Plain Advice

I am a walking contradiction. I have an official diagnosis of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), which is widely known for its very organized and clean tendencies. And in some situations I am very organized (and almost always very clean). But in many many ways I am a disorganized mess. I won’t try to explain my theory on my inconsistency here (I’ll save that for another post), but I do want to share a very simple organization tool that I recently rediscovered.

It is so simple that it is almost embarassing. Anybody who can write can implement it.  What is the tool you ask? A running “to do” list. 

Almost too simple to discuss.  But sometimes, the simple ways of doing things are the most powerful.  And sometimes, tweaking something just a little bit makes it exponentially more useful.

At work, especially, I am bombarded with endless tasks (as a social worker, I am constantly receiving new information about my cases that need follow up). In my 8 years at this work, I have not found a satisfactory way to keep track of all these things that need to be done. I have tried different approaches, but often the methods were too complicated or time consuming for me to sustain.

Last week I was feeling particularly overwhelmed and frustrated at my lack of organization. So I pulled out a legal pad and made a list of all the things in my brain that needed to get done. It turned out to be a pretty long list. For the next several days, each time I wondered what to do next, I looked at the list. I was able to redirect myself and remember what I needed to be doing. While talking on the phone (which always creates more work for me) I would just jot down reminders to myself on this list.  Not on sticky notes, which tend to get shuffled around and lost.  But on my legal pad that I had right there at my desk (I now prefer the legal pad because I can fit so many more items on one page due to the length of the paper).  That way, it is there, at the center of my work.  

In the past, my to do list wasn’t as effective as it could have been because I tried to take it with me everywhere I went.  It usually ended up lost in the bottom of my bag, or not there at the very moment I needed it, which is usually when I am at my desk.   I tried keeping the list electronically, but because I dropped my Palm Pilot and lost all my data on more than one occasion, I decided that paper is for me when it comes to important details.

The best thing about this very basic way of doings things?  My productivity went way up. And my anxiety level went way down.

At the end of the workday, before leaving the office, I can look at my list and feel confident that all the urgent items for the day have been crossed off.  Which means that when I get home, I am home and don’t have that nagging feeling that something was left undone.  I can also get a glimpse of what I need to be prepared for the next day.

When the list outgrows the paper, I just transfer all the items that are not yet done to another page and then start fresh from there. 

With my list in front of me, I don’t need to remember so many details.  Seeing the whole list on one page (remember, legal pad) makes me feel more in control and aware of the big picture of what I need to do.   I don’t have to go looking in different places for all the things that I need to get my tasks done (such as fax and phone numbers). Another perk of this approach is that when an intern or assistant asks if there is anything I need help with, I can turn to my list and immediately delegate a task. Without having things written all in one place, I never knew offhand what I could ask someone else to do. So I ended up doing it all myself (and usually at the last minute).

My advice to you is obvious… if you are struggling with being disorganized, use a running to do list.  If you have tried it in the past unsuccessfully, try it again.  Look for small ways to improve your system to work more efficiently.  Get back to the basics.  It just might be your ticket to being more in control of your life.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 7th, 2007 at 10:42 pm and is filed under Personal Development, Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.