Today’s Homemaker

I hope you’ve enjoyed this series on Getting Things Done. Here’s an overview of the entire process:

1. Empty your brain - Write down every single thing that you want/need to do, whether it be daily, weekly, or a one-time project. When something new presents itself, write it down immediately.
2. Make a new list called “Current Projects” and move everything that is a project¹ over to this list.
3. Make a new list called “Future Possibilities” and move everything that you are not currently focusing on to this list.
4. Make a new list called “Next Actions” and, for each item on your “Current Projects” list, write down the very next thing that needs to be done. Optionally, you can organize your Next Actions list into separate lists based on where each thing needs to be done (things that need to be done on the computer, in your office, when you’re at home, when you’re away, etc.)
5. Make a new list called “Daily Activities” and move all things that need to be done every day to this list (from the first list you made in step one.)
6. Make a new list called “Weekly Activities” and move all things that need to be done every week to this list (again, from that first list you made.)
7. Make a new list called “Monthly Activities” and move all things that need to be done every month to this list (yep, you guessed it…these are coming from that first list.)
8. Add more lists as needed (grocery list, needs/want list, address/phone number list, etc.)
9. Put all of these lists in a 3-ring binder.
10. Get an inbox. Get some scrap paper. As new projects and commitments occur, write them down immediately on scrap paper and put them in your inbox.
11. Get a calendar. Only write things on it that have a specific date or time attached to them.
12. Process the things in your inbox each night.
13. Review and update the lists in your binder each night.
14. Review your calendar each night.
15. Get a small notebook for writing down your daily plans. Write them down each night for the next day.
16. Repeat steps 12-15 every night.
17. Review your overall system once a month (write it on your “Monthly Activities” list).

Expect it to take about a month to tweak your system to where it works best for you. If a particular part of it is not fitting in well with your life, change it! Everyone has their own way. This is just a basic plan that is adaptable to any situation.

Questions? Comments? Email me at sarahjoy AT todayshomemaker DOT com or leave a comment! I’ve really enjoyed hearing what you have to say throughout this series.

1. A “project” is something that has more than one step. [↩]

I used to be such a calendar junkie. I would fill up my calendar for the entire day with things I wanted to do. It worked great! For a couple of days. Then I would crash and burn and do absolutely nothing for the rest of the week. Not the way to run your life.

David Allen recommends ONLY putting things on the calendar that actually have a time attached to them. Meetings, parties, classes, and the occasional hot date (!) all fit into this category. Grocery shopping, laundry, and brainstorming do not.

Our family has one wall calendar. We all write our appointments on it so that we know where the scheduling conflicts might be. I’m trying to get them to color-coordinate it, but that is probably a pipe dream.

When you are making your daily plan for the next day, be sure to check your calendar first and write down your commitments. You can then decide what you want to do with the rest of your day with what’s left over.

Questions? Comments? Email me at sarahjoy AT todayshomemaker DOT com or drop me a comment. I’d love to hear how you implement the Getting Things Done system into your life.

And thanks to all of the people who have emailed me so far! I really appreciate all of the great feedback. You guys are so full of ideas and inspiration.

Getting Things Done: Why it’s life changing >>

[New to Getting Things Done? Start at the beginning!]

Congratulations if you’ve made it this far! There’s not a whole lot more to it, actually. In the upcoming days, I’ll be giving you some ideas for tweaking your plan, but you’ve got the basics down. Good for you.

Some of you might be thinking Simple? This plan is far from simple! Well, you’re right. The first week requires a lot of thought. It requires you to empty your brain and figure out what you actually need/want to do in your life. Your life is not simple, so it takes some time to go through and examine it in full.

But there’s good news — the rest of it is simple. If you look at your Daily Plan, you’ll notice that at the end there are two things that you have to do every day (well, three if you’re picky): process your inbox/update your lists, and make your daily plan for the next day. We’ve already gone over the daily plan (I like to do things backwards, see). Now for the rest.¹

Process your inbox

We haven’t talked much about your inbox yet. Remember when I told you that to get started, you’d need a box and some small pieces of scrap paper? This is your inbox system. Throughout the day, people are going to ask you to do things, you’re going to get ideas, and you’re going to receive papers that need processing. You need to be able to capture all of this stuff as soon as it comes to you.

Much of that can go in your small notebook (which, by the way, will also have your Daily Plan on it.) In a way, that notebook is also an “inbox.” You can write down anything you want in it, to be processed at the end of the day.

