Michael M. Butler wrote:
>
> 1) I've had a Pilot 1000 (early adopter, of a success story for a change),
> and now a Visor Deluxe.
>
> Harvey Newstrom wrote:
> >
> > Anders Sandberg wrote,
> > > One issue I think might be useful to discuss is time management and
> > > changing habits. Any effective methods out there?
> >
> > One of the best things I have ever found for time management is to get a
> > little electronic pocket organizer.
I agree that organizers can change one's life for the better. For many years
I've used a paper Daytimer and only recently acquired a Palm m100. I was
pleased with it during the few days it functioned. Had to send it back and
get a new one, which I only got back yesterday. It's a pretty basic model,
but even so it's superior to a paper organizer.
One of the most important functions of the Daytimer for me was to assist me
in prioritizing my to-do list. I'm not sure the Palm is going to fill this
need, although it might work if used in conjunction with a laptop. It's
helpful (at least for me) to have a list of goals (for whatever period of
time whether day, week, year, or lifetime) written down where I can see all
of them at the same time.
I've observed that most people spend most of their time doing stuff that
seems urgent but does not move them toward their most important goals. I
think this is what's happening on a large scale with the reaction to the
terrorist attack. I do this too if I don't write down and prioritize a list
of possibilities for each day, always keeping in mind long-term goals and
prioritizing accordingly. Picking a day at random from my past, December 12,
1997. My most basic long-term goal was to live as long and as happily as
possible. This is not terribly useful, but it does provide a set of
constraints. For example, I would ordinarily reject the idea of spending ten
minutes to smoke a cigarette or an hour to drink a few beers and drive my
car, as these would conflict with my most basic goal.
One of my long-term sub goals was improving methods of growing food plants
in areas with no soil or very poor soil. In order to have time to study and
do experiments, I had to be able to live without the necessity of holding
down a full-time job (unless I could have found a full-time job studying
methods of growing plant foods--but I had checked into this and found that
the closest I could come would be to enroll in a graduate program at a
university; and none of the programs I looked into appealed to me).
So I had a whole set of subgoals connected with keeping my nut small, so to
speak. One of these was to build a house. Since being dirty, cold, and wet
did not seem to advance my long-term goal of living long and happily, it had
to be a house that would stay warm and dry in winter; and I needed water for
bathing and household cleaning. On December 11, 1997 the house was already
built but needed some tightening.
Thus, the day's activities:
1. cut and split firewood
2. build pump house (I had already installed a pump and pipes to carry pond
water to the kitchen and bathroom via a clarifying tank, but I needed to
enclose the pump so I could have running water even during freezing
weather)--I notice I listed each step of building the pump house and an
estimated time so I could be sure to get it done (eg. Cut posts to 61" .2
hour; set posts in ground .5; cut cross pieces .2 etc.)
3. weather stripping on door
4. insulate water pipe between tank and pump
5. drain pipes and pump if frost protection not complete
6. collect kindling
7. read chapter Paleoethnobotany
8. make apple pie
9. Fill cracks in floor
10. Check that greenhouse is squared away
There wasn't enough time in the day to do all these things, because the pump
house would take quite a while to do. So I had to prioritize. The first hard
freeze of the season was predicted for that night.
Splitting firewood got low priority, because I already had enough to last
for a while. So that would be the last thing I'd do--I'd get around to it
only if I had time.
I gave the pump house high priority, because without it I'd have to drain
the pump and water pipes and wouldn't have running water for the duration of
the freeze. I'm not sure I'd choose the same way today, but I probably would
simply because I enjoy bathing. This is a situation where I was picking a
goal mostly for short-term pleasure (having running water at the end of
December, 1997 probably didn't lengthen my life, but neither did it shorten
my life)
Weather-stripping the door was low priority since I could keep warm even
with drafts by burning a little extra firewood (as it happens, there's no
shortage of firewood here)
Insulating the pipes was of the same level of priority as the pump house,
since both things were necessary in order to have running water during
freezing weather.
Draining the pump and pipes if pump house and insulation not finished was
URGENT--bad consequences if not done since the pipes and pump housing tend
to break when the water inside them freezes.
Collecting kindling was high priority since it's almost impossible to get a
fire going without it. This is one of those things that could have an effect
on my basic goal of surviving, so perhaps I should have even granted it
urgent status. In any event, it would have been one of the first things I
did.
Reading chapter on Paleoethnobotany was high priority since it advanced one
of my major subgoals. I gave it higher priority than the pump house and
insulation, because it was certainly possible to get by without running
water for a few days--I'd done it plenty of times before.
Making the apple pie was medium priority. There were other things to eat, so
it didn't impact survival and the apples would keep.
The greenhouse was both urgent and high priority. There was citrus growing
in there that would provide Vitamin C throughout the winter (and winters to
come) and it could be damaged or even killed by the frost if the greenhouse
was not closed.
According to the items I checked off, I got everything done that day except
the weather-stripping and firewood. If I had not listed and prioritized the
possibilities for the day, it's quite likely I would have spent the day
doing some silly thing that seemed urgent--I noted in my journal at the
beginning of the day that what I most felt like doing was staying inside and
keeping warm. I probably would have spent half the day talking on the phone
(I didn't have Internet access at the time, so email would not have been a
temptation). Some of this might have resulted in a little money coming in;
but on this particular day, building the pump house made far more sense.
All this may seem a far cry from the high-tech stuff that's generally
discussed on this list, but the general principles of goal setting and goal
prioritizing apply to all human endeavors.
( I can't claim credit for these ideas. I read them in a book years ago, and
unfortunately I can't remember the title or the author's name.)
Barbara
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