Feeling overwhelmed by your to-do list is a common problem. We all complain about it, don't we? Sometimes we whittle it down to a manageable level, but tasks creep up on us. My Personal Projects Managementtm method is designed to help you find a better way to manage...
Do you often find yourself trying to shoe-horn your personal life in around your business obligations? The famous "rocks, sand, and a jar" parable (first shared by Stephen Covey in First Things First) is meant to teach people to put priority projects into their...
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: if you try to solve a structural problem with a superficial solution, you are not gonna solve anything.
Time blocking is much for effective when you can identify each block according to your energy flux, a.k.a. the type of energy that time requires.
Yesterday I had a full list of tasks to accomplish which were steps forward on several projects and an ongoing program (specifically, the podcast Around the Writer's Table). Well, guess what didn't happen? Some things got done (fortunately one of those things was...
I was talking to a good friend the other night about the lessons we were given in our childhood. We're both over 50, so this would have been in the 1970s, with both of our mothers squarely in the "boomer" category (don't worry, this isn't a "boomer bashing" piece!)....
Does productivity count if you've failed at a goal? The answer to this seems obvious: it counts only as wasted effort. However, I challenge you to think like a project manager instead. Project management is not a zero-sum game, in that no matter whether you...
A friend sent me a link to this Oldster interview with Jerry Saltz and I was really caught by this description of his life when he was 40: I had been a failed-artist turned long distance truck driver—with no degrees. So, since I have been writing about 35 years, I...
Looking at the Eisenhower Matrix with your projects clearly, cleanly demarcated allows you to filter that long list in a way that gives it a built-in structure and allows you to really see what you are doing and where you are spending your time.
I've been asked a lot about the "brain dump" step of organizing your time and projects. People want to know how to do it and what should be included in it, and honestly, I was confused by the questions at first. It was a knowledge trap, though – that is, something I...