103.1 - ToDos
If you want to accomplish voluminous amounts of stuff in this lifetime without a support army, the greatest stress reduction and efficiency secret I can share with you is the use of spreadsheets for list making.
I have spent thousands of hours making lists, completing tasks, removing items and making more lists, and in my opinion no other task management system comes close to spread sheets for individual task management. It can be as simple or as complex as you need it to be... you can have a dozen lists in a single view and you can compile them and break them apart as fast as you can move your mouse.
This section includes:
I have spent thousands of hours making lists, completing tasks, removing items and making more lists, and in my opinion no other task management system comes close to spread sheets for individual task management. It can be as simple or as complex as you need it to be... you can have a dozen lists in a single view and you can compile them and break them apart as fast as you can move your mouse.
This section includes:
- The Concept of Lists in Spread Sheets
- My Routine for Excel Todo List Prior To January 2014
- God's Gift for ToDo Lists -- January 2014 to Present...
- Under Documenting and Over Documenting
- Example #1 - Tab 1 - My Master To Do List
- Example #2 - Tab 2 - Sole Proprietor Guide {includes list translation}
1) The Concept of Lists in Spreadsheets
The first time I can remember managing a handful of lists at once was in the mid 1990s. I did some work with a guy who used multiple legal pads to track his multi-tasking. I can remember using Franklin Covey day timers. I can remember trying to use Palm Pilots and such when they came out, and I can NOT remember exactly when I shifted from paper lists to spreadsheets.
From 1998 through 2012 I was involved in small scale Real Estate Development, Real Estate Sales, Residential and Light Commercial Contracting, Vacation Rental Sales and Management, Software Programming, Land lording, small business consulting, a metal art business, and a few other small ventures simultaneously... so that should help you understand my need for multiple task lists.
The cell level "text overflow" setting is the setting that had to exist for me to do this in Microsoft Excel, and I don't know when that feature was added, but I could not have done this without that setting. I'm guessing that was in the mid to late 1990s when they realized spreadsheets were for more than just math but I'm not sure. I can tell you that that setting did NOT exist in GSheets until December 2013, even though GSheets was introduced in 2006. I went looking for that feature every year for quite a few years and once it finally made, I nearly fell out of my chair and screamed "Hallelujah"!
From 1998 through 2012 I was involved in small scale Real Estate Development, Real Estate Sales, Residential and Light Commercial Contracting, Vacation Rental Sales and Management, Software Programming, Land lording, small business consulting, a metal art business, and a few other small ventures simultaneously... so that should help you understand my need for multiple task lists.
The cell level "text overflow" setting is the setting that had to exist for me to do this in Microsoft Excel, and I don't know when that feature was added, but I could not have done this without that setting. I'm guessing that was in the mid to late 1990s when they realized spreadsheets were for more than just math but I'm not sure. I can tell you that that setting did NOT exist in GSheets until December 2013, even though GSheets was introduced in 2006. I went looking for that feature every year for quite a few years and once it finally made, I nearly fell out of my chair and screamed "Hallelujah"!
2) My Routine for Excel Todo List Prior To January 2014
My system was very regimented. I had a clipboard with a legal pad on it. On top of the legal pad I clipped a printed copy of my excel spread sheet(s) with my ToDo lists.
- During the day I used my procedural list to move from task to task. I used sublists for each task/each business and I used separate lists for items that needed to be purchased, calls that needed to be made and items in process where the ball was in the court of another.
- At night, I'd transfer all changes or additions to my computer, delete the completed items, shift around the uncompleted items and generally make more lists.
- I'd separate to dos, from order of events, from phone calls to be made, from items to be ordered, etc etc.
- I'd then reorganize things in priority order, chronological order and/or in order of importance/execution.
- I'd go to bed with a relatively clear head and a clear vision of the next day on paper.
- I'd wake up the next morning and immediately review my list on my computer to give me an idea of what my day might look like.
- I'd make additions, changes and adjustments -- and it was shocking often times what a good night sleep with a clear head would do to the order of events -- simply shocking -- sometimes the next day I'd realize everything I had listed the day prior was upside down or out of order. Other times, emails or calls would have come in overnight that changed the order.
- I'd print it out, put it on my clipboard and head out for another day -- and if I was staying in my office, I would often times still print it out or I'd work off the digital copy.
- It had to be printed -- Occasionally I'd leave the home without printing out my To Do list. That was like leaving my brain at home. That made for a no go day. No matter how far away I was I generally turned back and got my list OR I'd stop, make a short list of items I could remember that were in my geographic area, get those done and plan a trip back home into my day.
- Cloud drives helped some -- At some point I started using some automated cloud backup system. I believe it was around 2010. At that point, if I forgot my list, all was not lost as I could log into an archive and see a copy of my list, if it had been saved/synched... but I couldn't interact with it so this was limited and not flawless given the saving/synching issue. I also occasionally used LogMeIn or comparable to view it...
- Multiple computer access was problematic -- I had computers at my office and at home. Using Dropbox or other shared drives worked, BUT if I didn't close the file on my home computer and I started futzing with it on my work computer, I could lose that work when I got home if I didn't close and open the file without syncing (or working some other kind of magic).
- No true cloud editing -- The shared drives were good for my use from various places, but viewing and editing it from someone else's computer wasn't easy as it required downloading the file, editing it, and uploading it (or something like that)
3) God's Gift for ToDo Lists -- January 2014 to Present...
I had been messing with GDrive, GDocs and GSheets for a few years. Drive was not great at syncing as compared to Dropbox and others. It hiccuped and burped all the time. GDocs was rudimentary and basic functionality was missing. Gsheets didnt' allow text overflow, so that was useless for list making, and it too was very rudimentary...
And then it happened!!! At some point in January 2014 I opened a GSheet file and realized an upgrade had been made. Textoverflow was now a supported feature in GSheets, and my goodness, it was like a Digital Moses had parted the Red Sea just for me!!
As near as I can tell, it looks like there was a big upgrade to GDrive, GDocs and GSheets in December 2013 that pushed Google over the hump for becoming a truly viable competitor to MS Office products. And with that push, not only did they become a competitor, they laid the foundation for being the Market leader given the cloud centric networking and sharing they were building into their services.
This upgrade eliminated a lot of the Drive syncing and burping, but more importantly the way GSheets auto saves and networks data (which is far different than MS Excel and always will be), I'd never ever overwrite or lose data again!!
At this point in time the GDrive app/GSheets App (if it existed then) allowed for viewing of sheets, but no editing, but that came along in the 2015 time frame, and at that point, there was no question in my mind the real digital age had finally arrived.
And then it happened!!! At some point in January 2014 I opened a GSheet file and realized an upgrade had been made. Textoverflow was now a supported feature in GSheets, and my goodness, it was like a Digital Moses had parted the Red Sea just for me!!
As near as I can tell, it looks like there was a big upgrade to GDrive, GDocs and GSheets in December 2013 that pushed Google over the hump for becoming a truly viable competitor to MS Office products. And with that push, not only did they become a competitor, they laid the foundation for being the Market leader given the cloud centric networking and sharing they were building into their services.
This upgrade eliminated a lot of the Drive syncing and burping, but more importantly the way GSheets auto saves and networks data (which is far different than MS Excel and always will be), I'd never ever overwrite or lose data again!!
At this point in time the GDrive app/GSheets App (if it existed then) allowed for viewing of sheets, but no editing, but that came along in the 2015 time frame, and at that point, there was no question in my mind the real digital age had finally arrived.
4) Under Documenting and Over Documenting
Mastering the level of organization and information in your lists such that your future self who reads the list will have enough info to be efficient will come with practice. You will likely over or under elaborate on your lists at first.
You will only get better with practice.
- Under Documenting -- If you are constantly returning to your list and wondering what the heck it was your old self wrote for your current self to do, your current self needs to be clearer in the list making process for your future self.
- Over Documenting -- If you are writing sentences and essays, it is too much. If you are writing current status of tasks instead of future/next step needed, you are missing the concept and adding too much static into your list.
You will only get better with practice.
5) Example #1 - Tab 1 - My Master To Do List
In this example below, I don't actually need the text-overflow much. It's only in play in cells A4, A5, A6 and A7. I had learned to keep my list items short and cut up and that has carried over.
The text overflow will become more relevant in some other lists I have where I only am keeping a long list with staggered sub items.
The text overflow will become more relevant in some other lists I have where I only am keeping a long list with staggered sub items.
6) Example #2 - Tab 2 - Sole Proprietor Guide {includes list translation}
This is a place where I stored items that need to be addressed as I worked thru this project. This list appears to have been more of a stream of consciousness/brainstorm more than anything else and that will be evident when I decipher it below.
=== DECIPHERING THIS LIST ===
The lists are not necessarily what you might think they are... Some of these have background not evident. This might give some insight into what info and organization is missing from the raw list. Looking at this now, it appears it was just a brains storm where stuff was falling out of the ether in an un-ordered manner. Before I did/do anything with this, I'd likely re-organize it by groups/categories .
Sole Proprietor Guide Website
The lists are not necessarily what you might think they are... Some of these have background not evident. This might give some insight into what info and organization is missing from the raw list. Looking at this now, it appears it was just a brains storm where stuff was falling out of the ether in an un-ordered manner. Before I did/do anything with this, I'd likely re-organize it by groups/categories .
Sole Proprietor Guide Website
- Flow -- Mental section
- Signage - Physical section -- Physical/Process/New Customers
- Shipping and Receiving -- Physical / Process / Shipping
- bus cards/brochures/van(ity) email/van(ity) website -- Physical/Process./New Customer and basics of Marketing for massage therapist example
- Software vendors, Pws, -- Technology
- seminar rooms for free? -- (No clue what this was for (it might have been for me...old me didn't leave new me enough info)
- hw repair/used computers -- Technology -- Support person needed.
- mechanics -- Physical/Mobile
- Maintenance -- Physical/Mobile
- other/add flow part, a person vs company -- Mental section
- other/tape gun, razo knife-- Physical section... office items
- other/postal scale - Physical -- Other office equipment
7) Other Tips and Tricks
With regards to email -- When email comes in, I decide if I'm going to respond ASAP or if it is related to something I need to do later. If later, I'll note the task/event I need to perform in my ToDos if it is not already noted and then I will archive the email. So point is, nothing sits in my email inbox long. It is either there because it needs a response or it gets archived after a note is made in my todos.
On the main ToDo's Page -- I seldom/never insert rows or columns. I treat each list/sublist like a rectangle and I move those around with ctrl-x/ctrl-v or I drag them (carefully so as not to overwrite other data). Generally speaking, I'd suggest you practice ctrl-x and ctrl-v a lot more than dragging... dragging is slower and often times prone to more overwriting errors (as in you accidentally drop it on existing info).
On the main ToDo's Page -- I seldom/never insert rows or columns. I treat each list/sublist like a rectangle and I move those around with ctrl-x/ctrl-v or I drag them (carefully so as not to overwrite other data). Generally speaking, I'd suggest you practice ctrl-x and ctrl-v a lot more than dragging... dragging is slower and often times prone to more overwriting errors (as in you accidentally drop it on existing info).
8) List Management Apps
Do a search of the Apple and Android app stores for list management and personal organization apps.
Can any of those do anything that can't be done in a google sheet with the sheets mobile app on your smart phone?
The interfaces on some may be a little prettier, but is the extra data storage location outside of your google services worth the trade off?
Not in my book -- all are much slower and way over built for me -- I'll take a plain old spreadsheet over those all day long.
Can any of those do anything that can't be done in a google sheet with the sheets mobile app on your smart phone?
The interfaces on some may be a little prettier, but is the extra data storage location outside of your google services worth the trade off?
Not in my book -- all are much slower and way over built for me -- I'll take a plain old spreadsheet over those all day long.