Productivity aid

Have you even got to the end of the day and wondered where all the time went? I often do; I think of all the things I haven’t done and feel bad that I haven’t achieved anything. Yet I don’t seem to count up all the things that I have achieved.

It’s important to realise what still needs to be done and to plan for it, and if you do this at the end of the day you can take the rest of the night off. It’s also important to congratulate yourself for what you have done. It’s much better to have a satisfied feeling that comes from achievement than a disappointed feeling that comes from concentrating on the negative. Look at what’s in the glass, not what isn’t!

I have recognised this for some time and I try to do this at the end of every day, usually when I’m in bed trying to get to sleep. I think it helps me get to sleep but I usually forget, and I lie awake thinking about what I didn’t do and what I have to do tomorrow.

I’m going to try to formalise the process and bring it forward so that it’s all done and sorted before I go to bed. I’m going to put my list in writing, on this blog, every night, so everyone can see it. Theory suggests that making your achievements, and your goals, public makes you feel more accountable, and more likely to make them happen. Let’s see if that’s true.

From tonight, I’m going to list the 3 best things I achieved today, and the 3 things I expect to achieve tomorrow. I’m going to limit the number at 3 so it doesn’t seem too daunting. When I lie in bed trying to think of 3 things I achieved I nearly always manage it, but if I try for 5 it’s demoralising when I can’t. Demoralising is not the effect I am going for, so I’ll stick to 3, although if I can get to 5 that’s a bonus!

My 3 goals for today are:

1. answer an email about an opportunity
2. finish my ProGen assignment 15
3. finish a client report and get it ready for posting

Not really Sunday-kind of activities, but I took yesterday off and spent it in the garden in the sun, where I achieved:

1. repotting of 2 or 3 overgrown bromeliads
2. cleaning up and reorganising the bromeliad arrangement against the front of the house
3. moved 5 or 6 plants to better positions around the garden and in the house

And last night I did some work:

1. sent in my ProGen assignment 14
2. started on assignment 15
3. (one more……) I can’t think of another one

You see, it’s best to do this on the day, while it’s still fresh in your mind. If you leave it until the next day and you can’t remember all the things you did you get demoralised again.

Oh, I know:

3.  Filed my Riley Research Plan in my Riley Research folder and considered future possibilities

OK, it’s not much, but I feel better having found a 3rd one.

So that’s the plan, and I invite you to join me. I already feel better about myself!

See what a difference it makes to your life!

Growing need for powerboards

I have been trying to find somewhere accessible to plug in my mini-notebook in my office and I’ve run out of power points. Again. How is this possible?

Let’s count them. My office at the moment has two power points in the wall, on opposite sides of the room. One has a single, 6-point power board, into which is plugged in:

1. a desk lamp
2. old camera battery charger (the batteries are never the same, are they!)
3. cordless phone charger No 2. (No. 1 is in the other office)
4. phone connection for the cable TV (so we can order pay-per-view movies)
5. empty at the moment, but the old laptop is usually plugged in here.

I seem to remember removing a phone that needed power when I decided against the job where I’d need to wear a headset.

The power point nearest my desk has a 4-point power board with surge protector, into which is plugged:

1. Bose Wave Radio
2. desk lamp
3. new camera battery charger
4. 5-point power board with surge protector

This second power board has:

1. laptop
2. external hard drive
3. laptop stand
4. MP3-player charger
5. empty at the moment but likely to get the floor lamp back now that it is no longer needed for a guest bedroom

Fortunately I don’t have to accommodate the printers, cable modem and the old desktop computer, which are in the other office with their own spiderweb of cables and power boards.

Finding enough power points is a constant struggle. Why do we have so many electrical appliances?

Phones didn’t used to need electricity, and now they do. The cordless phone has 4 handsets, and we can usually find one when we need it, but they all have their own chargers that need power.

Speaking of the other office, it has a single 4-point powerboard on the wall. Into that we have:

1. an 8-point powerboard with surge protection
2. a 4-point powerboard
3. cordless phone base unit with answering machine
4. kept empty for visiting laptops

These two powerboards have in no particluar order:

1. the old black-and-white laser printer
2. the more recent multi-function-printer that also scans, copies and faxes
3. the flatbed scanner
4. the slide-and-negative scanner
5. charger for the husband’s PDA
6. desktop computer
7. the monitor for the desktop computer
8. wireless router
9. cable modem
10. desk lamp
11. empty

Our phone chargers, one for each phone because they change over time, are downstairs in the bedroom where we are more likely to remember the phone when leaving the house. The bedroom, of course, also requires two desk lamps, clock radio, mozzie zapper and air filter.

Never mind the mess of cables and power boards behind the TV, catering for the cable TV receiver, DVD player, and home theatre system! We got rid of the record player, cassette deck and the VCR.

No wonder we use so much more electricity than we used to! It makes me wonder how many of these appliances are on standby, drawing power when they’re not being used. The desktop computer certainly does, it’s on all the time because the laser printer is plugged into it. The cable modem and wireless router are always on. The cable TV receiver is always on, even when it’s off. Clock radios, phone chargers, battery chargers… how much power do they draw just to keep that little light turned on?

Probably a lot more than we think.

Do we really need all this stuff?