First, I wrote about how prioritization and balance between important and urgent goals is necessary for my organizational process. Then, I wrote about how I need a system to put things and projects away. Now, I will write about how I go about accomplishing the things on my to-do lists each day.
Obstacle 3: There are so many things to do, and so little energy to do them with.
This goes back to the spoons theme: My energy (and yours) is always limited, and some days it’s more limited than others. My energy also varies during different times in the day.
Along with limited energy, two other finite resources affect my ability to accomplish tasks. One is my ability to concentrate. Unfortunately for me, sometimes having energy doesn’t mean I’m able to concentrate. Sometimes being able to concentrate doesn’t mean I have energy. The most mentally challenging tasks have to be completed in those periods of time where having energy and being able to concentrate intersect. The other finite resource is time. This is significant, because there are tasks that are time sensitive and those that are not. For example, today “call re: Alex’s teeth” was on my to-do list. I didn’t get to it before 5:00 PM. Therefore, it had to be bumped to the next day. I cannot schedule a dental appointment for my son after 5:00 PM. A complicating factor is that I have very little awareness of the passage of time while I’m doing something. As long as my energy and concentration holds out, I will not notice as the minutes run into hours. This is why I didn’t notice the time until it was too late to make the call.
Managing my to-do list with finite energy, finite concentration, and time-sensitive tasks requires its own degree of organization.
Solution 3a: Prioritize the Day
The first thing I do with my to-do list is I number it. There are little boxes, courtesy of my Franklin-Covey planner in which I place the numbers in the order I intend to accomplish specific tasks. This order is very flexible. As the day progresses, I do not necessarily do things in the original order. This depends a great deal on the speed with which I accomplish my tasks, my energy, and my ability to concentrate. That being said, there’s a method to which I put things in order.
I start my day with some very low-pressure activities. In the first one to three hours my ability to concentrate is minimal—I do NOT jump out of bed, ready to tackle life. I’m more the fall-out-of-bed-and-stumble-down-stairs sort of gal. This might have something to do with consistently getting inadequate sleep, but I think it also has to do with the jarring nature of the transition from sleep to wakefulness. I think if I could sleep once a week and be good for the rest of the week, then I’d save a lot of time “wasted” on transitioning from sleep to wakefulness. But, alas, sleep is something I need almost every day. So, I start my day with easy-to-accomplish activities.
Then, assuming I got at least 4 hours of sleep, I have a period of high-energy/high-concentration that lasts anywhere from two to five hours (depending on how much sleep I got, how noisy things are, and a myriad other factors). This is when I do my mentally challenging tasks. Today, I spent that time working on a professional resume package.
Furthermore, to maximize this time I also give myself brain-off tasks interspersed between mentally challenging activities. This is when I do things like wash dishes, vacuum, and wash, fold and put away laundry. These activities require physical energy, but little mental effort. I don’t know why I have more productive time when I flip back and forth between mentally invigorating tasks and mentally tedious tasks, but I do.
Then, I have a fall in energy and the ability to concentrate. At this point I’m back to relatively simple, sedentary tasks. This is usually where I do something like take notes on my writing studies (not my homework), go on Facebook, read a book, or watch a movie.
After a break of this sort, I have a rise in concentration or energy, but usually not both. I either do mentally challenging work or finish household chores, depending on whether I get the energy or the concentration.
Then, whichever it was, I get the flip-side of that of that particular coin and do whatever tasks relate to this side.
Finally, during the wind-down part of my day, I’m back to the simpler, sedentary tasks.
The point is not that my pattern should be your pattern. My point is that by recognizing your own pattern, whatever it may be, you’re more likely to maximize both your productivity and your effectiveness by scheduling your tasks in accordance with your own energy/concentration ratios.
Of course, you can always supplement with caffeine, ginseng, or other boosters to help you stretch out your energy, your concentration, or both. But, if you do that too much, then you get rather dependent on those things—trust me, I know!
Solution 3b: Color-Coding Keeps Things in Order
One thing that should be clear from the description above is that while I only maintain two lists each day—the household list and the professional list—there are sub-lists to each of those lists. I distinguish these sub-lists by color-coding. For example, my tedious professional work is written in black. My high-concentration work is written in red. My writing—referring to my novels, short stories, and my book—is written in purple, not because it’s not high-concentration work, but because it’s easier to make myself do it and therefore less urgent. Other less urgent work is in blue.
For my household work, the colors are different. Black marks the things I have to do at my writing desk (i.e., the desk my computer is NOT at). Red marks the things I have to do at my computer desk. Blue marks chores, which usually have to be done outside of my office (unless the chore is to clean my office). Green marks things I have to do outside the house.
Obstacle 4: Getting to Work
By organizing my to-do lists in this way, I have a tenuous plan for the day. But, it’s still only a plan. To implement that plan, I actually have to get to work.
This can be difficult. On really bad days it can seem impossible. Sometimes I overcome the feeling of impossibility. Other times I don’t.
And that’s okay. I give myself permission to have bad days and you should, too.
Solution 4a: Mark Up Your Progress
I start my day by checking my e-mail. I don’t necessary do anything with the e-mails I received, but I do take stock. It’s like a warm-up exercise before going for a run. After that, I choose one thing on my to-do list—usually my prayer journal—and highlight it in yellow. This means it’s something to tackle right away. Then, I go and read from Daily Guideposts and my scriptures, respond to what I read, and write down a prayer. After that’s done, I use a green highlighter to highlight over the yellow and put a check mark in the box. It feels good. My day is officially started.
As my day progresses, I choose what I’m going to highlight yellow next based on my energy/concentration ratio. The highlighting helps me focus on only a few of the many things I need to do at a time. I try not to have more than four or five things highlighted in yellow on a side. Sometimes, when I’m having difficulty concentrating, I keep it down to one or two things in yellow on a side. And seeing the accumulation of green highlighted lines is very gratifying for me. Of course, the pesky orange highlights—those items I’ve put off until a different day—can seem rather sad, but sometimes that’s necessary.
I use highlighters and colored pens because they’re bold and bright and they stand out. It’s easier for me to see those things I want to see—like the next thing on my to-do list—without getting overwhelmed by all the other tasks. It takes a bit of training to see the list this way—at least, it did for me. But with practice, the green and orange lines are “gone” from the to-do list, except when I want to see what I’ve accomplished and what I’ve already put off. While I’m working I can glance at the yellow lines and know what I’m going to do next. It keeps me on track and it keeps me working.
