EPISODE 2 - Organisation: How to handle all the ToDo’S

Michael Seidl: Welcome to our next episode of the Get Shit Done in IT podcast. Today, I want to talk about one very, very special topic, how to handle all the to -dos and tasks in your daily life, in your daily business. So we have a very short and simple answer. Have a single source of all your to -dos and tasks. That's it. So this would be the shortest podcast in this podcast series, but there is, I wanted to give you some more background or some, maybe some, some examples you can feel and understand why it is so important. So imagine you're coming home or you have an office in your house, a home office and a desk and there are lying a stack of papers with. invoices as a brochures, some sheet of paper, whatever. And every time you sit on your desk, it reminds you that you have something to do. But you have to do something else because you have to do some work stuff, some customer stuff, help some colleagues, whatever. You have your daily work to do. But the stack of paper always reminds you that you have something to do, something to do. The same, you're coming home in your house and... your flat, whatever. There lies some hammer nails in the entrance area reminds you you have to fix something. But in that situation, you don't have time for this because maybe your kids are waiting for you. Maybe your wife, your husband is waiting for you. You need to go to dinner because the hammer and the nail still lays there every time reminds you you have to do something but the wrong time in the wrong situation. And there are plenty and many of those situations in our daily lives. Everything lies lays on the desk reminds you to do anything and whatever. Yeah. And that feeling that anytime any place you see stuff to do on the desks on the shelves on the ground whatever everything reminds you you have something to do.

Michael Seidl: And every day it is not done, makes you feel bad, makes you, when you go to bed, there is something unfinished in my head. Maybe you don't really know what, but the feeling is that there might be something unfinished in your head. And that's the main reason why we need a single source of all our to -dos, of all our tasks. And that is improving. our life, our concentration tremendously. Okay. So the idea is to have a single source of all your dedos, of all your stuff, put everything in there and, and what matter, it doesn't matter what the tool is. It just needs to be a right tool to store everything and a spoiler. it is not your inbox. It is not your mail. Okay. Cause that might be a lot of things to do in your mail, but then please go to episode one and see how to work with a lot of emails. You don't need to, you shouldn't store any to -dos in your email, but different topic. So, but your nail on your hammer or your stack of paper is not in your email program or your, your, your partner reminded you to do anything on the way to work. It is not in your email. So your email is not. single source of all your to -dos. Your Slack, your Teams, whatever you're using is not a single source of to -do. You need a separate system. I prefer a digital one. You need a separate system to store everything. What is on your inbox, on Slack, on your tables, on your mind. Maybe a thing to your mind. Your brain is... Definitely the baddest place to store any to -dos or tasks. Your brain is here to process anything, but not to store anything. Okay, so don't use your brain to store your to -dos, what you have to do next week or whatever. That's the wrong place and maybe the baddest place to do this. So have a single source to store all of your to -dos and tasks.

Michael Seidl: And when you have a single source, then you can go through and maybe check other any duplicates. So maybe you have a posted on a desk and something in your mind and that's all the same. So you can structure your to -dos. You can filter and clean up your to -dos if you have a single list of it. And from that list, you can prioritize your to -dos. What is most important? You can... make a rough estimation how long will it take and then the next thing is plan it from that single source of shit. Let's stay at the podcast title. Find a single source of shit where you can manage all your stuff. So at the example of the stack of papers laying on your desk, put it in your system, Do a rough estimation how long it would take to go through that list and do all the stuff. And plan it for a day, for a time of the day. When you sit at your desk, because whatever you need on the environment for you to go through that paper, maybe the desk and the computer. So find a slot where you have a time of the day and the time of the day where you sit on your desk. Have time with. out any other to -dos to go through that stack of papers and then remove it from your desk, put it in the shelf and only get it out of that shelf when that specific day and specific time of the day arrived. Okay. And that's the main idea, the magic behind remove all your distractions from Outlook, from Teams, Slack, whatever. from your brain, from your desk, put it in a system and plan it when it is the right day, the right place, the right location, the right time to do it. It will not help you to do more. It will not prevent you to maybe it took longer and the need to find a different slot to finish it. But then you have a single source and you see that's not finished. I need to plan a different slot, plan it, gone.

Michael Seidl: Gone from your head, gone from your table, gone from your inbox, whatever. So that's, that's the main thing. Having a single source of all your to -dos. It is easier to plan. It is easier to have an overview and it is the best way to remove all the distractions from your daily life. So it doesn't matter if it's on your desk. It doesn't matter if it's on your shelves, on your ground, in your car. whatever, put everything in there. And, and having that is a huge accomplishment. And this is one of the major things to getting more productive. There are so many ways to increase productivity. There's always small steps, but that's a huge step, a huge jump forward in being more productive, having a single source of all your to -dos and all your tasks. And from that, plan your to -dos, plan your tasks, prioritize your to -dos and your tasks, checking, check is done, mark is done, remove it from your list and so on. And yes, this will take some time from your day to plan, to maintain that list, to plan your to -dos. But there is a phrase, 10 minutes of planning time will save you two hours of execution. There might be different in the relation between planning and execution, but what I can promise you and from my own experience, every minute you put in planning will save you multiple time in execution. Okay. Of course you have to do it, you still have to do it. So don't plan the whole day and then there is no more time to execute, to do anything. So you still have to do that stuff. That's not different. But it is easier. You have your to -dos when it's the right time, the right place, the right location. But of course you still have to do it, but it will save much much time when you

Michael Seidl: plan your things, it will save much and many time in execution. Yes, in the beginning it looks like you have to do more, but at the end you will save a lot more time in execution. So you have to put in some time to gain or get some more time back. Of course, you have to do it and you have a system to maintain, but it will save a lot more time compared to the time you need to invest in that system. Okay. So to summarize the things of that podcast is, or this episode, find a single source of, or a single place, a single source of all your to -dos where you can store all your to -dos. your inbox stuff, your brain things, your desk, things laying on the desk, your work stuff, put everything in that system from that on, plan it, maintain it, prioritize it, and also put stuff in there like you want to learn a language, okay? You can mark that thing with a status of anytime or backlog or whatever, but put that thing in that list. everything. Okay. Put that in that list, plan it from that list. And when you do it, when you try it, you will feel a lot more comfortable, a lot more relaxed and keep that feeling. Remember that feeling because there will be time when everything comes together, stress and this and that, that you will not have maybe the resources to maintain that system as you need it. But that remember how you felt back then when the system is running. And this will give you the energy to bring back the maintained system. So.

Michael Seidl: Try it for some time, you will see the benefit and trust me it will help you. It will bring you a huge step forward in being more productive. Thanks for your time. If you have any questions or let me know what your experience with that system is. You can contact me on LinkedIn, you can send me a message, you can... record me a voice message, whatever you like or prefer best. Let me know, ask your questions. If you have a specific question for that podcast, send it to me on LinkedIn. I will be happy to answer that. My opinion with my experience, of course. And thanks again. Enjoy your day. Stay productive and bye bye.