11-28-2007, 10:40 PM
What is it you'd like to keep organized? As you can see there's a lot of tech toys and software options available, but I think it depends on what you're trying to keep organized.
I work for a business consulting agency and a LOT of what we do is help business owners better organize and manage their time, both at work and in their personal life. Some of our unique methods are also EXCELLENT systems for individuals in sales or executives who have to build and maintain relationships with hundreds, even thousands of people.
There have been a number of recent studies done about tracking lists and such on a computer. They've found that the problem with technology is when you type something into a "to do" list your brain often registers the act of actually typing it in as completed. So unless you are used to working from a to do list in electronic format it may be very difficult to "train" yourself to start looking at it 4-8 times a day, which is about how often you should reference a to do list throughout the day (and remember, if you implement that system, it should apply to both work and personal items, otherwise you're using two systems - one for work, one for personal - and it will take even longer to train your brain).
For one of my clients I actually use the system we most often train our own clients in (the one developed specifically for sales people and people who need to keep a large network of contacts). The amazing thing about it - it's completely manual! Sure, you could do it with existing software, but in many ways it would actually make the system more cumbersome to use. Don't get me wrong, I still very much use my calendar in outlook synced to the iPhone, but my outlook calendar can reflect the manual system I also use, and it's very little extra work using two systems because they can completely interface with each other.
If you're interested PM me, I'd be happy to share the system with you, no fee of course!!
~A
I work for a business consulting agency and a LOT of what we do is help business owners better organize and manage their time, both at work and in their personal life. Some of our unique methods are also EXCELLENT systems for individuals in sales or executives who have to build and maintain relationships with hundreds, even thousands of people.
There have been a number of recent studies done about tracking lists and such on a computer. They've found that the problem with technology is when you type something into a "to do" list your brain often registers the act of actually typing it in as completed. So unless you are used to working from a to do list in electronic format it may be very difficult to "train" yourself to start looking at it 4-8 times a day, which is about how often you should reference a to do list throughout the day (and remember, if you implement that system, it should apply to both work and personal items, otherwise you're using two systems - one for work, one for personal - and it will take even longer to train your brain).
For one of my clients I actually use the system we most often train our own clients in (the one developed specifically for sales people and people who need to keep a large network of contacts). The amazing thing about it - it's completely manual! Sure, you could do it with existing software, but in many ways it would actually make the system more cumbersome to use. Don't get me wrong, I still very much use my calendar in outlook synced to the iPhone, but my outlook calendar can reflect the manual system I also use, and it's very little extra work using two systems because they can completely interface with each other.
If you're interested PM me, I'd be happy to share the system with you, no fee of course!!
~A