If you are like most people I know, you have too much to do. Maybe you're only on one project at work (I hope so!), but you have house stuff to do, garden stuff to do, kid stuff to do, dog or cat stuff, book stuff, parent stuff--you name it, you have a todo list a mile long. And, some of you have many more than one project to do at work. Is there a way to get through that all those todos?
Maybe. First, you need to know what you need to do now, and what you can do later. Here's my approach to managing my todos over time:
1. Make a big list of everything. Empty my brain onto the paper. Don't worry about organizing it, just write it down. (Yes, this is from David Allen's
Getting Things Done.)
2. Now, make a grid on a piece of paper. Across the top, you have Week1, Week2, Week3, Week4. Down the side, you have "Tasks" and "Unstaffed Work."
3. Now, write a yellow sticky for each todo you have. If you know you have a project for several weeks, write several stickies, one for each week.
4. Now, put the stickies in the correct weeks. Yes, you only have four weeks of stickies. Don't worry, you can work on projects longer than 4 weeks long.
5. Now comes the hard part. You need to be honest about your work. How much can you really do in a week? Put the stickies that you think you can accomplish in a week above the unstaffed line, in their appropriate week. Take the stickies that you think you can't actually finish in one week and put them below the line in unstaffed work.
Ta-da! You have a project portfolio. Since I work for myself, I keep an integrated portfolio of everything, so I don't forget things. If you work for an organization other than yourself, keep a portfolio of your work-projects and a separate portfolio for the rest of your life.
The more you know what you have to do, the easier it is to decide which work is most important and needs to be done now, so it doesn't become urgent work. And, you have a shot at getting everything done.
