Does your to-do list overwhelm you? Is it so large or intimidating that you don’t know where to start? Stop and think about it for a minute. Maybe your to-do list isn’t what it should be. Although I strongly feel that there’s no single right way to do things, maybe you do need to think about purpose a to-do list really serves.

For instance, I still need to do my taxes. Normally I have them done by February, but I still have some sorting and data entry to do. It’s been harder to fit it in than I thought it would be. So it’s on my to-do list: do taxes. But that’s a lot to think about isn’t it?

That’s because it’s more of a project than a to-do item. What’s the anatomy of a to-do item? According to Merlin at 43folders, it’s this:

• It’s a physical action
• It can be accomplished at a sitting
• It supports valuable progress toward a recognized goal
• It’s something for which you are the most appropriate person for the job

If your list contains items bigger or more complicated than that, then those items may not actually belong on your to-do list, but on a project list. As David Allen notes in Getting Things Done, a small project requires more than one activity in order to be completed.

Filing taxes is definitely a small project – or maybe even a large one! Here are the steps I still need to take:

• Go through the last of my receipts for business expenses
• Log the expenses
• Review the entries to make sure items have categories and are categorized properly
• Add up expense categories (my accounting software will do this, but I still need to prompt it to add up everything for just 2008)
• Enter the totals into my tax software
• Pay my tax bill or get a refund (I think we’ll be pretty close to even, so at this point it could go either way)
• Monitor my filing to make sure it is accepted by the IRS

You see, doing my taxes is more than just a single item. And when I stop to do just one pieces, like going through my receipts, it suddenly doesn’t seem to intimidating.

Take a close look at your to-do list. Think about what your next action should be. Is that really reflected on your list?

Image: Newscom

When my desktop hard drive died, I had to reinstall from my backup. I did not, however, transfer my inbox. I left it on my laptop, instead deciding to start from scratch and see how I could do. That doesn’t mean I gave up on my other email. I just wanted to see if I could keep my inbox as small as possible.

It worked for a while. But work, life, family and oh, I don’t know, sleep, got in the way. And sadly, I’m back up to around 300 emails in there. Many of them are just email alerts that I need to read through and discard. They just keep adding up, though. I unsubscribed to alerts and newsletters that I didn’t use or need. I try to archive things immediately after I read them if they don’t need any action.

I’ve basically been glancing at them as they come in. I reply if it’s something I can deal with in less than a minute. I haven’t left anything important unanswered. So the question is, what’s in there?

Well, that’s what I should find out. I need to schedule some time to clear out my inbox a little. At minimum, I need to delete the email alerts that I’m not going to read. File away those newsletters for some down time, or re-evaluate whether they are useful to me.

Maybe keeping my inbox completely empty isn’t realistic. I do tend to use it like a to-do repository. And that doesn’t have to be a bad thing, as long as I don’t lose track of important messages.

How do you handle your inbox? Is it realistic for you to keep it close to zero? Obviously 300 emails are a bit too many to keep track of easily. But what about 100? 50? 10? What’s reasonable for you? And is it actually working for you?

[Image: sxc.hu]

We’re already a week into March, and almost a quarter of the way into the new year. I found a few articles from last year around this time that might interest you, and thought I’d share them here. The archives hold a lot of great ideas. If you haven’t looked through them yet, search your favorite terms and find some inspiration!

Recession-proofing your organized biz
With the economy still struggling, you may wonder how to keep your business afloat. Read this article for some tips on facing your money issues.

Help! Can I get my taxes done on time?
We still have a little over a month before the April 15th tax deadline. Are you ready? This article gives tips on beating the clock to get your taxes filed.

Are you safe when wireless?
Considering that I’m writing this at a coffeehouse, this article caught my eye. I use a secure wireless card for my connection. What do you use? Be wary of using whatever network pops up on your connection list. Some are there just to steal data.

Check this list before you leave the house/office
I think we’ve all managed to forget important items at one time or another. Planning ahead and creating a checklist will help minimize your stress. You’ll have everything you need and you’ll look more professional and together in front of your clients.

Top 10 things to do every day
Want to ease your stress? Here’s a list of the 10 things you should do every day to make your work less chaotic — and more enjoyable.

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Don’t forget that tonight we “spring forward” an hour. Technically it occurs in the wee Sunday morning hours. However, most of us set our clocks when we head to bed.

While you “lose” an hour of sleep unless you go to bed early, you gain precious daylight hours to enjoy your evenings a bit more. And more daylight means Spring and Summer are coming!

So remember to set your clocks so you won’t miss any Sunday morning appointments. Or for those of you that work Sundays, don’t be late!

We talk a lot about getting organized. It’s a good goal to have, right? But what is it, really? Is it just some nebulous phrase that we toss around, or does it have meaning? My definition may be slightly different than yours, but its meaning is probably similar in most of our minds. The details and the methods of execution may differ. That’s okay. In fact, that’s great!

If your system works for you, keep doing it. Is organization all about neat files, a clean desk, a fancy day planner? No. To me, being organized is all about being able to work well.

Finding things when you need them. Are you able to put your hands or eyes on something you need within a minute or two (assuming it’s in your work space and not in archival storage)? Do you need to backtrack to remember where you put things, or is your system logical (for you) enough that you know where things are? To me, it’s knowing relatively quickly where I put something and that item actually being where I thought it was.

Scheduling time for efficient work. A project doesn’t get done by just throwing time at it. You need a plan. A working list of what needs to be accomplished. Randomly doing tasks in hopes something will get completed by the end of the day gets you nothing except a few checks on your to-do list.

Meeting your goals. Define what you’re working towards. What are your business goals? Personal goals? Is the work you’re doing each day truly getting you closer to your goals? If they aren’t, you need to stop and figure out why you’re spending precious time on them. Once you know what you want to accomplish, define how you’re going to get there.

These are just three things that define organization for me. What about you? What do you think being organized is all about? Are you working on it, or do you feel like you’ve got it under control? Does it feel like it’s something you can achieve?

[image: morgueFile]

If you think my obsession with notebooks is excessive, I’m actually not alone. Designer Michael Bierut talks about how he has used notebooks over the past 26 years. Like him, I carried my notebook to every meeting, noted every call and scribbled ideas and to do lists.

Unlike him, I haven’t filled 85 notebooks in 26 years. But it’s fascinating to see some of the scans of his books and hear about his process. I, too, just fill up one notebook and move to the next. I don’t separate projects, but I do use flags at times so I can flip back to important information. I’ve always used lined paper, though. Blank paper is just asking for me to slant my lines. Not a big deal when you’re sketching things, but annoying when you’re trying to write a lot of text.

Does something like this work for you? Do you write everything down, or do you tend to try to just remember it? Have you found another way to capture information and ideas?

[via 43f]

[Image: Paul Worthington under cc license]