Time management

[shakenbake]

What tips n tricks do yous use to compress more of 'whatever' into your day?

I have a problem, well two actually.

A) I seem to be working all day but never seem to sort everything out. One issue after another.

B) I'm very lazy, love bed and despise the mofo who invented a 5 day working week to get me out of it every morning!

I'm doing stuff like learning a foreign language on my way into work in the morning as its about 10hrs / week I've done nothing with for years. How else can I can use my time best?

[|3lack|ce]

You're gonna laugh, but here's a couple tricks I do that help:

1. The paper brain - I carry a small pocket notebook in my back pocket, and take notes on everything that goes on during my day, giving the most detail to the things that seem most important.

2. Lists - Make a list of stuff that needs doing today. Stick to that list. (I title mine 'stupid **** I gotta do today'. This also comes in handy when it comes time for evaluations for raises and such - you can 'blow your own horn' about the things you've accomplished.

3. Knock out the mundane crap you hate doing worst, first. This takes the part of your day away that just sucks, and leaves you free to enjoy the rest of it.

4. Get up a half hour earlier. Amazingly enough, that extra 30 mins spent over coffee and breakfast (yes, eat!) will get you fired up for the day. Don't spend that half hour whacking the snooze button or you're defeating the purpose.

5. Get your lazy arse to bed earlier. If you normally stay up till round midnight, you're losing valuable sleep time. Sleep is non-accumulative, meaning you can't go all week on 4 hours a night then recharge on the weekends... Get your butt in bed by 9:30 or 10:00, and get a decent sleep.

6. The biggest trick of all, and the one we work hardest to accomplish: The 'doesn't apply' or 'teflon man' rule. - Make things not apply to you. The less **** that sticks to your fur, the less mess you have to clean up later. If something happens that applies, handle it in a prompt manner. If something happens that doesn't directly apply to you or your specific job, for God's sake keep your hands out of it and your mouth shut! You'd be amazed at how much time we spend fixing other people's foul ups. By making things 'not apply' you'll be quietly steaming away in your own job, fixing your own foul ups, and not worrying about others - and you'll free up about a half a day depending on where you work and who you work with.

[edit] I decided to expand a bit since folks seemed to like the Teflon Man thing -

If someone wants you to do something that 'doesn't apply', explain to them politely how it doesn't apply to you, and either politely refuse, or if you have extra time, add in what a scum they are for imposing on you and how they owe you a HUGE favor at the herculean efforts it will take to accomplish this (petty I hope) task, then do it. You'd be amazed at the good perks that'll start flowing your way. It landed me a wife. [/edit]

[Iron-Kurton]

Well, let me answer your question in two parts:

A) I seem to be working all day but never seem to sort everything out. One issue after another.

That depends on a lot of factors, but most likely, it is a combination of (lack of) motivation, getting interrupted, and yes, sheer laziness. And if you do manage to get motivated to do something, and you start it, you get interrupted by so many little things or people in the meantime that you kind of lose your steam.

If you have the luxury to, go into work on the weekends, finish up your stuff, and ask your boss to maybe comp that time you spend on the weekends during the day. That way, you want to get out of there as soon as possible, and you'll do less goofing off (i.e. you'll feel like you're not just there just to be there, but to actually do something) and you'll have less interruptions. I found this works well for me.

But then again, there are people with lives, so this approach might not be right for everyone.

B) I'm very lazy, love bed and despise the mofo who invented a 5 day working week to get me out of it every morning!

Me too.

What I do in spare time actually, is learn a lot about video game development. I found that doing so can actually improve your overall knowledge of computers, especially if you make it your aim to do some more complex games (for example, using networking). This way, if you enjoy video games, you can have fun while learning something new.

I guess that same principle applies to anything else: find something you like, stick with it, and have fun learning it. Don't give up or get discouraged easily, and if you get stuck, ask someone. Learning foreign languages is cool too. Like my late Grandmother, God rest her soul, used to say: You're worth as much as how many languages you know (doesn't translate that well). Little did I know when I was younger that it could apply to programming languages too

Anyway, hope this helps,

-ik

[Iron-Kurton]

shakenbake,

just found an interesting article that i thought you might appreciate

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02...re_hours_down/

[nihil]

shakenbake

1. Learn to delegate...............you aren't the only one who knows "how" are you? if you are you are not getting paid enough.

2. Stop jumping for those who shout loudest. Create a few request forms or whatever to slow them down. Do not respond to verbal instructions...........only agreed written ones. Your IT plan perhaps?

3. Get yourself a two stone feral tom cat..........let him sleep on your bed..........he can be absolutely relied upon to get you up when it is time for him to be fed.............this is generally as soon as it gets light

With the greatest respect, it sounds as if you are so deep down in the trench you do not even realise you are in a firefight? You need to take control and be proactive, not reactive.

Fix the underlying problems, don't just correct the resulting error