People who just get things done and are relentlessly efficient - please explain how you do it

[CarbonEmittingPenguin]

As said above. I am the queen of 'getting round to things' but never actually doing them. I can waste entire days thinking about what needs doing but never actually doing it

If you are efficient and just get on with things how do you do it? What is your thought process? What are you generally like?

I think having your home organised makes a big difference, it's annoying if you have to waste time digging around for things when you need them

Badders, that's how I deal with school stuff. Dd2 came home with a letter asking for a small contribution to an outside workshop coming in (miles cheaper than taking them out of school). Form is filled in and in my purse ready to hand to her on Monday on the way into school, money in an envelope stapled to it and clearly labelled with name/class etc.

Spellings and some reading done. We'll do some more reading tomorrow after lunch and homework Sunday after lunch.

Love this thread! I have a weekly planner - pic attached. Meal plan and write in what you're doing each day, notes section and shopping list section. I live by lists as well! Definitely going to do the Megalist!

Ds1 has one lot of homework to do, as well as a football match on Sunday.
Dh is away from tomorrow so I have arranged for fil to take Ds to his match, and to training on Monday night.
Ds2 has the usual reading and spellings to do. Not too onerous.
Have arranged for my nephews to come round for a while tomorrow afternoon for a play.
Done a big grocery shop today so hoping I can get away with just in every top up shop next week.
Done loads of cleaning this week as I won't get much done next week as I start my new job (!) and I'm taking mum to a couple of dr appts.
Like many others, I do lists at Xmas to keep track of budgets and what I've got for various people.
This year I've marked with a red dot who I got an Xmas card from so I won't be sending as many this year!
One thing I do need to do...and will try at half term...is open Ds1 a bank account! My village bank is now a "satellite branch" why oh basically means you can't actually do anything there anymore! Grr.
Another thing I do is allocate so much ££ for school holidays like Feb half term so if we want to I can take boys to the cinema or McDonald's.
We are also members of the NT and they have some good things on locally so hoping we can go to a few events.
I do wonder if I sometimes take my future planning to silly levels :)
Both DC have handmade pine furniture in their bedrooms (a guy in the village made them) I made sure that they both had exactly the same pieces in their rooms (wardrobe, bookcase, dressed, shelves...) so if they ever decide to move rooms all I have to do is move the stuff, not the furniture!
overthinking
I tend to make Amazon sold my soul to them years ago, sorry wish lists all year round if the DC see something they like so I don't forget and pre order DVDs etc for Xmas.
I also buy toiletries and vitamins on Amazon too...by far the cheapest I've found.

bendy love that! :)

lisa yes to de cluttering!
I'm not a big fan of clutter but it's amazing how wonderful it feels to take bin bags full of stuff to a local kids ward, or church sale or tip!! :)
I so think, as a society we are at "peak stuff"....so much stuff we don't need or use just sitting gathering dust.
I agree with William Morris..."have nothing in your home you not feel to beautiful or know to be useful"
Very clever chap!

Thanks! Obviously I also cross-check it with DH's calendar and my Filofax and sometimes write things on my to-do list that I've already done, just so I can cross them off :)

Also motivation-wise, I keep a list of things I've achieved in my life, which is a confidence boost in down-times and also makes me do stuff because I want to add to the list. Also have many to-do lists and things-I-want-to-do lists and New Years resolution lists etc. Just lists lists lists! The key.

Bendy your list of achievements sounds like a really good idea!

Oh Zing those notebooks made me swoon.

Badders Future planning is the most fun thing of all. It's the one organisational thing I excel at. At the start of the year I go over all gig lists, exhibitions, festivals, open days, theatre shows and outdoor events to see what's on that the whole family would like to go to, then book as much as we can so the diary is full in advance with loads of fun.

what do you make your lists in? A book? a diary? I don't like doing them on my phone.

briss, I bought myself a nice looking hardbacked notebook from Home Bargains. Mine go in that. I forget about lists on my phone & so when I go back to them eventually nothing is ever crossed off even though I have done it iyswim so it feels like I'm getting nowhere

Christmas has it's own notebook for lists.

Carbon ZingKids are doing well, thank you for asking!
We are going to start building work in a month..exciting but scary!

We'll be doing the decluttering by default while the building work is being done, so more space, less stuff hopefully will automatically help.
Plus DD will start school in Sept, at which point ZingBaby will be 2 (what???) and can spend more time and grandparents' - again this will give me child free time and headspace so I can finally get properly organized.
I can't wait.
But the next 9-10 m of chaos will be tough (for those who don't know me we have 7 children and will have to move out twice while the extension is done!

LisaMumsnet Mega List sounds epic, good tip. Ty.

Here's the type of all-wall calendar we'll finally have the space for.

I have a lovely A5 spiral bound notebook that I use for lists/plans etc
It's stripey :)
We have 2 holidays booked this year (both uk)
I have no idea what we are doing for half term yet...or Easter....must get doing some research! :)

I could procrastinate for England. But recently I've been ruthlessly efficient. It started by reading that article about procrastination and the dark playground (haven't read thread, presuming someone has mentioned it by now) and it was like the lights went on. I started thinking 'hey, why not do it now, right now' about every task that arises, and weirdly its like the more you do things without procrastinating, the better you feel, and before you know it that becomes your default. Someone told me about a potential job yesterday and before I'd have left it for days or weeks before finally getting round to it. New me had a meeting about it for next week organised the same morning! (Luckily for me the person I was corresponding with about it was even more ruthlessly efficient than me:)). It feels phenomenal, it really does, and the best thing is that it's a virtuous circle. So my advice is get something really important done quickly, and feed off the back of that for evermore:)

briss Filofax! :)

I'm the same by the way, love writing down rather than phone lists.

Zing! Baby Zing is never 2yo this year . All wall calendar is a brilliant idea btw.

Luce , hey!
Yep, he's just turned 18m!

I've seen other versions of it, we are using whiteboards atm.
I spend so much time on Pinterest, looking for good ideas, I guess I'd be better organised/tidier if I just got stuff done instead!

Crikey time flies soooooo fast!

I use a whiteboard for weekly reminders & things we need to take with us to places.

Pinterest is a weakness it sucks the evening away once I sit down with it. It's great for ideas though. I've stored up so many ideas for my Rainbows that we'll probably never do them all!

building2016 Thank you! I'll stick it on my amazon sample pile.

I've been doing "timed breaks" today and I'm exhausted but got loads done. Will try to see if I can keep it up. I am quite reassured by the idea of a Mega list taking a whole week to write. Maybe I'll start one myself.

And I've decided that instead of giving into the exhaustion as I normally do, I'm going to think of it a bit like a new job. You always feel crap and tired after you start a new job but after a few weeks, it's normal and you adjust to the activity levels.

BertieThat is what GTD recommends. One massive brain dump for everything, everything, everything. Then it shows you how to reorganise and revisit. Best thing is there are loads of zealous fans to chat about it with.

Love this thread....
BertieBotts I found your post from yesterday rather inspiring.

I've been overwhelmed with stuff for about 9 months...and have let myself get stressed; I'm so afraid of my to-do list that I don't get started.

Bertie's post reminded me that I am at my most efficient once I clearly know where I'm going; it's the mundanity of laundry, cleaning, school-work, etc that kills me.
But if I can see it as steps to my goals of neat organised house, happy rereshed children, income to cover our needs- then I can find the energy to be productive.