Two related task-management life-hacks from Tuesday.
Wait, I have a solution for her! She can just leave some OTHER task undone and its checkbox unchecked! That should w…. Oh.
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“Since I gave up hope I feel a lot better.” – Steve Taylor
The sticky-note one sounds awfully familiar.
I quit making to-do lists because I always lose the list before I finish it.
The sticky-note one evokes this:
I routinely set two alarms when I have to get up in the morning: one on my ancient clock radio, the other on my phone, so I’m clearly in the Drabble camp. I just had a reminder in Outlook come up reminding me to set my alarms for tomorrow morning so I can take my grandkids to school: 2 alarms at 6:15 to get me up, one at 7 to get kid #1 on the bus, one at 8:10 to get kid #2 over to school.
The kids seem to respond much better (in terms of action) to the impersonal alarm chimes (or the Alexa chimes their mother had set earlier) than they do to Grandpa telling them they need to get rolling. You can argue with Grandpa (which is part of their fun), but not with an alarm.
@ zbicyclist – Just yesterday my daughter put an alarm clock on her birthday wish list, but my son pointed out that she really doesn’t need one. As he put it, “You can always turn off an alarm clock, but you cannot turn off Mommy.“
P.S. As for keeping up with task management, the sarcastic college philosophy was that it was much better to fall behind on homework as quickly as possible in each semester. If you are a week behind early on, you may have ten weeks to catch up. On the other hand, if you fall a week behind in the penultimate week before finals, then you only have one week to make up the shortfall, and will have to study for the final exam on top of that.
Oh dear. Now I’m overthinking the cartoon.
“The sooner you fall behind, the more time you have to catch up.” – Sam Ogden
Yeah, I’ve always thought that “Savage Chickens” was intentionally matching the classic yellow of original Post-It notes!
deety:
Savage Chickens was originally drawn on Post-it notes.
I’m not sure if he still does, or if he just uses those proportions and color for tradition’s sake.
I have learned that putting up a reminder note too soon can cause one to start tuning it out. Back when I would do the family Thanksgiving extravaganza, I used the thaw/rise/bake yeast rolls. These needed to be started hours† before dinner. I’d put a note on the refrigerator, but the night before so it would still get my attention.
† There are supposedly quick methods but given the quantity needed and the oven being already en-turkeyed, that’s risky at best. The chances of getting anything similar in case of catastrophic failure at the few places open would be unlikely.
I haven’t been a productive member of society in a number of year, but I still use an alarm. However, most times I am free to snooze it, unlike when I was working. It’s tougher when something comes up that requires I be up early and can’t be late. The latest was the A/C service people wanting to come by at 8:30am.
deety, Savage Chickens explicitly ARE drawn on Post-Its. He even posts photos of originals occasionally!
Kinda related:
Also, it’s fun to see a Steve Taylor reference randomly pop up.
Oh thanks! I totally did not know that!
I have a small magnetic basket on our fridge. In it are my wallet, and other items (except cell phone) that I normally take when we go out – keys hang on a magnetic hook over the basket so keys are in the basket without adding weight to it. Another magnetic hook further toward the top of the fridge holds my keys for our RV. Husband has hooks for his keys also (RV hooks -his and mine – next to each other. He walks around, even in the house with EVERYTHING in his pockets so he does not forget the stuff – and then complains that his back hurts and his jeans slide down from the weight of everything.
If I have mail to go out I put it in a gallon plastic zip bag and put same (folded to fit) in the basket – on rare occasions when something comes up and needs to go out the next day after we go up to bed for the night I will put same on my cell phones so I don’t forget.
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“Since I gave up hope I feel a lot better.” – Steve Taylor
The sticky-note one sounds awfully familiar.
I quit making to-do lists because I always lose the list before I finish it.
The sticky-note one evokes this:
I routinely set two alarms when I have to get up in the morning: one on my ancient clock radio, the other on my phone, so I’m clearly in the Drabble camp. I just had a reminder in Outlook come up reminding me to set my alarms for tomorrow morning so I can take my grandkids to school: 2 alarms at 6:15 to get me up, one at 7 to get kid #1 on the bus, one at 8:10 to get kid #2 over to school.
The kids seem to respond much better (in terms of action) to the impersonal alarm chimes (or the Alexa chimes their mother had set earlier) than they do to Grandpa telling them they need to get rolling. You can argue with Grandpa (which is part of their fun), but not with an alarm.
@ zbicyclist – Just yesterday my daughter put an alarm clock on her birthday wish list, but my son pointed out that she really doesn’t need one. As he put it, “You can always turn off an alarm clock, but you cannot turn off Mommy.“
P.S. As for keeping up with task management, the sarcastic college philosophy was that it was much better to fall behind on homework as quickly as possible in each semester. If you are a week behind early on, you may have ten weeks to catch up. On the other hand, if you fall a week behind in the penultimate week before finals, then you only have one week to make up the shortfall, and will have to study for the final exam on top of that.
Oh dear. Now I’m overthinking the cartoon.
“The sooner you fall behind, the more time you have to catch up.” – Sam Ogden
Yeah, I’ve always thought that “Savage Chickens” was intentionally matching the classic yellow of original Post-It notes!
deety:
Savage Chickens was originally drawn on Post-it notes.
I’m not sure if he still does, or if he just uses those proportions and color for tradition’s sake.
I have learned that putting up a reminder note too soon can cause one to start tuning it out. Back when I would do the family Thanksgiving extravaganza, I used the thaw/rise/bake yeast rolls. These needed to be started hours† before dinner. I’d put a note on the refrigerator, but the night before so it would still get my attention.
† There are supposedly quick methods but given the quantity needed and the oven being already en-turkeyed, that’s risky at best. The chances of getting anything similar in case of catastrophic failure at the few places open would be unlikely.
I haven’t been a productive member of society in a number of year, but I still use an alarm. However, most times I am free to snooze it, unlike when I was working. It’s tougher when something comes up that requires I be up early and can’t be late. The latest was the A/C service people wanting to come by at 8:30am.
deety, Savage Chickens explicitly ARE drawn on Post-Its. He even posts photos of originals occasionally!
Kinda related:
Also, it’s fun to see a Steve Taylor reference randomly pop up.
Oh thanks! I totally did not know that!
I have a small magnetic basket on our fridge. In it are my wallet, and other items (except cell phone) that I normally take when we go out – keys hang on a magnetic hook over the basket so keys are in the basket without adding weight to it. Another magnetic hook further toward the top of the fridge holds my keys for our RV. Husband has hooks for his keys also (RV hooks -his and mine – next to each other. He walks around, even in the house with EVERYTHING in his pockets so he does not forget the stuff – and then complains that his back hurts and his jeans slide down from the weight of everything.
If I have mail to go out I put it in a gallon plastic zip bag and put same (folded to fit) in the basket – on rare occasions when something comes up and needs to go out the next day after we go up to bed for the night I will put same on my cell phones so I don’t forget.