Monday, September 21, 2009

Time for Vacation?

Just posted this to my personal blog, but thought it was something that was worth the read here too.

I just read a great little blog that deals with time management. This is something I have to consistently work on. I read a book a few years ago that is called Eat That Frog.
The basic premise of the book is that if the worst thing you have to do today is eat a frog, do that first and get it out of the way. If you have to eat 2 frogs, eat the ugliest one first. Bottom line: Do the hardest things on your to do list first so they don't weigh you down.

Every day(ish) I write a new frog list for the next day. I put down all my to dos, the things I can delegate, phone calls, emails, etc. Then I try to knock off as many as possible that next day. I try to make this list feasible. I don't put down the things I have to accomplish "this year," just that day. I may include some things that be done if I finish the rest of the list, but I don't stress myself out.

What kind of helps do you use to get things done? Another great book for productivity is Getting Things Done by David Allen. I have recently started using a program called Things and so far so good. It is pricey and I have not decided if I want to go beyond the trial or not. Another good resource is Remember the Milk. This is a web app, you can download a desktop app to go with it and for you iPhone users out there, "there is an app for that" too. Also, they can integrate it with twitter.


Being a guy who is not known for details or great time management, this has done wonders for me. As a matter of fact I am trying to drop the stigma that I am not good with details, etc. So please disregard the first sentence in this paragraph. That is no longer true. I will not speak tearing down prophecy on myself anymore.

Back to the blog I read. Is it time for you to take a vacation? Are you too stressed out? I will give you a peek at what he did by showing you a picture. Then I want you to go read the blog here.  My results? I am good. I just had a vacation and don't need one just yet. ;)

Wow, lots of links in this post!