Old School Reminder System

Every morning is the same thing. I wake up and head to the kitchen to make coffee. As I begin to come to, I find myself thinking about all the random errands and chores I need to get done over the next day or so in between work and parenting. In the past, I've tried scheduling everything in my datebook -- just like an appointment -- but that never worked for me. I’m not a list maker - or keeper for that matter, and once my datebook is closed, my list becomes out of sight, and therefore out of my mind.

So I winged it, which worked more or less for quite a while. Then life got busier and winging it began to work less and less, with more and more frequency. I started to silently joke that I was my worst client. That joke did get me wondering though, how I would approach myself if I actually were a client? Once I approached it from that angle, I figured it out. Like 90% of my clients, I'm a Visual person. Visual people like me need to see things. Preferably at eve level. Like a big neon sign that says Hey Jane! Get this done!

Then I remembered a Scrum Chart that my friend Julia adapted to get her numerous holiday tasks completed. Julia had her Scrum chart on the side of her refrigerator using lengths of masking tape for the columns and a series of Post-its. I threw mine together with painters tape, label stickers, using a cork board that was already up in my kitchen. Yes, I know. It's not Pinterest worthy. Perfection has never been my strong suit.

Here’s the breakdown: As my coffee is brewing, I jot down any chores and errands running through my head onto individual Post-its and stick each one under the To Do column. If I think of something else, the next time I’m in the kitchen, I jot that down and stick that up on the board. As I work on each task the Post-it gets moved to the In Process column. Once the task is completed, it gets moved to the Done! column. I enjoy gazing lovingly at the Done! column rather than tossing the Post-it when the task completed because I like to bask in self accomplishment. I'm a firm believer in celebrating the small victories!

And guess what? It works!

Is it attractive? Nope. Is it Old School? Yep! Do I care? Nope.

Do you have a task organizing system that works for you?