I have always been in awe at how some people can keep track of multiple projects simultaneously. It’s only in recent years that I’ve learnt how to do this!!! You need to be organised! How do you make sure that you are organised at work and at home?
Here are a few of my tips of what I do at work:
1️⃣ I keep a daily work diary in Excel, in addition to my Outlook calendar that has all my meeting invites. The two diaries may seem a tad excessive, but I find it incredibly useful. I create one week per Excel tab, 12 tabs/weeks are then saved for that quarter e.g. Diary Q4 2020.xls
2️⃣ I have 3-5 bullets points per weekday, falling into 3 categories : what I’ve done, what I need to do and what I want to do. I colour code bullets in terms of urgency and follow up timelines.
3️⃣ When I start a new week, I review the previous week. Excellent for items that you didn’t do on Friday! When, I start a new quarter, I review the previous quarter. When, I start a new year, I review the previous year diary. This helps me remember all the different projects I’ve been involved in.
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I also use an Excel diary, at home, slightly more of a macro view: Here are a few of my use cases at home:
1️⃣ I use a monthly Excel diary, one 30 days on a page - so I can see at a glance when there are appointments fo the kids such as parents evenings, doctors, dentist, optician, concerts, performances, miscellaneous appointments, meeting with friends, family day outs. There are five of us, so I tend to colour code for each one of us, so that you can see at a glance who is doing what.
2️⃣ I use an annual Excel diary for bills that are paid annually or semi-annually such as home insurance, car insurance, road tax, tax return, annual medical checks, investments and savings plans as a reminder that next month either means checking the savings for a large bill, or do some research on new insurance provider.
3️⃣ As I love lists, I create lists in Excel, when we are going away, I create a holiday packing list for each family member broken down into categories: underwear, toiletries, swimwear, swim equipment, clothes - tops, bottoms, (dresses), outerwear, footwear etc. When I travel for work, I also plan outfits, putting together a simple weekly view in a table - that I can glance at and know what I will be wearing. At Christmas, I create gift lists per person, with monetary value so that I know that I have n't spent more on one child than another ...