I’ve just managed to finish a job I’ve been working on for ages, and it feels great to be able to move on to other things. Not that there is any shortage of other things to do, but I have a nagging doubt that I’m not getting as much done as I would otherwise like to. So, I’ve been thinking, do I get back in to the habit of working out a ‘to-do’ list each evening, so that I can get some focus back and move through the many jobs that I have stacking up? What with teaching, marking, being a school governor, trying to study for my PhD, attempting to be active in the Labour Party, and ensuring that DemonFM runs smoothly, it’s not surprise that I have to take time out occasionally simply to recover, and it’s no wonder that I’m having problems prioritising.
This week I’ve taken this week off, and have mainly been sleeping, watching TV (I would recommend The Big Bang Theory, it’s intelligent and surprisingly modern), and attempted to get some reading done. I don’t know where the days have gone. It’s hard to believe that a week ago I was wandering around the moors in Derbyshire, and that I’m now sat in a cafe in Leicester, wondering if I can pick up a copy of the the Clone Wars for PS3 to play after Dr Who tonight. I’m certainly giving free reign to my inner geek, but my work ethic plays havoc with my conscience.
So will a to-do list really help? I try to live by the value that if it is important, then someone will nag me or remind me about getting it done. I’ve tried this for a while now, but I’m finding it much more necessary to get ahead of the game, and I need to figure out a way to plan for things to do in the future that will help things run themselves, and I can have an easier life. A system that will do the tracking work for me, without me having to plan on a weekly or day to day basis.
I’m sure there is an easy package that is built in to Microsoft Office, or runs on Macs, and I’ve tried using ‘to-do’ lists on my iPhone, but I always end up ignoring them. What I need is a work management system that will allow me to plan and monitor the projects that I’m undertaking, but also to feed in to my journals, my email and all the other systems that run – and it should be fun. I might browse about to see if I can download anything from Apple – might be an excuse to visit the Apple Store and geek out a bit further. I’ll add it to my ‘to-do’ list shall I?
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