If you do not want to spend the nights at the workplace (although I have met people who did not care when they get home), you just need to plan your time and work. At the same time, you can train your memory. I share some simple and interesting methods of organizing time and I recommend giving it a try.
When you come to work, you just have to do one simple thing: write a short plan of just one sentence. You need to fix your main task for this day. Then you stick the task sheet right in front of you and get down to business. Of course, you will have more urgent tasks and can be interrupted. It’s OK. You finish an urgent task, go back to work, and then miracles begin to happen. When you see the same one-point plan in front of you, you understand exactly what you should be doing right now. At this point, you start training your brain to focus on the most important task of the day.
Like a creative person, I have a huge plans and projects, interesting ideas constantly swarming in my head. But there is a problem. How to remember all the ideas and do not to lose them. Then in order to bring them to life, to my shame, I have to admit that at the moment I have 4 creative projects in development. I like them all very much, I want to finish them all, but… Oh!
To-do list method
So, what to do to keep your ideas and interesting thoughts. At first, like most people probably, saved everything in a special folder. I will look it later. Do you think this happened? Of course not. Then I created lists and plans for what I want to do. Oh, they were huge. I planned to do this first, and then this, and then … When reviewing my to-do lists, most of the time it was upsetting for me — I did not have time and forgot what want to do. Something had to be done. So, it turns out that making lists is nonsense?
Yes and no. Lists are still needed. You just need to make them up correctly. Even in order to calmly leave work on Friday with the understanding that the work is done. I want to share with you the To-do list method. I found this method in the wonderful book “Don’t Do It” by D. Ros.
So, please, sit down, take some paper and make a detailed list of your to-do priorities. Have you written them? And now, we use only the first three items in this list, and throw out the rest. The no-to-do list method is based on the fact that you can’t do everything. And you don’t need to. You will do better if you concentrate and select several (3) tasks. And put aside other ideas, even if they seem great at first glance. But you didn’t write them down among the first, priority cases? In this way, the feeling of dissatisfaction from unfinished business will disappear. Your brain will stop sending impulses, reminding you that there is still unfinished business — you have done everything.
& sketchbook of ideas
So, what about the rest of the items on the list? How, just like that, take them and put them away? Not certainly in that way. Crossing out items and prioritizing is difficult. But by doing this, you can get a clear idea of what is important to you and what is not. So, after completing at least one thing from the list, you can, with a clear conscience, add to yourself the 4th item on your list, if, of course, it is still relevant for you, then the 5th, and so on.
In this way, I realized what 3 projects I still want to finish now. But I put off my embroidery with birds for later.
And one more creative method. So that different ideas do not remain «dead weight» in my laptop, I began to sketch them. The interesting thing that I saw or heard, even leafing through my first unusual sketchbook of ideas now, I practically always remember where I got this idea from. Try it, you will like it.
P.S. It turns out that there is an application “ToDon’t List” that will help you figure out how to compile to-do lists. I think we should try.