Right now, I have various printouts and pieces of paper with notes, scribbles, and stick figure diagrams scattered about the house. I have old notes on exercises for the foot and back in my files...somewhere. This is not going to work. If I don't have clear instructions on how, when, and how frequently to do exercises or stretches, I won't do them. All that data will just slip out of my mind, despite my current thinking that the scribbled notes are clear enough to jog my memory. I know that won't be true in a few weeks' or months' time.
I have a tendency to want to organize everything in files so that I can find it later but I am finding this does not really work for this sort of information. For tasks I need to do on a regular basis, I think a notebook will meet my needs better.
My project for today is pulling all of this information together into a notebook. Scribbles will be written up clearly, accented by hand-drawn pictures as best as I can do, and organized into sections in the notebook. My tentative plan is divide it up by ankle/foot, shoulder, neck, balance, and core. This may be expanded as needed, and will be easy to add to or amend.
How do you keep track of projects and other things? This could include your pantry inventory, garden and harvest, daily tasks or reminders, and whatever else you need to remember.
14 comments:
Sadly, the normal way is a constant inner monologue. Not very healthy.
For reminders I set call alarms on my phone. For "big picture" items I rely on the mental picture... it seems to "hold" those items fine. And my "pantry inventory" is um, well, not QUITE where it should be ;)
Talking to yourself isn't all that unhealthy. It's when you start arguing...
I wonder if my phone has call alarms. I got a new one recently and still don't know how to use all the features. I accidentally turned on the stupid camera feature yesterday and couldn't figure out how to turn it off. *sigh* Now I have to figure out where I put the instructions.
I can't believe you don't have a nicely organized pantry inventory. I know you read Sharon's blog... ;-)
Lots and lots of lists. If it isn't on a list, it doesn't get done. It the only way I can function.
My hubby once said to me, "You'd get more done if you didn't spend all your time making lists." What does he know. He's not Type A, doesn't seem to forget nearly as much as I do, and never makes lists.
No doubt! If I didn't make lists, I'd spend twice the time getting things done because I'd have missed something at the market, or forgotten to stop by the post on my way there...
And when you're getting around by bike, you REALLY don't want to miss anything and have to head back out again :)
Lists rock! Type A's Unite!
For organizing information, pantry stuff, taxes info, current bills, etc. I live out of file folders.
For more immediate stuff to do, a major list and appts on the calendar on my computer.
I try not to make too many lists since i seem to want to make lists for everything then I've got too many lists!! I think you hubby has a point for some of us, Chile.
Please tell all of your drs and therapists all the exercises and stretches that eveyone expects of you. If they know what you're dealing with they maybe able to help you schedule it all. Maybe not, but y ou won't know if you don't tell them.
Peace and healing to you,
shamba
I use a system very similar to Gina Trapani. Everything is on my yahoo calendar and I have a notebook detailing a day to day to-do list plus stuff that pops up in my head at odd times (similar to what David Allen suggests in Getting Things Done).
Husband keeps track of what in pantry, to be eaten and so on.
I'm bad at all of this... we have a problem dog who needs all of these special "training" things done with her regularly... but do I remember? NO! And then she flies off the handle at some poor chiuaua a block away, and I stand there trying to remember what I did wrong... GOT TO REMEMBER to do the training!
Calendar! I'm a very visual person, so I need a paper calendar in a prominent place.
My kitchen calendar has a folder under the last page, for sticking things we'll need for activities on the calendar (maps, recipes, whatnot.)
Would it help you to make a daily exercise plan, Covey style, and keep the drawings & directions you're putting together either in the planner or in teh space where you will be exercising?
When I did TMJ physical therapy, I had pictures of the exercises from the clinic taped up next to my bathroom mirror so I at least did them twice a day (when I brushed my teeth.)
For weekly todo lists, I use a whiteboard in the kitchen. I love crossing things off and decluttering the list everyday.
For longer term items, I use bright colored paper with clearly written, concise notes. I keep the notes taped in appropriate places: the turn out the lights sign is by the light switch, the student loan repayment plan is by the computer, and my favorite recipes are taped to the kitchen cabinets.
For your situation, I would probably have to make several colored notecards of instructions and leave them in the areas I will do the exercises -- even keeping one in my handbag, if necessary.
Its all in my head somewhere. I do make notes and lists for hubby - he forgets everything if it isn't listed.
I also run a shambolic old exercise book left over from the kids. This has everything I can't remember - mostly phone numbers (I'm dyslexic with numbers) and odd recipes etc culled from the internet.
The current page has leek soup, the school carpool with phone numbers, the cello teachers address and some odd addition from something or other. Its almost due for a new page as space is starting to wane. There's also a missing inside corner with a center staple. (cut out when one of the boys made a mini note book.)
Larder list....umm yes! Like what with? We are a bit unemployed round here and it got eaten.
viv in nz
Whiteboard on frig for hubby do's and groceries.
Three file folders: last year's business stuff, this year's business stuff, current bills to be paid.
Sticky notes on laptop.
Binder of articles and notes.
That's it.
I keep the rest of it in my head, if I can find it great, if not, I just go look it up in a book or on the net.
I used to use fairly complicated planner programs for work but now I live a bit free and easy with stuff.
It will get done, whatever it is.
I keep a number of files online for anything/everything I might forget or need to remember. I keep inventory files there (categorized by cabinet), a supper file (denoting what we ate each day, an "ongoing file of events" which lists events from each day and/or things I might be keeping track of for a period of time. If I were you, for instance, I'd probably note exactly how many of each exercise I did each day so I could correlate improvements/worsenings with how well I'd responded to recommended treatments. It's a PITA, but the only way I can function with a poor memory. I also record everything we buy (which drives my husband nuts). That practice began when I found I didn't know how much some things SHOULD cost. Of course, it also helps me track inflation, periodic sales, etc.
Recently (December), my computer system crashed and I thought, "There goes my brain!" Symptoms warned me of the possibility, so I had backups of many files and now take backups religiously.
Good luck with your health problems as well as time management.
I keep a very strict regimen of writing everything down in a chronological series of notebooks. That all look the same because I can't use any other notebook brand or style than the one I love because I am OCD about writing materials.
sadly, this means that all the important information I daily gather is very difficult to access.
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