Do Tablet PCs and ultra mobile PCs increase the business of our lives?
It’s a cliche, but like most cliches, it’s based on observations.
Teachers lead busy lives at home and at school. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference. We bring school work home to finish. We also bring home problems to school, sometimes, even when they hide behind smiles.
CLAUDIA WALLIS suggests ways of managing desk top clutter. I’d suggest that includes things on our mind that clutter focusing on the task at hand. Thanks, Jason Womack, for pointing to this topic and link.
This is an old idea. I wonder if we use business as a reason for living cluttered, unprioritized lives?
I’ve watched many people handle more than one task at a time for decades. Successful (define success however you want), busiest people hold clear priorities. They sort tasks into a few categories.
I’ve adapted these into three priorities that I use. I’ve also found that it upsets colleagues when they hear these priorities stated openly, even though their behavior patterns appears consistent with these priorities.
Attend first to those things that affect life and death. Second, to things others demand of you immediately. And third, everything else.
At the end of each week, file all your third priorities. If they rise to a higher level, someone will tell you, so you can decide then whether it’s a one or two. Some people dump all 3s at the end of a week or two.
In practice, few events fall into priority one.
So, schedule your best thinking time to attend to major tasks you want or promised to address. Schedule other things around your best thinking time, such as addressing emails, memos, and meetings that do not require your leadership or crucial decisions.
You’ll notice that many professionals attending, not leading, meetings appear to be taking notes. Actually, they’re answering email, editing a report, etc. One educator wrote poems which he later published for professional credit and personal revenue.
Yeh, this behavior seems rude to the rest in the room, but it happens, especially if meetings appear proforma.
Again, I wonder, do mobile PCs make our lives more busy or do they allow us to control our commitments more easily?
