Daffy's 'patchwork dreams' diary

Cheery_Daff

Right! :T All nicely started - have only got 17 calls to make, not 30odd :T :T And have done the first 4 - which have actually involved what feels like 17 calls each :rotfl: Trying to think of myself as sherlock holmes style character - who exactly do I need to speak to? Have they actually received my email? Do they know what I'm talking about?! :rotfl:

Lunch now, then I MUST tidy up a bit, and we've run out of milk! :eek: :eek: Can't have that - so a quick trip to the shops is in order too And by the time I get started on work again, it'll be time for Squizz to get here :j :j :j :j Looks like I'll have to get back to it this evening! :rotfl: :rotfl:

redsquirrel80

Well done getting stuck into the phonecalls. If it's any comfort I have to come back to work too - a 5.30 meeting (sprung on me this morning) is not in my usual definition of "afternoon off" but can't complain really when I'll have had fun tootling inbetween! Anyway, see you in a bit! :j

Cheery_Daff

How shocking Squizz! Not my definition of afternoon off either - pah! You poor thing

House is tidy now Well, tidy enough anyway :rotfl:

Cheery_Daff

:T :T :T :T :T :T :T

Just seen Squizz out, we had a lovely afternoon And Very Nice Cake

I'll let her tell you about the ferrets... :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Suppose I'd best get back on with some work then!

missymoo81

ferrets?????? I thought we were talking about weasels, that went pop? very confused!!!

Triciaxx

Sounds great and doesn't matter whether they were weasels or ferrets - they are both beautiful creatures.

Sorry about getting back to work - but better than no tootling at all!

ETA: cake = :cool:

Cheery_Daff

Right - I am finishing work now - despite the afternoon interruption overall it's been a pretty productive day! :T :T :T

All planned for what I have to do first thing tomorrow too (sadly involves more scary phone calls :rotfl: :rotfl:)

Going for a run, back past the shop for fruit and yogurt (there I go, shopping again :rotfl:), then a quick shower, get my act together for tomorrow, then I'm going to follow the instructions in the 'Getting things done' book and gather EVERYTHING I'm thinking about at the minute and attempt to process it in some way so I can STOP THINKING ABOUT EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME :rotfl: :rotfl:

That's the idea anyway

Karmacat

**KC slinks in **

Erm .... Cheery .... something happened to my subscription to this diary .... I've seen the first few pages, but nowt after that

I've come back to play

DedicatedDFW

Hi Cheery - good to hear you had a fun afternoon and a productive work day too :j I think you've mentioned the book 'Getting Things Done' a couple of times - any tips from it on how to just get things done

Cheery_Daff

Hooray!:T KC's come back to play! :j :j :j Missed ya girl!

(just been out for a plod n the setting sunshine - all peaceful now and full of joys of spring/summer/whatever season it is :j :j)

This Getting things Done book... Not entirely sure I'd recommend it - seems quite complicated and mostly aimed at executives :rotfl: :rotfl: However, I like someone telling me what to do, and I'm a sucker for new things that involve stationery, so I'm going to give it a go :rotfl: :rotfl:

So - basic starting point is the idea that you can't concentrate on anything while you've got hundreds of 'oh I must do this' and 'ooh, I forgot that' running round in your head (to be honest, I was hooked in at this point :rotfl:). So, you have to get those things *out* of your head...

So, there's 5 stages to mastering your workflow (apparently):

1. collecting EVERYTHING you need to do in one place. Don't do anything with it yet - just put in a giant pile.

2. processing. Start with the thing on the top, and don't miss anything out! All you're doing at this stage is deciding what to do with each thing - what is the 'next action'?

* if no action needed now either (a) put in the bin (b) file for reference or (c) put in your 'someday/maybe' file (for projects you'd like to get round to but not right now)

* if action needed either (a) do it (if it takes less than 2 mins), (b) delegate it (and stick a note on your 'waiting for...' list) or (c) defer it (and put a note on calendar, or onto 'next actions' list).

3. Organise - you'd have:

* list of projects (anything that will take more than one action) - every project MUST have a next action on the list - otherwise obviously it'll never happen!
* next actions lists (split by context - so I've got 'office', 'home - computer', 'anywhere - not computer', 'calls' etc)
* calendar (with only actual appointments on)
* 'waiting for' list

4. Review - you HAVE to do this every week or the whole thing falls apart (I can easily imagine! :rotfl:) Start at 1 again and make sure everything new is included

5. DO! :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: You don't have a daily to do list, but rather use your 'next actions' to choose what to do at any given time - based on time/energy available, priority and context.

Plenty more stuff in there, obviously, and goes into great deatil about what to put in each bit and everything - wouldn't say it was a simple system :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: But I'm game for trying anything once, so here goes!

(he's got a website that you can download a few free things from - can't remember it off head but google david allen getting things done and you'll find it!)

And now - best go and start at 1 for home things :rotfl: :rotfl: