I’ve been watching my former city (San Diego) go up in smoke over the last couple of days. It’s painful and my schedule has gone right out the window as I keep checking the web for news every hour or so. This fire seems destined to be much worse than the one I lived through in 2003, so I can only imagine how bad things are right now.
On to time-management . . . Yesterday, I told you all about the system I’ve been using lately, which I really like (other than the name): Simpleology 101.
Destiny asked a question about Simpleology:
Ummm…this software sounds nice but I’m not allowed to download anything much on my computer, and I would love to also learn a bit I could do without Simpleology 101 (till I get permission to download it from my parents)
Randy sez: There is nothing to download. You just sign up on the Simpleology web site and then log in and start using their software on the web. You can optionally download some software tools, but I prefer not to. Since I have two computers, by using the web site, my data is always in sync.
One thing I’ve learned from the Simpleology training course is that successful people are focused. And focus means choosing one primary goal at a time, to the exclusion of all others.
Of course, you are doing all sorts of things every day. Many of them have nothing to do with your primary goal. Life happens. That’s obvious. There is nothing wrong with doing all sorts of things that aren’t related to your primary goal. But if you have more than one primary goal at any given time, you are diluting your efforts and slowing yourself down.
I know there are plenty of people who brag about “multitasking.” My own observation is that this is nothing more than making excuses for not getting much done.
So how do you prioritize things so that you have only ONE primary goal? That’s actually not too hard. First you make a list of all the goals you’d like to reach eventually. Then you choose one to focus on RIGHT NOW. Just one. Focus on that till it’s done. Keep working on it until it’s finished. Then pat yourself on the back and pick a new goal from your list.
It’s tempting to cheat and make TWO primary goals. But if you’re using the Simpleology tools, you can’t. There isn’t any way to set two primary goals. The software won’t let you do it.
At first, I didn’t like that. But then I realized that it’s a good thing. It motivates you to FINISH tasks. And finishing is something that I’ve had issues with. I’ve got my wife using Simpleology too, and she’s finding it much easier to make To Do Lists than she did before. She just works through the daily exercise and then prints out the screen–instant list!
I’ve had a LONG day, so I’m going to bed early tonight. Tomorrow . . . a few thoughts on taking action.
Sleep well, my friend. Praying for rain and no winds for San Diago.
My heart goes out to the people of San Diego and I am praying for there safety.
I run to the TV everytime they show something about the fire. I can’t wrap my brain around it. I’m praying, too, for a ground soaking rain!
I used to think I was a great multi-tasker, but when an agent is interested in something, you better drop everything and focus on that! That’s where I am right now, and because of it, I finished my middle grade fantasy 2 months early. Wow! Of course, I’m editing, but I’m still focused.
There will be times I need to focus on more than one thing, but I’m learning the value of having one primary project.
Praying for the people in San Diego as well.
My assumption is you are focussing on one primary goal during a set time period – is this correct? And that your goal has been scraped away until it is small enough to be called more a task than a goal? I ask this because I have several “projects” that have deadlines, and if I focused only on one project, to the end that the others are left undone, then I would not keep my commitments. Yet, if I work at each project a bit at a time I am more likely to get them all done by their deadlines. To do this I have to break the projects into a series of tasks. I’m assuming my ‘tasks’ are the same as your ‘goals’?
When the rainy season starts, denuded hillsides will send mudflows down to the people who weren’t burned out. Pray for a gentle rain to get the grasses growing before that happens. Also the air quality is very bad, and there have been some deaths due to it already. And, this is only the first Santa Ana wind this season!
So pleased to see you are praying. Let’s don’t confine our prayers to the people of San Diego. I live in Orange County and have friends who have lost, or are in danger of losing homes not only here in OC, but in the Arrowhead-Running Springs (Southern California mountains) area as well. I realize San Diego is better known to some of you who are “worldwide.” Thanks to you all.
The fires indeed are awful. I too lived through one when I was a child in Chicago, at age 11. Our family lost everything, but no one was hurt, including the cats, and that was only God’s protection of us. It brings back painful memories to see the newscasts. I have to wonder if this was the scene in Sodom and Gomorrah all those centuries ago. Very scary.
Well Randy, I’m all for focus and I’m going to look at Simpleology. It’s true that all people who are really great at something are very focused on it and don’t worry about developing weak areas that will only improve to mediocre at best. That being said, as a mother first and writer second, there must be two primary goals.
Doing Nanowrimo will be a primary goal for the next month or so, and it will be an interesting exercise in balancing that with motherhood. I have about ten years left of divided interests (the internal conflict makes me an interesting character, right?) and then the focus can sharpen. I’ll be a little fuzzy around the edges until then.
The problem with focusing on one goal is things like fires keep happening. My 92-year-old Mom, who has trouble breathing under the best of circumstances, is too stubborn to get out of the LA smoke. So while I hope the Santa Anas stop blowing, what happens to the air quality in the basin when they do?
Another focus problem I’m having id BLOGGING! Just trying to keep up with all this internet stuff, which I have only started this year, is a serious distraction from writing, since both are done on my computer. Arrgh! So many interesting facts to mine, so many fascinating things to read! How do you focus in this online world?
The most writing I got done this year was when I took my laptop up to the Sierras where there is no internet.
[I know there are plenty of people who brag about “multitasking.” My own observation is that this is nothing more than making excuses for not getting much done.]
Excuse me? I’m sorry, but I gotta defend some of us MT’s. If someone is using the phrase ‘multitasking’ as an excuse for not getting much done, then they aren’t really multitasking, they’re just spinning and twirling. Also, as a MT I’m more likely to complain than brag about it. My busy home and my office admin job require me to do multiple tasks at once.
There may be some misunderstanding about the term. If someone professed be working on multiple GOALS at once, I would agree that they’re not going to get much accomplished.
I think multitasking is literally that; performing multiple TASKS at once. When I get home from work I can make real dinner, do the dishes, make transportation arrangements for kids going to games and music and matial arts and work etc, thrown in another load of laundry, monitor the trash on afternoon TV, look at homework, answer questions, and greet everyone who enters with a smile — all at the same time. And without burning dinner. I’m sure you Moms know all about this.
I’m not bragging: this is a necessity. These aren’t goals or accomplishments I can check off at the end of the day. You can probably try to order some of this so that you’re not living in a constant state of reaction, but then again, with life, you can’t order everything. I know, I’ve tried.
I’m so sorry for all those in the fires’ path. I left Long Beach back in 1997 and moved into the midst of yearly fires in Montana, so I’m used to living with smokey air every summer. It’s horrible to breathe and depressing to watch homes, trees, and mountains go up in smoke.
My personal situation has undergone a huge change with the death of my 91 year old Mom. I had been caring for her for years and, though I managed to still be creative, it was difficult. Now that she’s passed, I haven’t done anything creative or written anything in months.
I sincerely hoping that Nanowrimo will free me up.