Plated Keys

Plated Keys

Steel plated cup hooks.

Over the holiday I had a lot of family in town and was showing my uncle what I had been up to lately. While going through my list of current projects, including my job, getting my Master’s degree, running a Sole Proprietorship, running a General Partnership, and starting a new partnership, I was perplexed to listen him say “I will have to be getting old, I don’t understand how you may keep all this so organized. I could never do that much at one time.”

When I look back only a few years ago I see myself as that same type of person. I would forget stuff constantly. I tried to keep my life coordinated with post-it notes and my memory alone. Inevitably, institution in usual caused me a lot of stress because I knew there was going to be things that would fall through the cracks. When someone asked me to do something, I would instantaneously feel guilty because I would tell them yes, knowing full well I might not remember. Integrity, to me, means doing what you say you are going to do, and it is one of the most primary rules to follow in life.

When I was in regards to 20 years old I started on a self-help reading frenzy. I read in a literal sense hundreds of books on self-help topics, numerous of them on institution and time management. I tried innumerable dissimilar tactics for staying organized and bettering memory. There is one rule that changed my life completely. “Whenever you have something that needs to be done, do not wait a single second without doing something to step toward achieving it.” Now, of course there are exclusions when you just can’t do something right that very second, in which case it is critical you hold onto that thought for just a few minutes until the chance pops up that you may squeeze a little action in (such as putting a reminder in your calendar).

I call this the “full plate rule.” I got the idea for the name while eating thanksgiving leftovers this year. I was asked if I was going to have any Jello, looked at my plate, and responded “well, yes, but my plate is full so I am going to have to eat galore stuff initial in order to make room!” Your memory is like a plate. It may only handle so galore things at one time. If you want more to go on your plate, you need to clear numerous space first! Here’s how it works. If my business collaborator calls and says, “hey I need you to call the lawyer at 3 pm on Wednesday,” I do not wait a single second before grabbing my iPhone and putting a reminder in my calendar. Boom! That task is off my “plate”(memory). I do not have to worry regarding it any more because I recognise that my trusted engineering will alert me to it when the time comes.

Throughout my day I am assigned respective tasks in all constituents of my life. I would say on intermediate there are at least 10-20 very primary things that I need to do but can’t at that precise time. The moment you are made conscious of the task is the sheer most important moment to your success in completing it. Never go more than a few minutes without writing it in your calendar for the duration of a time when you know you may take the next step toward completing it. Take it off your plate!

Now, this doesn’t mean you have to meticulously plan incisively when you will finish the task. All it means is you need to find a time when you know you can, at the very least, re-schedule it. For me, I always know I will be home with a few minutes of free time around 930pm. So if something comes up for the duration of the day and I have no idea when I may do it, I just put a calendar reminder in for 930pm because I know I will have sufficient time to think regarding it then, and will just re-schedule the reminder with the whatsoever new time I chose. They key is to put in a reminder for a lot of time, any time, just do it! Don’t worry regarding whether or not you chose a good time… you can, and more than likely will, assign a new time and place for an event for it at least once or twice.

I do grasp that not every one has an iPhone (or other smart phone). At the very least I commend a little note pad that you may always have with you and an online calendar (I highly commend “Google calendar”, which comes free with Gmail). You may write your tasks into your notepad right away and then dump those tasks into your online calendar once or twice a day. Google calendar is great because it will send you reminders the day before an event you scheduled and on the day of the event. So as long as you check your email each day you will be set.

For those of us with smart phones (and the iPhone in particular) I highly commend Google calendar as a supplement. Google calendar may sync to your iPhone (for instructions and a visual representation video visit http://www.google.com/mobile/sync/ ). This means that if you put an event in your iPhone calendar, it posts in your Google calendar (and visa-versa). If I put an event in my iPhone or Google calendar I end up getting an email, an alert on my phone, and an alert on my computer. Now possibly you may see why I never forget anything!

Plated Keys Picture

Plated Keys Pic

Plated Keys Photo

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