more-on-time-management.html

title: More on Time Management
date: 2009/08/08 06:19:00 -0700
tags: [{"name":"productivity","id":58675159}]
author: Jane Dallaway
alias: /more-on-time-management

<p>10 months ago I posted about my <a href="http://jane.dallaway.com/time-management-empty-inbox-policy">zero email inbox strategy</a>.  Since then I have changed some bits, and kept some bits the same.  I still try and run with an empty inbox, and I still use an Action folder/tag to separate emails that I need to refer back to in order to complete.<p />I don't use <a href="http://www.rememberthemilk.com/">Remember The Milk</a> anymore, not because it wasn't good, but because I'd started using <a href="http://jane.dallaway.com/appigo-notes">Appigo Notes</a> to synchronize my notes from my iPod to <a href="http://www.toodledo.com/">Toodledo</a> and using two web based applications seemed like overkill - so I switched over to Toodledo completely.<p />I use the <a href="http://www.appigo.com/todo">Appigo ToDo</a> iPod Touch application to synchronize my task list between my iPod and Toodledo.  I have a Toodledo application on my <a href="http://www.google.com/ig">igoogle</a> page which allows me to add tasks quickly.  When I read an email which I want to add to my task list, I email it straight to toodledo making use of the shortcuts like @, #, *, % in the subject line to get the tasks into the right place.  I can even send a twitter direct message to @toodledo to get a task registered.  In short, there is NO excuse for tasks not to get recorded.<p />I've read a couple of time management books, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/That-Frog-Great-Ways-Procrastinating/dp/1583762027">Eat that Frog</a> and <a href="http://www.markforster.net/do-it-tomorrow/">Do It Tomorrow</a>.  I found Do It Tomorrow to be an excellent book, really easy to read and easy to implement and a book I'd recommend for those wanting a simple system.  The conclusion and general policy is "Few things are so urgent that they wouldn't be better put off till tomorrow".<p />I've got much better at scheduling things in for the next day, and have completed a lot more items in a lot less time.  I still need to get much better at turning my email off, my instant messenger client off, and my twitter client off and to learn to focus without distractions more - I've been trying out the <a href="http://jane.dallaway.com/tag/pomodoro">pomodoro</a> system to help with this aspect and even created my own <a href="http://www.pocketmod.com/">Pocketmod</a> based <a href="http://jane.dallaway.com/pocket-pomodoro">Pocket Pomodoro</a> booklet to put my weeks tasks into - this has helped but I need to be disciplined to actually record the outcomes properly.<p />As usual, still a work in progress.</p>