I like lists. No, I take that back, if you ask my wife, she would likely say I love lists. People tend to think it’s because I obsessively organized… but you want to know a little secret?? The truth is, I have the memory of a goldfish. Seriously, I put my keys in the exact same spot every day just so I won’t have to rush around looking for them in the morning. I once went to introduce my mom and I forgot her first name… I was like “I want you to meet my mom …. Er … “ (awkward silence). Back when I worked as a mobile DJ, I would always write the bride and grooms name on the back of my hand, that way when it was time for the first dance (or whatever) I was not like…”ladies and gentlemen, please give a round of applause as we invite… invite… uh, that what’s-his-name and what’s-her-face to the floor for a dance”. Cheesy I know, but hey, I was in college.
So, as a result, I have developed little rituals as a coping mechanism to deal with my pea-sized memory gland that has effectively stopped working. I am a faithful user of Tasks in Outlook, but I admit, I only work on the points tagged urgent and I am always looking for a new tip or two. When I saw Peter Bregman’s post titled “An 18-Minute Plan for Managing Your Day” in the HBR voices, I was intrigued. Net results from his blog, he has some good reminders about deliberately setting a plan for the day, sticking to that plan and evaluating your results at the end of the day. I like how he links into the Corporate Athlete theme by building rituals around the day to ensure you deliberately focus on what is most important.
Shawn Grubb
My college councilor said he got B’s pretty easy. But he discovered he had a photographic memory and could remember everything the instructor did on the board.
cheater.
By: Ben on 09/08/2009
at 11:08 am
Try using 2 categories: Important and Urgent.
Important are things that will really make a difference (typicallyl onger term), while Urgent is just something that really must to be done today (or tomorrow). Get rid of as much Urgent things as possible, so you can focus on the Important ones instead.
PS I used to have a great memory, which meant I did not (need to) structure – or so I thought… Now I am (much) older, and find I do need to structure, because it links things to another, thereby helping my (now failing) memory. Also it helps focusing, because usually you can still remeber at least the top level items of a mind map.
And yes, I also put my mobile, keys, glasses etc. in the same place to easily find them back
By: A on 10/22/2009
at 5:37 am