I’m used to the Franklin-Covey planner, so I'll make suggestions that work with their system. If you use another system, just add sections to your planner to get the function. If you only use an electronic planner, find ways to incorporate these functions into your system, either electronically or on paper you carry with you.
When I’m spending most of my time in my home office, I can keep track of my appointments on my computer, and sync with my PDA to carry with me. When I go out, I add new appointments to my PDA and sync with my computer.
When I’m spending most of my time out of the office, meeting new people and attending meetings, I use my paper planner as well. It’s just easier for me to take notes with pen and paper than to power up my PDA, find the right place and type one character at a time when I get a new phone number or get information I want to remember. I keep this as auxiliary information, and when I get back to the office at the end of the day I review my notes and add them to my computer or PDA as appropriate, and then sync the PDA and computer.
Life used to be easier! If you don’t need to keep track of certain details, don’t worry about it. Organizational tools are there to make your life easier by helping you keep track of details that help you be more productive. If the planner is asking for something you don’t need, just know it’s there in case your circumstances change in the future. Use only the elements that help you now.
Elements (sections of your planner)
• General:
o Master task list (items you want to accomplish with no specific time frame)
o Values & goals (see “Values-Based Time Management” pg 201)
o Focus (see “Focus Session” pg 186)
o Contacts
o Notes
• Annual:
o Calendar
• this year
• at least one year in the future
• last year
• Monthly: (you may prefer weekly)
o Index
o Goals for this month
• Daily:
o Task list
o Appointment schedule
o Journal
o Expenses
Carry your planner with you everywhere. Develop a routine so you make sure you have it with you when you leave the house, your table at the restaurant, a meeting. It contains personal information like your wallet or purse, so keep track of it as you do your wallet or purse. As you go through the day, write down notes, phone numbers, and appointments all in one place … your planner.
If I meet a new person and get their business card, I write their name, phone number, email and pertinent information in the contacts section. I keep the business card and file it at home in my “Contacts” file.
If I find out there is an upcoming meeting, or an agency or person to follow up with, I turn to the journal page for today, and write it there. I give it a title which I underline: Annual Meeting, and underneath I write the details. Then I go to the monthly index page and in the first column write today’s date, and in the second column write “Annual Meeting”. The index is wonderful! Three months from now I'll remember I wrote the annual meeting information somewhere, and I don’t have to dig through my pile of papers, or go through each daily planner page. I can just look through a few monthly index pages until I find the listing, and then turn to the right daily page to find my notes.
If I’m at a meeting and I know I'll need several pages to take notes, I start a new page in the “Notes” section of my planner, and use as many pages as I like. I can move those pages to today’s daily page, and make an entry in the monthly index so I can locate the notes later. Sometimes I type the notes into my computer later, and if so, I copy them into the “Notes” section of my PDA software so I have them electronically if I need them. But then I’m a techie. You may want to keep things more paper based.
It’s important to prioritize your list of daily tasks, so you don’t spend your valuable time getting pulled into a long-winded conversation about an item that is not your priority, or sometimes even your responsibility. Know where you're going today, and keep yourself on track. I prioritize using A, B, C and Z. I change priorities on my computer to Z when they are complete, because when I sort they go to the bottom of the list. Not all As are equal: use A1, A2, A3 etc. to further prioritize, so you know what to start with first.
Some of your priorities you can delegate to others. Keep them at the same priority level on your planner; just make a note of who you delegated to, and when they are supposed to do what. If this gets very complicated, you might want to use project management software to keep track of specific projects with timelines and tasks that are dependent, meaning if someone is late getting back to you on their task, then other people are not able to start their part and the whole project becomes late, and you have a cascading effect on your plans for each task in the project. Let the project management software make the adjustments for you. See the “Project Management” section of Recession or Recovery: 7 Steps to Success in Business & in Life.
That's about it. The most important thing: Keep everything in one place, or at least somewhere you can find it again. When you reach for a piece of paper to write down some important bit of information, reach for your planner and write it somewhere you can find it easily.
Best wishes,
Marilyn McLeod
Marilyn@PersonalizedHealthCoach.com
Visit Marilyn McLeod's Amazon Author Page
http://www.bit.ly/drWaBB
Blog: http://www.PersonalizedHealthCoach.com
Products & Free Assessment: http://www.Amway.com/HealthCoach
Best wishes,
Marilyn McLeod
Marilyn@PersonalizedHealthCoach.com
Visit Marilyn McLeod's Amazon Author Page
http://www.bit.ly/drWaBB
Blog: http://www.PersonalizedHealthCoach.com
Products & Free Assessment: http://www.Amway.com/HealthCoach
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