Dumb Medicine

Lately I’ve been really busy with my real job. I’ve been meaning to post stuff on Dumb Medicine, but I just haven’t gotten around to it. I’ve also been meaning to work on several projects for work, finish my taxes, make some images for a couple websites, put a muzzle on the dog that lives below us, and puncture our neighbor’s subwoofer speakers. I haven’t gotten around to those things either.

Time management

You could say that my time management is crap. Maybe I have too much on my plate also, but I’ve never been convinced that is a good excuse. In fact, the only person I’m making an excuse to is myself. No one else really cares if I finish these things on my own deadlines. So basically, I’ve been letting myself down a ton.

The first step to getting things done is to realize what really needs to be done and by when. The best way I’ve found to plan things out is to visualize them. This is probably one of the main reasons I use Google Calendars. This service that Google offers lets you easily keep track things you have going on in your life. If you don’t have an account, go there today and start playing around with it.

I would recommend putting in all the things that you know have deadlines. I mean definite deadlines. Then start putting in things you need to have done, but the deadlines are kinda fuzzy. I wouldn’t suggest going overboard like I did in the beginning. At one point I started listing my lunches.

Make a better to-do-list

If you’re not making a to-do-list, then you could probably benefit from one. It’s like making a skeleton before you write a long paper. My normal to-do-list is full of everything I’ve been meaning to do. I start it out writing what I have to do that day, but it quickly develops into things that need to be done that week. After I finish it, I “try” to cross things off the list by completing them. Usually by the end of the week though, I’ve only crossed off a couple things.

It took me a while to figure out why I wasn’t finishing my to-do-lists. I decided to sit down and read the tasks that weren’t getting completed. After getting through several of them, I started to notice something. The tasks that kept getting pushed back were vague. They didn’t specify exactly what I wanted accomplished, and they didn’t give me a time frame for getting things done.

The second step to getting things done is to make a to-do-list. You’re not just making any to-do-list; you’re filling it with specific tasks you want to complete within a time frame that you can manage. An example of a bad task on your to do list is “Work on Group presentation.” That task sucks. I rewrote it and now I’m waiting for the group to get back to me, not vice-versa. What I wrote was “Review group project tonight and email back your thoughts.” It’s clear whether I completed it or not, and I knew when I had to do it by.

Eliminate distractions

Distractions are another cause for me not getting things done. I imagine they are a cause of long to-do-lists many other people too. If I were to just limit it to the internet, the things I typically pull up everyday on my computer are: Stumbleupon, Google Reader, Gmail, Google Calendars, Google News, Dumb Medicine, Clicky, Mint.com, Facebook, Wikipedia, and various instant messengers. You could see how these would be a barrier if say, I were trying to write this article. In fact, at this moment I’ve got Gmail and Google Reader up.

Now that you know when you need to have things done by and you have your to-do-list in front of you, pick the most important thing on your list. Our goal is to eliminate distractions, so you can’t have anything else pulled up and you have to isolate yourself. Continue working on your to-do-list, and do it until you’re finished (but finish this article first). Hopefully you haven’t written “Paint the entire house.” Remember, we want something you can achieve in a relatively short block of time.

The third step to getting things done is to eliminate distractions. If you’re painting some room in your house, then don’t turn on the TV and text your friends. Both can wait, and your TV isn’t showing anything anyway. If you think your TV is more important, then stop painting. Our goal here is to get quality work out of the time you spend instead of half-assed attempts which you have to go back and fix. This gives you time for quality play.

Consistency

Consistency will keep you from reverting back to crappy time management and ineffective to-do-lists. Keeping yourself on track will make you a work powerhouse, and once you finish being your work you’ll be a playtime powerhouse.

After starting the first 3 steps, you’re going to have to keep with it for a little while. Once you start knocking things off your list, other things will start dropping in that you’ve been avoiding and you gotta do those too. You should find with consistency in getting things done, you’ll finish things on time and become even more efficient at doing tasks.

Consistency has been my failure. I had discovered these steps several years ago, but I slacked off with my lists. After re-initiating my work regimen, I’m starting to come up with some free time. Guess who’s going wine tasting this weekend?

-DM