Archive for the ‘Time Management’ Category
May 5th
Back when I was in college, I was never particularly systematic about keeping track of homework assignments—I’d scribble notes to myself on various scraps of paper, or sometimes on my hand—but it seems today’s students are better organized.
Claire from Gig Harbor, Washington, recently wrote in to suggest that we add a column to the Academic Minister for writing down assignments… does anyone else agree? How do you keep track of your homework?
April 23rd
Kelly and Katie McMenamin are two sisters who run a New York based home and life organization service called Pixies Did It. Their philosophy: life should be easy, and if your home is not organized around your own habits and personality, it won’t run smoothly. Here, Katie talks about how she found an organizational system that works for her:
“I’ve spent much of my life envying people who seem to have it together—organized, always on time, cautious, well dressed (and without cat hair, lint, dandruff, etc. upon their clothes) The kind of people who have no problem working first and playing later.
As much as I have tried, (watching television WHILE I write this, for instance) stray hairs are upon my clothes (which are, nonetheless, comfortable & stylish) and no matter how hard I try, I have never been able to be the strictly organized, on time, work before play person I have so much envied.
Turns out, those super ‘together’ people I’ve been jealous of were born with innate abilities for discipline & order. It comes EASY to them because if they don’t do these things, they get anxious, and annoyed. Life becomes hard. These people (my sister, for instance) are uncomfortable being messy, they aren’t happy unless they are crossing things off their lists, making sure their outfits are put together, the world around them ordered, filed away, clean. It’s simply who they are.
Not me. Read the rest of this entry »
April 2nd
Amateur professor and self-declared “findologist” Professor Solomon created a simple twelve-step method for finding things you’ve lost. According to him, “There are no missing objects, only unsystematic searchers.” Now Professor Solomon is making his 67-page book, “How to Find Lost Objects,” available online as a free PDF download. It may sound a little wacky, but many of his ideas aren’t far off the mark… I especially like Principle 6:
It is possible to look directly at a missing object and not see it. This is due to the agitated state of mind that often accompanies a misplacement. Go back and look again. It may be staring you in the face.
In college, I once combed through my entire dorm room piece by meticulous piece in search of a missing ID, only to find, when I got back around to my desk, that it was sitting right there in plain view, on top of my computer.
March 28th
Earth Hour started with a question: How can we inspire people to take action on climate change?
The answer: Ask the people of Sydney, Australia to turn off their lights for one hour.
On March 31, 2007, 2.2 million people and 2100 businesses in Sydney turned off their lights for one hour - Earth Hour. If the greenhouse reduction achieved in the Sydney during Earth Hour was sustained for a year, it would be equivalent to taking 48,616 cars off the road for a year.
Earth Hour founder, Andy Ridley, said 371 cities and towns from Australia to Canada–35 countries in all–had signed up for the 60-minute shutdown at 8 pm on March 29, 2008.
Ridley, who began Earth Hour last year while working with WWF Australia, said the initiative was about individuals and global communities joining together to own a shared problem - climate change.
Cities officially signed on include Chicago, San Francisco, Dublin, Manila, Bangkok, Copenhagen and Toronto, all of which will switch off lights on major landmarks and encourage businesses and homeowners to follow suit.
“Switching off the lights for an hour is not going to make a dent in global emissions,” said WWF organizer, Charles Stevens. “But what it does do is it is a great catalyst for much bigger changes. It engages people in the processes of becoming more energy efficient.”
March 27th
I recently went through a long phase of feeling overwhelmed and inadequate by all the things that I needed to do - but could never manage to get done.
Struggling to understand, over time two things became clear: I was confusing possibilities with priorities; and wasting too much time on email.
Here’s how I changed: I stopped writing a lot of email. I went back to communicating in person or over the phone whenever I could. The less email I wrote, the less I had to respond to. Unless I was asked a direct question, I didn’t automatically hit the “Reply” button. And, as hard as it is, I stopped checking email constantly. A lot of things don’t need an immediate answer.
I also stopped filling up my daily and weekly lists with every item I wanted to do or felt I needed to do. By late Friday afternoon (or Saturday morning) I was still trying to catch-up. Now, in my planner I list a priority for the week and two or three tasks a day to support it.
My long lists of “To-Dos” never allowed enough time to handle unexpected problems and requests. These incidents often present the best opportunities for the company. I make addressing these requests a priority when they come along.
March 19th
My beloved Robert le HĂ©ros planner got a great review over at a blog called Sensibly Sassy last week… “Most planners look a ‘little too business’ for my style,” Sarah, the blogger, opined. “I want the function of a strictly business planner but I didn’t want it to look boring.”
Welcome to the (fan) club, Sarah!
March 12th
Randy Pausch, the CMU professor whose inspiring “last lecture” became an internet sensation last fall, recently posted the transcript of another talk he gave about time management.
“I think at this point I’m an authority about what to do with limited time,” said Pausch, a 46-year-old father of three with terminal pancreatic cancer.
The talk, very broadly, is about setting goals and priorities to make sure that every minute counts: “Anytime anything crosses your life, you’ve got to ask, ‘This thing I’m thinking about doing, why am I doing it?’” You can read a transcript of the lecture here, watch the video online, or even download it as a podcast.
February 18th
Human brains aren’t designed for extreme multitasking.
That is the conclusion reached by a research team lead by Dr. Edward Awh, a professor of psychology at the University of Oregon. The team found the average person can only focus on four things at once. Some people can do more, some less. The study found that despite claims to the contrary, young people can’t do more things at once than anyone else.
The study also found the complexity of things people try to remember doesn’t matter. The subjects fared the same when asked something simple, like the colors of tiles; or something intricate, like the design of Chinese characters.
In real life this means you can most likely only focus on four things, regardless ofwhether they are things that don’t require much thought–like following the car in front of you–or complicated things, like reading a book.
The influx of new technologies and entertainment devices into the workplace encourages multitasking. But if you can’t crunch numbers on a spreadsheet, listen to an iPod, answer email or a text message and check your cell phone don’t blame yourself - evolution hasn’t caught up to the times.
January 28th
How many programs are running on your computer as you read this? How many icons are scattered on your desktop?
If your answer is “too many to count,” you may want to check out a recent article over at Slate about a new kind of software called zenware, or clutter-management programs “that introduce much-needed traffic calming to our massively expanding desktops.” Zenware works by trying to minimize or hide the applications you don’t need as you work, thereby focusing your attention on the task at hand and minimizing distractions.
For reviews of some of the most popular programs, read the rest of the article or check out these other links.
January 22nd
Traveling from Phoenix to Tucson, Arizona, I took a detour off I-10 and went to visit Casa Grande.
Built by the Hohokam, it is the largest prehistoric building in North America. The large and vibrant community surrounding it in 1350 AD vanished without a trace. We don’t know what became of the people or the purpose of Casa Grande.
Because the windows and doorways align with the sun and moon at significant times of the year, and at extreme points in their cycle, the building may have served as an calendar and observatory.
Why and for what use the Hohokam developed this elaborate system is still a mystery. Since the ruins of a ball court are nearby, the amateur archaeologist in me believes a relationship can be found with Aztec or Mayan temple complexes hundreds of miles to the south in Mexico and Central America.
