I work as a programmer in an IT company. My job consists of lots of little things that I need to do each day. Usually they add up to a large project that I am working to complete. Last week our company sponsored a conference here in town and we had a whole bunch of people come. One of my tasks during the week was to record the events and have it available so that we can put it online in the future. This meant I was not doing my real work all week. In fact I hardly had time to think about programming. Well, I came in to work yesterday (Monday) morning, and I was able to get right to work – why? Because at the end of each day I write down where I am in whatever process I am working on, and what I still need to get accomplished inside this portion of a task. This way I can pick right up where I left off and not have to remember what I was doing. It works great! The other advantage it gives me is that it basically allows me to dump my thoughts at the end of the work day so that I don’t feel like I need to remember them for tomorrow. Now I won’t say I don’t think of things I can do at work when I am home, but I don’t feel like I have to.
Bonus Tip: When I do think of something for work when I am home, I write it down on a note card and bring it in the next day so that I can remember it. Why put forth the effort of remembering everything you have to do when you can better spend your energy just getting things done off of your list? Trust me, todo lists can work.
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