EPISODE 18 - Organisation: How can I speed up the planning and processing of to-dos?

Michael Seidl: Welcome to a new episode of the Get Sh*t Done in IT podcast. My name is Michael Seidl and today we talk about how can I speed up the planning and processing of to -dos. So in the last episode, we talked about how to prioritize my to -dos and Eisenhower matrix and everything. But now we are really go into the deep and how to speed up the planning and the processing the to -dos so we can check up as many to -dos as possible. So I have four points I want to discuss today. And the first one is nothing new because I talked about that I think several times in latest in my last episodes. It is have a one system of all your to -dos. So have a single point of all your to -dos. You have to plan, have to do, you have to think about. And this is really a mandatory advice. So have one single source of truth or one single source of shit. If you stick to the title of the podcast and why is this so necessary? Because you have one single source, you see all the dependencies or the connections to other tasks or to do's. So if you have a single source, see those relationships. And also then you see that might be some more to -dos for a specific topic. So you can plan that one step after the other or together. So maybe you can do some tasks on the same time. Or there might be some dependencies from one task to another. And this is only a Good way to see those dependency is a single source of all your to -dos. So that's the first thing to have a single source of all your things. The next one is on the planning phase. So when you have once a week or once a day, whenever you plan all your open to -dos, decide the action you have to do, decide the next steps you have to do. Okay.

Michael Seidl: So this is the only way you can define how long does it take. and you don't have to think twice or three times of that to do. So if there is a to do and you just throw it in your calendar and then you have to think again and okay, and why, what to do. But if you do that in directly when you plan your to do, this is the only way you can have a real good and realistic estimation of the time you need for this to do. And also if you think about the next step, we come to the third point, you have to plan your right environment. Because there might be some to do's or some actions you can only do in certain spaces or certain places or with special equipment, for example. So one example would be if you have some telephone calls to do. I prefer to do that during a car drive, maybe to a customer. So twice a week I go to a customer, so I have plenty of time for telephone calls. I plan in that time. In the same time, I cannot do any remote assistance for a customer. So you have to decide what to do. You have to decide what place is the best or what area or what space is the best. And of course, what equipment do you need? So there might be some papers in your office you need for that to do, but on the customer side. So you need to make sure you take your papers with you when you go to the customer. Or for example, I have one customer with a hardware token to connect to the VPN. So if I plan to work for that customer, I have to make sure that this token is with me. Otherwise, I cannot connect to that customer. And for example, if you have remote calls or remote assistance to a customer, it might not be the best place to do that in the train or in an airplane during travel time. The worst place is in the car when you drive, so don't do that. But just to show what I want to say with that point. So one point back, we said, plan your doing. So really plan.

Michael Seidl: the action you have to do. And the third thing is plan the right environment, the right equipment you need, the right paper, tokens, whatever. So for example, the last few days I planned some LinkedIn live webcasts for this autumn and had several steps, several tasks. So think about the topics, define the content. and then go to the LinkedIn and see how it works and make some graphics and do the recordings and so on. So the first steps to just think about the topics and write down the content, that is completely unrelated to any place I've been. So I decided to go to a local cafe and sit there, drink some coffee and do the thinking stuff. But back when I was finished with that, I had to go back to my office place to do because I needed the notebook and I needed a wide screen. I prefer when it's possible to have my wide screen and sit on my desk. So to do the graphics, to do the technical stuff, to do the recordings or test recordings and so on. and that was the decision of few. weeks ago because I decided to do some LinkedIn lives. So I decided the actions to think about the topics, to think about the content, then go to the hard facts to go to LinkedIn, see how it works, do the graphics, do the recordings and so on, do the demos. And for these several steps, I needed different requirements, different equipment, and I could do it on different places depending on the to do. And that's the The So if you on the planning phase, think about the next step or maybe multiple steps, then it is the only way how you really can plan it the best on the best time on the best place on the best day. And the last thing is the last advice. Discipline. So we are now ready with planning. Now it comes to executing.

Michael Seidl: And the only way is to just do your shit. Okay? Just do it. Don't do anything else. Don't extend the time slot you planned. There was a reason why you planned that to do on this day, on this time. So just go through and fix it. Okay? There might be reasons that are to do is might be already solved and skip it and do the next one. But don't find excuses that you might We don't want to do it. You might plan it for a different day. Whatever. No, just go through and make that shit happen. Okay. And that's the only thing. On the last episode, we talked about the Eisenhower and eat the frog. So you plan your to do you want to do at least on the beginning. So you finish your things you don't like to do first. And That could be something that helps, yes, but at least at the end you have to do it. Yeah, there is no magic. There is no way around. You have to do the thing. Yeah, that's it. And for example, I have to do my bookkeeping every month and today was the day. And usually I do it really in the beginning of the day. And luckily I have some text consultants who do the hard work. I just have to relate my transactions to the vouchers and invoices and everything. So it is an easy task, but it still takes, I think, one hour a month and I still don't like it. But I have to do it and I'm always happy when I'm finished. I'm always happy when I send all the information to my tax consultant and then I'm happy. It's done for one month and one month I have. nothing to do with that topic. And if you really don't like it and if you really need to find some motivation, try to remember that feeling when I'm finished. So that helps sometimes to find some motivation and do the stuff. But in the end, you just have to go through. There is no way around. There is no excuse. Maybe you can find someone to delegate, but some things you have to do and you...

Michael Seidl: There are some things you don't like to do, but you have to do it. Go through, make it done and finish it. Okay. So that's my four topics for this week. So my four advices for this week. I hope you enjoyed it. hope you get something out of that podcast. So at the end, if you have any questions for the podcast, I would be happy to have it on one of the next episodes. you can send me a question on best is on LinkedIn, you can send me a text message or a voice message whatever you like or prefer and so at the end I want to wish you a happy week stay productive and bye bye