Peace of Mind Organizing

Do It Tomorrow really works

22 February 2008

As I’ve written here before, I decided on January 1 that 2008 would be the year that I take control of my time-management issues. That day, I selected probably a half dozen time management books from my shelf, each one espousing a different philosophy. I thought I’d make a commitment to a single system and really try to adhere to it for a month or so.

In glancing through the books, the one that I decided on was the one I’d most recently used, the Do It Tomorrow system espoused by Mark Forster in his book Do It Tomorrow and Other Secrets of Time Management. I had started using it in late 2006, but, like many things, fell off the bandwagon in 2007. I blogged about the system back in November ’06.

So in early January I jumped back on the Do It Tomorrow bandwagon. And you know what? It’s working! I’ve never been more in control of my time, despite the fact that both January and February were busy for me in terms of client hours. Since I started my business, I’ve had a hard time balancing the increasing client hours with all that needed to be done to support and grow my business. But so far, in 2008, I’m not feeling the stress of that imbalance.

How do I love about Do It Tomorrow? Let me count the ways:

• It gives me control of my day, since I handle incoming tasks on the following day. For once, I’m not letting my plans for the day get waylaid by interruptions.

• It gives me a sense of accomplishment when I actually get everything on my task list done (which I do many days).

• It’s helped me create a realistic expectation of how many tasks I can actually accomplish in a day, particularly on the days I have client appointments.

• It gives me tricks to get started on tasks I’m not crazy about doing (though, suprisingly enough, I haven’t had to trick myself much…I’m loving the tasks).

• It helps me keep my desk and office uncluttered because incoming paper has a specific place to go (in my “tomorrow” basket, moving to my “today” basket each morning).

• It allows me to schedule tasks, so they actually get done, rather than languishing on an ever-growing (and overwhelming) master task list.

• It’s helped those Where does the day go? days become a thing of the past.

If you’re interested in learning more about the basic tenets of DIT, check out that November ’06 blog post. Or, go to Mark Forster’s Get Everything Done blog and read the first chapter of Do It Tomorrow. There’s also a DIT yahoogroup, where people exchange messages about using the system. There’s also a link to a podcast interview with Forster.

I wish the book were a little easier to get ahold of. It’s published in England and is shipped from there. If you’re inclined to buy it and check it out, I can assure you it’s worth the wait.

Tagged with: balance, control, desk, empowerment, focus, goals, mark forster, priorities, productivity, time management

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