April 20th, 2010

I am back from holidays and, as usual, there is so much admin catch-up to do while feeling just a tad lagged and distracted. I put into place a timed process that is a great way to stay focused and get stuff done for when a limited attention span is an issue. It helps to engage the thinking processes so paying attention happens naturally. I thought I would share it….

Start by listing the jobs to be done, eg today mine look like:

catch up pile
finalise BAS
sort out spare room stuff
clear emails
finalise client records
blog

then add 10 / 20 / 30 after each one. It will now look like:

catch up pile 10 / 20 / 30
finalise BAS 10 / 20 / 30
sort out spare room stuff 10 / 20 / 30
clear emails 10 / 20 / 30
finalise client records 10 / 20 / 30
blog 10 / 20 / 30

Now just do each item in order for 10 minutes, then back to the top of the list to do each item for 20 minutes, then back again to the top of the list to do each item for 30 minutes. Cross off each time code as you get to them ie my list looks like this right now:

catch up pile 10 / 20 / 30
finalise BAS 10 / 20 / 30
sort out spare room stuff 10 / 20 / 30
clear emails 10 / 20 / 30
finalise client records 10 / 20 / 30
blog 10 / 20 / 30

And, if you get an item done before the time is up then you can just cross off the whole item and move on!

This is a great way to work through an overwhelming list… I think this months ezine will be on this and other ways to handle overwhelm. If you are not yet signed up go to http://gaylandeta.com.au/sign-up/ to do so.

Here’s to getting stuff done!

Gay

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