I think I’ll officially call this a “November Book” because that’s when I read most of it, but I’m just now getting around to reviewing it. I’d been eying for several months before I got around to picking it up. It’s a productivity & organizational type of book, and I first heard about it when The Simple Dollar did a weekly review/book lesson on the entire book. I’d highly suggest heading over to that blog for a more in depth review and a chapter by chapter review. Although I consider myself an extremely organized person in general, I still felt like too many things were slipping through the cracks & I spent too much time obsessing about my “TO DO” list.
At any given moment, I’d be carrying around several Post-it notes, index cards, lists and more that I’d eventually lose. Reading the book made me realize that I was already doing many of the techniques and practices that he recommended, like extensive use of Google Calendar for reminders & storing information. I have a semi-decent filing & organizational system for my business and personal items (photo, documents). What I really took away from the book personally was that I needed a long-term list for things that do not need immediate attention & are projects to be accomplished in the span of months or years. I don’t need to daily be burdened by being reminded of the really BIG projects looming over me that aren’t of immediate importance and that I don’t have the time to focus on right now. My second take-away from the book is to immediately deal with any task taking less than 2 minutes. I’m normally pretty good about this, but I could be better & clear my mind to focus on being creative & day-dreaming instead of worrying about the itty-bitty tasks that I could have completed when they were presented to me (return phone calls, respond to emails, file a paper, etc.). The other big emphasis in the book was letting go. Once something is on your list & safely stored, quit fretting about it. Don’t obsess over reminding myself I need to do something 20 times when I know it’s on my list & I can forget it until I’m ready to accomplish that task. There are many other great tips & techniques in the book, but luckily I was already on the right track in my areas.
GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Getting lots of things done today on a lazy Sunday afternoon at home catching up!
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