I’m sorry for my absence the past few weeks. The weather has been ghastly hot in my part
of the world, which has come with air quality issues, thunderstorms and the
attendant pressure changes. Being an asthmatic,
the bad air quality is also a problem for me. All that has made my insomnia
worse and given me migraine headaches lasting for multiple days, easing up for
a day or two, and then coming back. Several
days last week, I could not lift my head off my pillow without feeling as if
knives were being stabbed into my eyes.
On days like those, I don’t turn on my computer at all. As a general
rule, I am not shackled to my computer all day, every day. I prefer to hand write, when my tremors and
neuropathy allow me to do so.
The last two weeks have re-affirmed that using a
computer-based calendar and task system does NOT work for me. Though many things have changed due to “The
Great Poisoning” *, I am still a pen and paper person. Since this week is
forecast to be in the high 90s with bad air quality again, I’ve decided to
shelve the electronic calendar and task list. I see no reason to continue with
a system that is not working at all and is frustrating me. I am going to use a
paper-based system I found on Suzi Whitford’s Start a Mom Blog. (See link to
the blog post below.) She calls it the Super Simple Weekly Schedule to Get
Stuff Done. The bones of the system is a whiteboard with columns for the days
of the week and three evenly spaced rows for Morning, Afternoon, and
Evening. Using different colored post-it
notes, every Sunday night she puts all of her Events on white post-it notes,
and then places them in the appropriate times on the whiteboard.
Suzi then breaks down her activities by the time
required to complete them: 1-2 hour activities on blue post-it notes, 2+ hour
activities on pink, and 15 minute activities on yellow. When she is done writing the activities on
the appropriate color post-its, she distributes them throughout the week. When an event or activity is done, she puts a
big “X” through the text on the post-it. She leaves the post-it on the
whiteboard so she can get the positive feeling of accomplishment. When new tasks come up during the week, she
puts them on the appropriate colored post-it and puts them on the bottom of the
board. When she has a moment during the
day, she distributes them on the board.
I don’t have a whiteboard and I have no plan to get
one at this time. However, when there
were four people living in my house for several years, I bought a huge calendar
so we all knew who needed to be where, medical appointments, etc. When two of
the folks moved out, the calendar was too large for just my husband and I, so I
took it off the refrigerator and put it away in my office. Last night, when I
decided to try this system, I was able to find the calendar very quickly and
easily. I set it up as the whiteboard is
set up. I will need to find or buy
smaller post-it notes if the concept works for me. I have different colors of post-it notes than
Suzi uses. I don’t think that will be a
problem as long as I am consistent. I already know that I will also need a
monthly grid calendar hanging on my desk – I found I need that while I was
working with The Bullet Journal.
I have already identified what I believe will be
three benefits of the new system.
1.
It is NOT computer-based, so if I
choose not to turn on the computer on any given day, I will still have my
calendar and task list.
2.
It is very visual, and I have a perfect
place to put it for now.
3.
It is very colorful and fun to look at.
I’ll be back next week to let you know how it works
for me. If it works reasonably well,
this will be the first of an eight-week adventure.
Have a great week!
*From October of 2013 through April of 2014, I was
taking a heavy duty chemo therapy drug for a condition I do not even have. I do not have cancer, either. As a consequence, I was poisoned and have an
acquired brain injury with attendant neurological issues which have not yet
been diagnosed.
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@michelle
owings-chri
LinkedIn profile:
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