Relief is just hours away...
Oct. 7th, 2003 08:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgpI don't mean to sound like a ignorant lout, but I will be fairly well pleased once this California business is over and done with. Reading what passes for news has been excruciatingly painful, and what makes the savage bias in recent days all the more strange is that Ah-nuld isn't even a conservative (unless your criteria for "middle-of-the-road" is the community of Ber(zer)ckely, over there in the Bay Area).
Anyway, Joseph Pulitzer - the old fraud - must be smiling, somewhere.
* * * Some time ago, Galina used to frequently get grumpy and when I'd ask about her mood, she'd sort of explode about our financial situation, and part of her frustration was my seeming happy-go-lucky attitude in the face of what seemed to be catastrophe. It seems recently we've switched roles almost exactly. I'm stalking about, worrying about our finances, while Galina seems to be the one without a care. (I just hope we never both get into the trough of a mood at the same time.)
* * * My to-do list has taken a good beating for the day. I didn't get everything done, but I got most of the important stuff.
Way back when I lived in Jacksonville, Florida, I remember attending a seminar on time management. The day (and the seminar) was paid for by my company, and it's interesting to recall that I comprehended everything that was said that day, but I really didn't understand what was said until much later. In fact, there are times I think I still don't get it.
I recall the basic approach to life consisted in handling each piece of paper once. That doesn't happen around here. There is way too much paper here. I handle it way too much. I store it, if not exactly haphazardly, then not meticulously in its place.
But the even more important tip was to prioritize what you do into three groups: the "A" group, which positively, must be done today; the "B" group, which would be nice to get done today, if all the "A" items get done; and the "C" group, which are not tremendously important, but doable if the "A" and "B" items get done.
I remember the speaker suggested devoting the three drawers on the side of one's desk to these groups. Moreover, I recall him suggesting that the "C" drawer get emptied out every ten days or so, regardless of whether the items got done or not.
The secret to success, so to speak, was to master the art of determining what goes in what pile. Much later, I learned - via Hyrum Smith and his Franklin Quest company (now Franklin Covey) - that the "what" that you classify must be something that can be done in a day or less. "Do taxes" might be a heck of an important "A" item, but by itself it's useless. What does "do taxes" mean? It's like a salami, consumable only if sliced into smaller pieces. ("Collect receipts" may be something that's doable in a day, and that would be a subtask of "do taxes," perhaps, as might "deliver X to accountant.") The other thing that the Franklin system teaches is to make sure that some non-urgent items get included in the "A" pile on an ongoing basis.
I'm freewheeling as I write this, largely in response to having - as I said - accomplished quite a bit today. That kind of performance will help keep me out of that mood trough I mentioned earlier.
* * * I'm starting to get a little excited about the trip to Houston. That, and a little jumpy, as it will be the first time we'll have left Drew and Shannon in charge of the store with us out of the area.
Time to go upstairs and rub some feet.
Cheers...
Anyway, Joseph Pulitzer - the old fraud - must be smiling, somewhere.
Way back when I lived in Jacksonville, Florida, I remember attending a seminar on time management. The day (and the seminar) was paid for by my company, and it's interesting to recall that I comprehended everything that was said that day, but I really didn't understand what was said until much later. In fact, there are times I think I still don't get it.
I recall the basic approach to life consisted in handling each piece of paper once. That doesn't happen around here. There is way too much paper here. I handle it way too much. I store it, if not exactly haphazardly, then not meticulously in its place.
But the even more important tip was to prioritize what you do into three groups: the "A" group, which positively, must be done today; the "B" group, which would be nice to get done today, if all the "A" items get done; and the "C" group, which are not tremendously important, but doable if the "A" and "B" items get done.
I remember the speaker suggested devoting the three drawers on the side of one's desk to these groups. Moreover, I recall him suggesting that the "C" drawer get emptied out every ten days or so, regardless of whether the items got done or not.
The secret to success, so to speak, was to master the art of determining what goes in what pile. Much later, I learned - via Hyrum Smith and his Franklin Quest company (now Franklin Covey) - that the "what" that you classify must be something that can be done in a day or less. "Do taxes" might be a heck of an important "A" item, but by itself it's useless. What does "do taxes" mean? It's like a salami, consumable only if sliced into smaller pieces. ("Collect receipts" may be something that's doable in a day, and that would be a subtask of "do taxes," perhaps, as might "deliver X to accountant.") The other thing that the Franklin system teaches is to make sure that some non-urgent items get included in the "A" pile on an ongoing basis.
I'm freewheeling as I write this, largely in response to having - as I said - accomplished quite a bit today. That kind of performance will help keep me out of that mood trough I mentioned earlier.
Time to go upstairs and rub some feet.
Cheers...
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no subject
Date: 2003-10-08 08:01 am (UTC)However, lights in tunnels are not always oncoming trains. And life goes on. And all that sort of trite stuff.
Read about the A, B, and C stuff too. Tried it. Failed. The guy who wrote it was probably not a translator juggling with deadlines - you'd spend your entire life re-arranging drawers. These days I'm probably more into firefighting, as in handle the most *most* urgent thing and worry about the order of the rest later, as it's bound to change anyway.
Cheers, and keep smiling :)