A No-Nonsense Guide To Effective Delegation

April 13th 2007   Getting Things Done, Work & Career   2 comments

Seeing as this is a no-nonsense guide it seems only appropriate I get straight to the point. If you need to manage your time better at work, delegation is often the best option, especially if you are in any position of authority. You can’t do everything, after all. However, the most important thing to bear in mind, is whether the task is appropriate for delegating in the first place. If, for instance, you can do it better and more quickly than other people, it may not be appropriate to hand it off to someone else. With that in mind, below is a guide to how to delegate effectively.

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GTD Dictionary: Organization

April 11th 2007   GTD Dictionary   0 comments

Organization:

• Something that has been made into an ordered whole.
• Conforming entirely to standards, rules, or demands.

Organization is a key aspect of being productive. An unorganized individual is not able to see what needs doing at a quick glance. If you have to waste time sorting through piles of paperwork or just generally trying to figure out what needs doing, then that is a massive drain on your energy. Many people assume this sort of planning and organization can be naturally figured out within the mind but this almost never possible. The mind is not an organizing tool, you can’t rely on it to remind you about things when you need it to (how many times have you been in a shop and completely forgotten to pick up items that you needed?). What’s more, your brain doesn’t put all your thoughts into neat little compartments for easy access. If you have lots of things going on in your head it will just be like a jumbled mess, leading to confusion and lack of focus.

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Understanding The Roles And Responsibility In Your Life

April 9th 2007   Getting Things Done   6 comments

Last week I discussed the GTD vertical map (otherwise known as the horizons of focus). In it I mentioned the importance of the 20,000ft level and how understanding your roles and responsibilities influences your map both up and down. In this post I want to take that level and expand upon it further, discussing how I personally define my roles and responsibilities, work out the projects and requirements for them, and how I then monitor my performance.

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Organize IT Recap: Security Issues When Throwing Out Hard Drives And How To Move To A Completely Online Lifestyle

April 8th 2007   Recap   0 comments

Organize IT recap for 08th April 2007.

• If your computer is on the way out and you want to get rid of it, then you should give careful thought to properly wiping your hard-drive because a format simply won’t cut it. In case you didn’t know, when you delete a file it’s not really deleted. You are simply removing any link to it so that your computer can install something else over it in the future. With the right software it’s possible to view these files. The Washington Post has a detailed guide to make sure you really protect your privacy.
• In the near future offline software will become defunct and you will do everything online, from saving your files to doing office work. While we are some way off having a online app with the depth of Microsoft Word, there are plenty of options out there for creating a basic setup. Lifehack.org has a great guide on how to create an operating system within a browser (Firefox OS?) using Google apps to do all your work online.

How To Boost Your Creativity: Inspirational Locations

April 5th 2007   Personal Development   1 comment

In the first part of my series discussing how to boost your creativity I looked at the five basics that are required to get those creative juices flowing. The fifth point covered the importance of finding the right location. In fact I believe that your surroundings are so important in boosting your creativity, that in this post I will list my own top five inspirational locations. This is by no means a definitive list but I hope it will encourage you to think of your own favorite places to visit.

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