Just this month, I was again visiting with my mother-in-law here at my house and we got to talking about those lists and things I had put together for her. She said that she was still using the lists, but it became really functional for her when she would take the time to print out her lists.
I think this is awesome!! She would make out her lists in the app and then print out the schedule for the day to use for her own practicality, making this system work for her.
A truly wonderful trick when you have too much swirling around your head is a brain dump. Brain dumps are some of the best ways to get all that stuff off your brain and be able to do something with it. I love that with a brain dump, you don't have to deal with scheduling or assigning tasks to certain days right away - you're just getting it out there. Later, when you have a second to look at your lists, you can then decide on what days certain tasks can be plugged into and whether it needs to be added to your shopping or errand list. Dumping everything out of your brain without thinking about when you can get to it or assigning it a specific area in your app helps ensure you remember everything you wanted to get out of your head and that you resist getting it out because there's no time to place it in the correct area.
Here I have just dumped everything on my mind as fast as I could. Nothing is sorted, everything is under my folder and scheduled for today. But that way, it comes up at the top and I see it and know where to find it. When I have a moment I can easily go into each task and change the day, or for shopping items make it have no day, and change the folder that each item goes under. It's simple and yet so effective at quickly getting things off my mind.
Whether you do this dump on paper or in an app, use this list to help you be able to get things off your mind and onto paper where you can do something about them.
I recently had the privilege of going to a friend's home. She asked if I would come give her some tips and tricks and help her set things up much as I did for my mom. I was SO excited. You have no idea.
When I got there, I wasn't sure what she had read or what her expectations were. She already had some great systems in place and we didn't want to kill what was working.
I sat down and started writing out on scratch paper just the very basics to help her dump everything out on paper, but she had already done the work. She had written out her week and had grouped things together in the way that best worked for her. Because she had everything laid out on paper it was super easy to plug everything in. I showed her a few ideas for how to use the app and spent most of the time just inputting tasks exactly how she had things already set up. We spent nearly 5 hours together and got everything set up. It was ready for her to use and play with and to figure out how things worked for her.
I hope one day to have her side of the story and to get more feedback about what is working and what isn't, but I think it takes a few months to really get a feel for a new system. For now, I'm just floored that some of my posts turned into such a super fun day for me. Thanks, K!
I recently had the privilege of going to a friend's home. She asked if I would come give her some tips and tricks and help her set things up much as I did for my mom. I was SO excited. You have no idea.
When I got there, I wasn't sure what she had read or what her expectations were. She already had some great systems in place and we didn't want to kill what was working.
I sat down and started writing out on scratch paper just the very basics to help her dump everything out on paper, but she had already done the work. She had written out her week and had grouped things together in the way that best worked for her. Because she had everything laid out on paper it was super easy to plug everything in. I showed her a few ideas for how to use the app and spent most of the time just inputting tasks exactly how she had things already set up. We spent nearly 5 hours together and got everything set up. It was ready for her to use and play with and to figure out how things worked for her.
I hope one day to have her side of the story and to get more feedback about what is working and what isn't, but I think it takes a few months to really get a feel for a new system. For now, I'm just floored that some of my posts turned into such a super fun day for me. Thanks, K!
My biggest problem...on overload....thanks so much for addressing this. After Bob gets on his feet maybe I can start over with your wonderful advice and get going again. Timing is everything in life. You can only do what you can do at that time. But organizing with YOU and the wonderful apps GIVES YOU YOUR LIFE BACK. You are AWESOME. Keep up the good work!
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