Maybe not totally…but it’s really helping me take the pressure off as far as getting my work done.

I posted a few days ago about how I need to manage my time better.  After a 2-week experiment with Outlook’s Task List, I can honestly say that I think I’m making headway with this.

Here’s my struggle:  I rely too much on my terrible memory to keep track of my tasks, and that just doesn’t work.  I end up wasting more time remembering and hashing over things that still need done, which wastes more time because I start to stress over it…it’s just NOT a good cycle!

What I’ve started doing is typing a new task into my Task List, either when someone asks me for something, or if I even just think of something that needs done.  I categorize them accordingly, but I don’t put a due date on them yet.  This way I can at least get the task out of my head and into somewhere that it’s going to stay. 

When it’s time to plan my week, I take the tasks that are on my list and begin assigning them due dates for the week that I am planning.  I only assign 2-3 tasks to each day, because I still have help tickets and standing meetings to take care of.  On that day then, I concentrate only on the tasks listed for the present day.  Once I’m done with the tasks, I tackle help tickets or anything else that needs my attention, and I only stop mid-task for scheduled meetings and urgent support issues.

So far this method appears to be working.  Things are getting done, and I honestly feel a LOT less stressed throughout the day.  Outlook 2007 does a great job of grouping the task list by days as well, so things are easy to read.

I’m sure this sort of method is documented somewhere, so I don’t feel like I’m posting anything earth-shattering, but it has had a positive effect on me, so I felt like it was worth sharing.