Hints for getting it all done
By: Carolyn Biondi
The holidays are daunting. On top of our regular responsibilities, we are preparing for special family celebrations in spare time that is already limited by parties with friends, get-togethers with colleagues and volunteer commitments. Lots of merriment, but lots of stress.
So how do we get through the next few weeks and still feel the holiday spirit? As a professional organizer, my suggestions, based on practice and guidance from David Allen’s personal productivity guide "Getting Things Done," are these:
Make a project list get everything out of your head onto paper.
Though it may seem intimidating to see it all in one place, it does help to get a sense of the true scope of your holiday preparations. It is stressful to have all of those to-do’s floating around in your head, cropping up when you should be thinking about other things, like your work or getting your kids to school on time. Your project list should include everything from gift shopping to throwing a holiday party to decorating your home.
Break your projects into tasks.
Once you have identified all of the holiday-related projects, it’s time to do some additional thinking and planning. One of your projects may be to do some holiday baking. But how on earth will you find the time? "Surely not this week," you think. "I’ll have to wait until the weekend. I can do it after I shop, before getting ready for the office holiday party… "
This sounds stressful. But you may be able to accomplish more this week than you think.
Once you’ve identified baking as a project, break it into tasks. You’ll need to choose recipes, make a list of ingredients, shop for the ingredients, and then do the baking. These different tasks all require different efforts on your part.
You can skim recipe books in front of the TV, but you have to actually go to the store for the ingredients. By identifying the specific tasks, you may realize that you can knock off the first two of the four project tasks this evening, stop by the store tomorrow on your way home, and be ready to bake the next evening.
If you hadn’t made the list and identified the tasks, you may have decided it wasn’t going to happen this week, only to have more obligations piling up next week.
Group "like tasks" together for greater productivity.
The other advantage to making a list of projects and then breaking them down by tasks is that you can group like tasks together.
You have some gift shopping and some grocery shopping to do, and you need new lights for the front of the house. If you are thinking purely in terms of projects, you may set out three different times for these errands. But if you’ve made your project list, broken it down into tasks, and then grouped similar activities, such as errands, you can be more efficient in your efforts.
On the same note, you can identify things that require less energy and concentration and plan to do those at the end of the day, when you are feeling most tired. You could, for example, plan to do some online orders or wrap a few gifts each night.
Use small blocks of time.
There’s a tendency to look at big holiday projects and think that they require big blocks of unscheduled time. As the December days pass, such blocks of time seem impossible for many of us to find.
Here’s where your planning pays off: When you look at the tasks on your list, identify some that can be broken easily into multiple sessions and highlight those for your "small blocks of time" activities. For example, if you are sending out holiday cards, you can use small blocks of time to jot a few notes, affix photos to photo cards, or stick the stamps on all the envelopes.
Make this strategy even more effective by gathering your supplies in one place: cards, address book, stamps, photos, and a nice working pen. Then when you sit down to work for a few minutes, you can really make some progress.
The "small block of time" strategy can also help to make an overwhelming project seem more manageable. For example, you won’t resent the unfortunate soul who is number 50 on your list to send a holiday greeting card, as a result of trying to get them done in one sitting.
Finally, it’s important to recognize the toll that the pressures of the holiday season can take on you. Add a note on your project list to take care of yourself. When you are making your plan for getting things done, protect your personal time for sleep, eating well, getting some exercise, and just relaxing. If you are feeling well, tackling your holiday to-do’s will be a much more festive experience.
Carolyn Biondi is principal and founder of Incredibly Organized, offering organizing services for home and office. To learn more about Incredibly Organized, visit www.incredibly-organized.com or call (609) 462-3141.