Recently I posted a video blog about procrastination. Ian from the Philippines decided to send in his own top five list. Here are his top five tips to handling your tasks more efficiently.

• Look at what needs to be done and set goals. I believe that a person shouldn’t do work immediately. Doing work without a goal is really pointless seeing that you have no direction. Ask yourself, “What am I going to accomplish when I finish this work?”. Once you have the answer in mind, set the goal. Do you want to aim it high so when you reach it you’re really good… or would you prefer to set it lower so you can reflect on it when you make a mistake? It depends also how well do you know the job you’re doing. If you’re sure about what you’re doing, go ahead. If you’re unsure, either call someone for help or just don’t do it. Remember, “He who asks a question is a fool for 5 minutes. He who doesn’t ask is a fool forever”.
• Arrange your tasks accordingly. It is really good when you arrange your tasks like this:
  • Urgent and Important
  • Urgent but Not Important
  • Important but Not Urgent
  • Unimportant and non-urgent.

  It’s your best option to tackle all urgent matters first before the non-urgent ones. Although you may be thinking “Of course I know that”, in this hectic pace of life, most people tend to forget this. I think that the arrangement already mentioned is self-explanatory so let’s move on.

• Divide and Conquer! I don’t like doing tasks at once and some of you reading this may not too. When I have multiple large projects at school, I spend a few minutes thinking of how to divide these tasks accordingly. Given the million-dollar question “When’s the submission date?” I tend to do the one closest first. If it’s several weeks away, I usually divide it by spending a few hours every day to complete it. Honestly, I’m not a perfectionist so I don’t really give a 100% output, but of course I should and must. The output in the end will definitely look better than a rushed project. Remember that you shouldn’t lose sleep just because of a large task. Make use of the given time wisely or suffer the consequences.
• Set a schedule. When I was younger, I enjoyed making schedules for myself every school year and until now I do. Every year when you do the same tasks at the exact same time (giving respect as well to daylight savings), life becomes dull. Try and do variations to the same tasks once a year. This will give you a sense of variety in your life. Just make sure that your schedule is one that balances your tasks and relaxation time which leads us to the last.
• Relax. Take it easy. Giving some time for yourself is the best time you might even have. Have fun with family. Go out with friends. An ounce of relaxation is better than a pound of therapy. Enjoy your life while you’ve got it. This is a great stress-buster. Cheap (well it’s free. Fees may apply) and effective!

Tips for Handling Tasks Efficiently

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You may be sitting there asking yourself “How does someone with mild OCD and ADD ever GTD?”. A person in the chat room asked recently asked how I am able to manage my time, and what time management tips I might have for someone who has way too much going on at once.

How do I do it? I honestly don’t know. It’s always just been “in” me. That’s the OCD part of me. I can’t stand not to get things done, so that brings in the GTD part. Then of course, my ADD kicks in and my brain goes flying off in another direction. GTD is Getting Things Done, for those who may not know. Personally, I think I got lucky. I keep everything organized. If I didn’t, I would go nuts. That’s part of my OCD. It literally makes me crazy not to be organized. But, by being this organized, it makes it much easier for me to stay focused and get things done… beating out my ADD at times.

The way I get things done is my Inbox. If I have a task to take care of, it’s in my Inbox. That’s how I stay organized honestly. Since my world is electronic, it’s in there. If I REALLY need to get things done, this is what I do: I make a Post-It note. They drive me nuts. I HATE them. So… I make one for something that’s really important. That galvanizes me into getting it done, just so I can get rid of that damn Post-It. I annoy myself, in order to get things done. It may sound crazy, but it works. You have to do what will work for you.

By having everything I need to take care of in my Inbox, I can deal with them one-by-one. I deal with one, respond to it… delete it… or save it in a separate folder… and move on to the next one. So, my Inbox is “it” for me. What’s it for you? How do you roll? What makes things flow for you? I’d love to hear your tips and tricks, so I can pass them on to others.

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ADD and OCD Help GTD

This Justin is a student:

Let me start off by saying I enjoy watching your videos on YouTube. Sometimes I’ll just sit down with a cup of coffee and watch an hour or 2 of your videos.

You’re not alone, I’m happy to report.

Anyways, I am going to be looking for a laptop for college sometime early next year. I am leaning towards a Mac (specifically a MacBook Pro 15 inch) but I’m still not sure whether it’s time to switch to OS X. Leopard is great, don’t get me wrong. My friend just purchased a MacBook with Leopard, and it rocks. Vista hasn’t given me any real problems (I’ve been using it since February), however I know that OS X is just so much more powerful all around.

I’m just not sure it’s time to jump on the Apple boat yet. I know they’re heading in the right direction, and that’s why I’ll be getting an iPod Touch for Christmas… but for an everyday operating system, I’m worried Leopard still isn’t perfect in terms of the GUI. My main concern is the dock vs. taskbar. Sometimes the dock can become confusing with stacks / open applications / open windows, while in Vista (or XP for that matter) it’s very simple to know where your windows vs. programs are.

Ah, you mean you’re not happy with OS X’s task management? Neither am I. There are suitable augmentations available. Read on…

What are your thoughts on this? Would you recommend jumping into the Apple boat for college, or stay with Windows since I’m so familiar with it?

No operating system is perfect – but Quicksilver, Spotlight, and Witch should allay some of your OS X window and application organization apprehensions. Beyond that, the decision to “switch” is totally yours.

Task and Application Management in OS X

My life is completely consumed with everything outside of the technology memeosphere. The inbox is certainly sitting happily below 50 messages, but I feel irreversibly out of the loop. I never thought I’d ever say this: it’s time for a vacation.

Christmas shopping has been a bust, items are still scattered about the forewinds of our new home, and the honeymoon will be starting in a few days. I need a mental reset, to regain clarity and re-energize my body, mind, and spirit.

I’ve been flying around the house, taking care of smaller tasks that whittle away at the ebbing and flowing collections of clutter. Most boxes have been emptied at this point, but we’re still “missing” a handful of key posessions. Last night, Jake came over to help me reconnect the media center – only to discover that our speaker cables had gone walkabout. I believe he’s headed back tonight, if only to sample Ponzi’s Mexican-themed dinner.

Her office furniture arrived (unassembled) yesterday; it was almost the straw that broke my back. I don’t mind putting things together, but I was simply not looking forward to setting up her new desks and bookshelves. Jeff Barr emailed me and asked if he could be of any assistance – simultaneously volunteering his sons (Stephen, Andy) for labor. His timing was impeccable. Males of the Barr family came to the new gnomestead with tools in hand, and by mid-afternoon had pieced together Ponzi’s home office. I’m so very thankful for their assistance.

In a bit, I believe that Brandon is scooting by to help me upgrade the Quad FX system (with a new set of heatinks). We’ll see how that goes. And tomorrow is another day.

Busy Bees and Barrs