AIBU to ask how the f*ck you organise your work?!

[Getorganized]

I'm struggling and grateful for any tips. I have a list with longer term projects listed on a calendar and a different one with shorter pieces of work on it. My job can also be really reactive - different stuff coming in every day that needs prioritising on top of proactive/planned stuff. This means I have a notebook bursting with stuff and I don't know my arse from my elbow. I've tried a digital notebook. I have a small team I also manage.

Do you have any failsafe organisation methods?! Tools you use?! Help!

I have a to do list as daily recurring meeting in my calendar. Every day I update it as I work my way through the items/ add more items to the list. This way I always have an up to date to do list and a reminder for it every morning.

Back to basics with me, I write a new list every day with priorities. I have some things that always are at the bottom of the list, usually just personal extra stuff! X

I use Outlook/Planner/ToDo because they all integrate. Flag the email and it appears in ToDo. Tag yourself in Planner (we have multiple shared Planners for projects) and they also appear in ToDo. You can then schedule and prioritise from there, including setting alerts for bring forwards etc.

Ooh I am interested in this.

For a few years I have been using a bullet journal style (just in a normal A4 notebook). 1 A4 page per week. On Monday morning I populate the week with meetings, tasks I know I will do on specific days. Then I add in the tasks I expect to do Mon / Tue /Wed/ Thurs. Inevitably things get bumped down the list and new things added. Thurs I often have lots of meetings and it's also a day we often announce things (work in comms), so I don't usually add many other tasks. Fridays I try to keep free of meetings, so I can aim to complete all of the tasks that have been bumped further down the week.

At this point in my life I this much about myself: that I can never fit as much into a day as I think I can, and I never get tired of crossing something off a list. With bullet journaling you get to cross off even the things you didn't do, as you move them on to a new slot in your calendar. The other thing I like is having a few mins to myself in the morning with a cup of coffee to plan for the day ahead, so I deliberately start work earlier than others who sit near me. I work flexi, so I can finish earlier too.

I use my work Callander plus One Note. Meetings in calendar, I block out time for lunch and also time for high priority tasks so I have dedicated time.

I use One note for a digital to do list. It has everything on it. At the top are regular actions that need done weekly/monthly and I tick them off when completed. One off tasks are deleted on completion.

As things crop up they are added to my to do list and I review it twice per day.

I use Trello but actually I prefer my handwritten daily to do list in my notebook and post it notes stuck on my computer! Very satisfying binning them as I complete tasks.
If it's getting on top of you, it's possible it's not the organisation tools, it's the job! Maybe it's just too much work. Is there stuff you can delegate? Tasks you can turn down due to lack of capacity? Can you talk to your boss about workload?

I used an A4 page a day diary. I transfer over each day anything that is remaining. This means that if something can wait, then I add it in to a future date, rather than on the end of the current list.

I have tried various software to do this, but I prefer physically writing stuff down.

Get the small things out of the way, often in the first hour of the working day. Much easier on days when you are working from home.

This is a model I've found helpful - the 4Ds of time management.

Every task fits into one of the boxes.

Scheduling in times for routine tasks is really helpful to me, as I sort of just expect to be able to fit them around everything else but that doesn't work for me. Also delaying - but scheduling time to meet the next week is a game changer for me!

Accepting your to do list is like laundry- never ending is helpful too!

I have tried a lot of methods, which at the very worst of times includes writing all of the things I can think of on 3 pages of A4 lined paper and then reordering, popping deadlines. Sometimes just writing things out really helps.

Currently, I'm trialling Tasks in Google. I have a few lists inc 121s where I note things to discuss per person, one for a big project I'm managing and a more general to do list. I take actions from emails and meetings and add them directly in there with deadlines so they become tasks in my calendar. I like that I can have subtasks, notes, links to emails, or docs to refer back to..

I did love trello but now just use reminder lists on my iPhone. And post it notes - the things I must achieve in a day on a post it, anything more is a bonus. (A lot of my work is reactive so getting the 3 things done often doesn’t happen but they carry over. Post it note tasks do usually get done that week at least).

The best thing I've done is to push back on other people. I block my calendar out for whole days, I use out of office to signal that I won't be reading emails at certainty times, I show teams as 'busy' or out of office, I just say no no no no to things all day. Answering emails last thing in the day also stops email tennis and hugely cuts down the time spent answering silly questions.

1. What will get me fired if I do a shitty job
2. What will get me fired if I don't do it at all
3. What will get me fired if I do it late
4. What will help me to achieve 1,2 and 3
5. What will be an easy win and free me up for 1-4 when it's done
6. What will get a pig of a job out of the way before it piles up near a deadline for 1-4
7. What is undoubtedly useful now
8. What is undoubtedly useful later

With an ability to shuffle in other urgents that will cause disasters, negatively affect nice people, things that are of equal importance but I've been asked nicely and the occasional thing where it's more hassle than it's worth to ignore.

Last of all, below counting used plastic file inserts, sweeping the stationery cupboard and cleaning behind my monitor are the non time critical, non urgent things demanded by dickheads.

Trello is your friend.

Outlook to do list categorised by project

Bookmarking!

I have my main to do lists.
I have a daily one plus an ongoing "big job"list that's branches into my daily list. I use different coloured pens up make this more visual.
I also use post it notes around my screen for jobs that snowball or pop up as I'm going along.
I have set admin times and spend the rest of the time completing tasks or in meetings,training networking etc.
It works for me.

Asana, free for under 15 users so you may get your team on there too. Very simple lists/tasks/projects used as you wish learn as you go very easy aesthetically with comments and everything date stamped from updates used it for years til we had to switch to a bigger product.

I use OneNote. I have different Workbooks for projects or business specific and then pages for each meeting (my diary is back to back meetings all week - no time to actually 'do'!) - I tag actions in meetings as I take notes, then sync the to do tags to a master to do list each day.
In really busy days, I also do a quick handwritten urgent task list for immediate in the day actions.

I have gone a bit organised mum at work. There are certain things that should be in order so I have checklists. I do one per day, and it takes about 3 minutes. If I miss it one week then I know I will catch it the next. It prevents me dropping the ball.

I've started closing outlook when I have to concentrate on a piece of work to stop me getting distracted.

Wow thanks everyone! Will have a good read through all of the suggestions