But if you’re at your desk or if you run across a piece of mail or a paper that needs to be dealt with, the best thing to do is throw it in your inbox. Those little scrap pieces of paper are great for scribbling something on and tossing in the box.

Update your lists

As you process your inbox, you will need to update your lists. This is pretty self-explanatory. Examine your Project List and see if anything can be crossed off or needs to be added. Look at your Next Action lists and cross off anything that you completed. Add anything that needs to be done.

As long as you keep writing down things as they occur to you, your system will stay intact pretty easily if you schedule some time each day to keep it current. I spend about ten minutes on this every day — it’s really not much.

Alright…gotta go feed the kiddos some lunch. You’d think they had a tapeworm or something. Since I’m done explaining the basics, I’m going to open up this Getting Things Done series to your questions. Email me at sarahjoy AT todayshomemaker DOT com or leave a comment below.

GTD day nine: Adding more lists to your binder >>

1. I would suggest, however, to schedule a day once a month to look deeper at your plan and see what needs tweaking. [↩]

[New to Getting Things Done? Start at the beginning!]

Okay, I think David Allen should have named this system “Getting Things Done: Mastering the Art of List-Making.” It’s a good thing that I’m definitely pro-list.

So far, we have only been putting our system in place. We have not actually started to DO it. So if you’re confused about how this is all going to tie together, do not fret! The end is in sight.

Today we’re going to deal with those pesky items that we have to do over and over again. We are going to be making three lists:

• Daily Activities
• Weekly Activities
• Monthly Activities

Daily Activities:

The crux of homemaking is found in those daily tasks that we must do, lest they snowball and fall in around our heads. These are the things that so easily slip past us until we wake up and realize that the dishes are to the ceiling and the laundry is not faring much better. And we wonder how?

Having a daily routine is crucial to being able to remember all of these little things. Not only are they important in the home, but in every other part of our lives as well.

My Daily Activities List is divided up into three parts: Home, Computer, and Office. The reason for this will be explained later when we talk about daily planning. But for now, just know that it makes life a whole lot easier if you want a flexible structure to your day. Here’s my list¹:

• Home
  • Shower/get dressed
  • Make bed
  • Do dishes
  • Wipe down counter tops
  • Pick up living room
  • Pick up playroom
  • Pray/read my Bible
  • Practice piano
• Computer
  • Write blog entry
  • Check email/forums
  • Read/comment on favorite blogs
• Office²
  • Process inbox/update lists
  • Make tomorrow’s daily plan

I try not to put too much on this list — I want to make sure I only list the things that are ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL to every day. Of course, what is essential to you is at your discretion.

Weekly Activities:

The reason for having this list is pretty much the same as the Daily Activities List. There are some things that need to be done on a regular basis, but not necessarily every day. Here’s an example of mine:

• MONDAY
  • Laundry
• TUESDAY³
  • Take out trash/recycling
  • Wipe down toilets/shower
  • Change bedroom linens
  • Vacuum living room
  • Sweep kitchen, playroom, and main bathroom
  • Mop kitchen, playroom, and main bathroom
  • Clean out refrigerator
• WEDNESDAY
  • Errands
• THURSDAY
  • Straighten desk, purse, and car
• FRIDAY
  • Movie night
• SATURDAY/SUNDAY
  • Time with family/friends

Monthly Activities:

I am not going to list my entire list here, the way I have it written down. That would take up too much space (and already this post has record-breaking potential as far as length goes!) Basically, I number the page 1-30 and list the things I must do beside the number that corresponds to the date.

For example, I pay bills and update our finances on the 5th and the 20th. I bill my clients on the 14th and 29th. I turn in my time card for my event planning job on the 15th and the 3oth.

In your binder, you should now have the following (in this order):

• Daily Activities List
• Weekly Activities List
• Monthly Activities List
• Next Actions Lists (you may just have one if you chose to put them all on the same list, but I have six)
  • Away
  • Computer
  • Home
  • Office
  • Phone
  • Waiting
• Project List
• Future Possibilities List

I recommend putting at least your Daily Activities List in a clear sheet protector so that you can mark through each task with a dry-erase marker as it’s completed. Tomorrow we’re going to tie all of this together and talk about planning for each day. Yes, we’re going to actually DO something!

GTD day seven: Your daily plan >>

1. Note that I do not do all of these things when I first wake up in the morning. Yes, I take a shower and make the bed first thing, but the rest is flexible according to the day [↩]
2. We’ll discuss these things another day…for now, you can just put them on your list. [↩]
3. This is my cleaning day, if you can’t tell. [↩]

[New to this series on Getting Things Done? Start at the beginning!]

