There’s something I forgot to say in that article about organizing myself, and the more I’ve thought about it the more I thought it’s probably the most important part of the whole process.
When I was studying for my final exams at university, I had a friend (let’s call him Bob) who seemed to put the hours in. I know that because his bedroom was covered in graphs of the hours worked and motivational post it’s in key positions saying things like ‘HEAD DOWN NOW’. The exams came and went, and he came out with a 2:2 (a fairly mediocre grade for anyone outside of the British university system). When I talked to Bob afterwards, he said that he’d certainly put in the hours required to summarise lectures and read up on the key topics, but he’d forgotten the vital final stage: to sit down and LEARN it to the point where he could regurgitate it at will. So, he got into the exam rooms for each of the papers, and nothing was there. Scary.
And so it is with this. All of the ‘to do’ lists, Trello boards and iPhone Siri shortcuts are for nothing if you don’t then set aside specific time in your diary to actually do the work.
For many this can be scary. They fill their diaries with meetings, go for coffees, attend conference calls and travel from one building to another. All of this takes up so much time that there’s no time left to do any work never mind the stuff that you’ve patiently recorded in your new Trello board.
Trello does have a ‘due date’ function and their latest upgrades means that there’s a calendar view but if you have one of those diaries that other people can access the Trello calendar isn’t much use to you.
That final step therefore, is to allocate the necessary time needed in your diary and then make sure you’re not disturbed until you get it done. Carrying out this final stage often means that you realise you don’t have enough time for your committed actions, in which case it’s time to start saying ‘no’ to things, including your phone and your email inbox. I’ve never understood why people think that a phone call is a valid excuse as to why they haven’t done something they committed to.
That final link has to be between your neatly prioritized, single source of Trello truth and your diary. Then you have more than an even chance of actually delivering something.
