810 Getting Things Done

The topic of this could not be more appropriate. I feel like I always have to GET SOMETHING DONE! Juggling a family, full time teaching job, other responsibilities, and learning about educational technology, I feel that I am always getting things done. After learning about "Getting Things Done" concepts by David Allen, I was excited (because I could use a little more organization in my life), overwhelmed (that was going to have to try to get organized, possibly re-vamping my current strategies and I don't like change), relieved (because I am REALLY good at creating an inbox), and nervous (because these concepts sounded like a perfect way to help the whole family get things done).

When I began, I did a combination of paper/pencil and technology. I mainly used paper/pencil to organize hands on tasks at work (like making copies, preparing items for lessons, etc.). In order to assist the whole family (mainly me and my husband as we work different shifts), I decided that digital was the best route. We began a "inbox" bin at home for items that needed attention (school forms, mail, etc.). We created a family google account for keeping track of things within google docs as well as placing "to do's" in the google calendar. The google docs, email, and calendar are available on both mine and my husband's cell phones as well as both our iPads. I'm not going to lie, this process was overwhelming to me. I think that I should have chosen a smaller segment of things to work through the process first. Trying to do the family organization was just too much. I think learning about this process was helpful though. It made me realize that I may need to start small (as I like my routine now) and work up to following the process more closely. I think that I may follow some of the principals from the process, but I'm not sure that I can be diligent enough right now to complete and maintain the whole process. One thing that I plan to do, is to take control of my email inbox at work. I am the email hoarder who gets the emails from the tech department to learn out her email box because I have too many in my inbox. Starting today, Monday, October 3, 2011, I will focusing on organizing the email inbox, completing or placing tasks into my calendar and deleting emails. No more 1000 emails in the inbox for me!!

~Melanie