Today we’re going to start organizing all of that “stuff” that we’ve been collecting from our brains and inboxes and calendars. The first thing we’re going to do is create a master Project List.

Now, let’s take a look at that list we’ve been making, shall we? First, I’m going to delete the things that I’ve already done. Oh, that feels nice. (Notice that all of the things I’ve been procrastinating on are still on there…big surprise!)

• Decide on how to present MMLC’s photo gallery
• Follow up with Carol about FAQs list
• Follow up with Lynn on the site design that I sent Friday
• Finish coding Jocelyn’s main page
• Post Craigslist ad
• Start emailing school districts for Teacher of the Year lists
• Write tomorrow’s blog entry
• Go to optometrist to get receipt
• Do finances/finish paying the bills for the month
• Direct Nolan to clean the playroom (he did it, but it needs it again!)
• Do laundry
• Edit newsletter for Back to Him Adoption Ministries
• Clean old leftovers out of refrigerator
• Clean old stuff out of the pantry
• Clean out my embarrassingly messy car
• Clean out my horrifyingly messy purse (hey, I’m sensing a pattern here)
• Finish secret sewing project (can’t post about it yet…it’s a surprise!)
• Finish writing the rest of Lilah’s thank you cards
• Cut Nolan’s hair
• Shower and get dressed (with two kids, I have to remind myself to do this!)
• Do the dishes
• Practice the piano
• Read/comment on my favorite blogs (yes, even include things you like to do)
• Wipe down the counter tops
• Take out the trash/recycling
• Make dinner
• Read the paper

I can clearly see that some of these items are part of a project. What is a project? Anything that requires more than one step. Anything. The only other stipulation is that these are projects that you are actively working on. So, using this list as my base, here is my project list:

• Jocelyn’s website
• Lynn’s website
• MMLC’s website
• Salute to Teachers event
• Today’s Homemaker blog
• Piano education
• Lilah’s thank you cards
• Refrigerator cleaning
• Secret sewing project

Okay, looks good. Now some of you might be wondering, why are Lilah’s thank you cards on this list? Isn’t that just one thing? Good question. I said that a project is anything that requires more than one step. A “step” (for our purposes) is a very specific thing. “Lilah’s thank you cards” require me to do several things — find them (I’m sure those blasted things are around here somewhere), write them, address them, stamp them, and take them to the post office. So see…that’s a whole project in itself.

Most of the time, we procrastinate on things that are seemingly simple — say, cleaning out our embarrassingly messy cars. We write it down. We look at it. We ponder it. We think about it. We do just about everything but DO it. That’s because we have written down a “to do” item that is actually an entire project.

Allen calls these tasks that make up a project “Next Actions.” We will go into detail about those another day. For now, look at your “stuff” list that we’ve been working on and decide which of those are actually projects that need to go on your Project List.

Done? Good. I’m so proud. So why didn’t I put “clean out my embarrassingly messy car” on my Project List? Well, that brings me to the next list we’re going to make. Allen calls this a Someday/Maybe list, but I’m going to call it our Future Possibilities list. These are projects that you are not currently working on, but you’d like to get to One Day. And believe me, with this system, that day will come sooner than you think! Here’s my list (based on the “stuff” list above):

• Nolan’s haircut (that day better come sooner rather than later…he’s looking pretty shaggy!)
• Pantry organization
• Car organization
• Purse organization

Pretty short, huh? But now that I’m thinking about it, there are several things I could add:

• DIY filing cabinet redo
• Lilah’s clothing purge/organization
• Leaf pillows (they’re cut, but not sewn)
• Desk organization

Okay, I think you get the picture. If you’re wondering about those other things that are left on the list, those are things that have to be done every day or once a week. We will deal with those later.

For today, I’m going to flesh out my Project List and Future Possibilities List, and I encourage you to do the same. Both of these lists are going to go in that 3-ring binder, so you can either type them up and print them out or write them directly on a sheet of notebook paper.

I prefer the notebook paper because it’s much easier to update. I mean, seriously, you are going to be modifying this list all the time — probably once a day. Are you really going to get on the computer, update the file, and print it out each time? Probably not. I know it’s pretty, but the point here is to find something that actually works. It’s not going to work if it’s just another thing you can procrastinate on.

So that’s the spiel for the day. I’d love to hear how it’s going for you — email me at sarahjoy [at] todayshomemaker [dot] com or leave a comment below.

GTD day five: Next Actions >>