My biggest timesink though is people who do not read email for comprehension and misinterpret and cause more work just straightening things out.
please enter me in your contest.
Mary – I know the feeling. :) With some people you are better of picking up the phone and giving them a call.
Francis: I’d like to know what you mean by “scaffold.” And are you saying that every morning you do a review of the upcoming three days?
Jeff: I like your weekly planning approach – nice. And yes, my daily planning ideas fit nicely into solid execution.
Maureen: “one item: Put out Fires.” That might be OK with you – depends on the nature of your job. If not, some analysis might get you started on making changes. My guide has a section on interruption tracking, which is on top of the daily planning platform. You might get a lot of diagnostic date out of the exercise. Re the Franklin-Covey method, we should talk – I think there are simpler ways to self-manage.
Thanks for your stories, everyone!
Matt:
Ditto. I got off twitter (meaning I stopped looking at it, at all) about two months ago also. I think the sudden popularity and “fame” of the service brought out so much commercialism –it ceased being interesting enough to justify the time drain. I sometimes miss leads, but it just was not worth it.
I think our time allocation is in for another, far more significant, transformation. What it will look like? Who knows.
I am a productivity “junkie” and have read many books, articles and haunted several blogs, still looking for the perfect system that works for me. This could be it. Please enter me in the contest.
This is a tip that can be somewhat confronting:
At the end of the day, hit Control-H(istory) in your browser to see what you have been visiting that day.
That’s were -part of- your day went!
It helped me to decide to quit some of my browsing at word because I would not be able to explain these visits to my collegues.
Bert
word=work, sorry, typo
Mary: Mark’s point is excellent. Of course sometimes it takes time to figure out who works best in what modality.
Lynn: I’m an ex-Twitterer too. ROI, while it sounds businessy (substitute “80-20 rule” if you’d like) is crucial. But as I told a CIO.com editor last week, it’s also hard to measture with tools like Twitter. Downstream results can be disconnected from upstream (realtime) actions.
Karen: I reccomend 1/2 of what you do ;-) I encourage clients to treat improved productivity as an experiment (this is part of my Think, Try, Learn philosophy). Things are different from a year ago (or 6 months ago): You are different, your job is different, and the world is different, so how you manage yourself should be re-evaluated. Simplification might be appropriate, for example. Re being a junkie – I suspect you know the risks. In my workshops I talk about the “tool trap.”
Bert: I like your tip – a simple kind of time tracking in the most commonly-used tool (next to email – which might be done in the browser too). I like that you used “confronting”. At first I thought you meant “comforting,” but might not be likely ;-)
I hate keeping receipts and it has been the main cause of my demise. I was never good at planning how to pay my credit cards and now I am collapsing under the weight. One was alright because I was learning. I have about eight now. I don’t know when to say no because I can just say plastic. I don’t know how to keep a budget and I cringe every time my mint.com account emails or texts me. I know something is going to be late and I know I would rather have the extra meal than being debt free.
It’s a downward spiral and I’ve been drowning for quite some time.
I would highly recommend that you go to a good financial/debt counselor. The longer you wait the harder it will be to get out of the hole you are digging.
I meant to leave my comment yesterday but I have no idea where the !@#% my day went! I can’t wait to get my new daily planning guide *fingers crossed*. Thank you Mark and Matt for this wonderful opportunity. Oops…I mean contest. ;)
Enter me into contest
Katie: That sounds serious. How about getting some specific financial advice, such as around consolodating debt? In our case, my wife and I cancelled all our accounts, and now have one debit card. It helped us, though our situation wasn’t as dire as yours, I think.
Tammy: Don’t worry, you still have the opportunity, even if you don’t win :-)
I just wanted to let everyone know that Chad won the contest. I’ll do a post announcing it next week. Thank you to everyone who participated.
Thanks so much everyone for your interest and your stories. Those are great examples of why I want to share my ideas. I invite you to go ahead buy a copy, and to contact me if you need more detailed help.
iPhone (“friend”) is my lifesaver. It remembers everything to do with general planning for me. If there’s something to remember for a particular date I put it in my Cal and forget about it until reminder comes up. All my Contacts are memorized by “friend”.
All this syncs to my laptop to help me further get organized in Outlook.
Mobile email and internet access rock! Also I use a todo list that gets updated every day when I select tasks for today. They get priority #1, other tasks for near future #2 and everything else in #3. I use application called Done. And there is so much more I have learned to do to be more organized…..the only problem is sometimes being lazy)))
I am an optimization maniac – I need to be in the contest!
Thanks for reviewing your setup. Though the contest is over, you can still buy a copy.