After reading through chapters two and three, a few things in particular stuck out in my mind:
1. "Most people try to 'get organized' but make the mistake of doing it with incomplete batches of 'stuff' (Allen 31).
Story of my life. I wouldn't say I'm a disorganized person; in fact, I would go as far as to say that I am incredibly organized. However, in the recent months, I always feel like I'm behind on some unstated schedule. While I'm performing one task, the looming presence of four or five other ones always seems to be floating about in my mind. What I feel that this has led to is a constant state of dissatisfaction with my own discipline and an ongoing sense of uneasiness. Ironically, because of my inability to organize my life in its entirety (as David Allen is suggesting), it often leads to MORE procrastination because I feel like there is so much to do and there's no way I'm going to complete it all... so let's go on Facebook instead.
Which leads to my second point,
2. "The way I look at it, the calendar should be sacred territory. If you write something there, it must get done that day or not at all. The only rewriting should be for changed appointments" (Allen 41).
This segment was mind-blowing. One only has to take a look at my personal planner to understand why; my little notebook has more scratch-outs and arrows than the first draft of a teenage love letter. His points helped me to understand how, by writing a long list of to-dos that I can't possibly complete and almost don't expect to, I'm actually making myself LESS productive! He explains that this practice will only cause me to take my to-do items LESS seriously and, in the long run, feel MORE overwhelmed as things build up. Genius.
Lastly,
3. I'm just trying to get a better understanding of what his organizational system looks like practically. So far, I've deducted it to be a number of inboxes and a very proactive system of processing "stuff" in order to not let things build up. However, I'm still having a hard time envisioning what this system actually looks like in the everyday and would like to see it in action in a person, specifically a student's, life.
Hello Jen,
ReplyDeleteYou described my life in the first paragraph. Like you I am extremely organized, but I always feel overwhelmed with everything around me, and I say to myself 'Ugh. Why even bother to start something when you know, you're not going to finish it, and you have a bunch of other "stuff" to do." Instead of going to Facebook, I log in into my Instagram account. We could do something more productive like reading, but I like looking at pictures what can I say?
I am honestly surprised to know that people are as overwhelmed with things as I am. Usually, students at Cal seem like they have everything together, so it brings me great relief that they are going through the same as me. I am also having a hard time envisioning my organizational system, and I question whether it's going to work, and whether I can keep up with it. The Procrastination Line is always calling me, and I always answer.
HAHA I feel both of you! I was at a community college for two years as a full time student and a full time employer of student leadership; life was overwhelming! I tend to write down everything I have to do in the calendar and even set specific time zone for certain things (1-2 meeting, 3-4 library, 4-5 check my mail etc). However unexpected things always came up and ruined my schedule. I wholeheartedly think it is an incredible idea to write down things that must be done of the day instead of things on the to do list.
ReplyDeleteThis is my first semester at Cal and it seems like everybody here are the master of time management. I was surprised how could other students do so many things in a day--do they even go to sleep? I felt unconfident to survive here. Having this system makes me have more control of my life. Being in a university means I have to take more challenges and, be a master of time management!
HAHA I feel both of you! I was at a community college for two years as a full time student and a full time employer of student leadership; life was overwhelming! I tend to write down everything I have to do in the calendar and even set specific time zone for certain things (1-2 meeting, 3-4 library, 4-5 check my mail etc). However unexpected things always came up and ruined my schedule. I wholeheartedly think it is an incredible idea to write down things that must be done of the day instead of things on the to do list.
ReplyDeleteThis is my first semester at Cal and it seems like everybody here are the master of time management. I was surprised how could other students do so many things in a day--do they even go to sleep? I felt unconfident to survive here. Having this system makes me have more control of my life. Being in a university means I have to take more challenges and, be a master of time management!