As I stated above in my previous post, MLO is designed for allowing one to...
- ...do a brain dump of all required/desired tasks, ideas, gripes or whatever. Just get everything down on "paper," so to speak.
The design goal of MLO is not for one to have to hold onto every shred of important/mundane item of information between your ears. Mainly because it gets so crowded in there that when one lays down at night there is no room left for the sheep to get a running start on the fence, which = no counting = no sleep. Also you have to get out of bed, go get your PIM and note down, "Clear sheep fence-jump runway," but make sure you record it in the "Focus Factory" quad or you will have to get back up later to do it. Yomps! What a way to live?!? Forget about "life is too short!" Life is too long to have to complicate things unnecessarily. Next... - ...arrange, add incidental (but important) sub-tasks, etc. Just massage everything into a rough order that makes sense. Okay, here comes the good part...
- ...give attributes (date due, context, urgency, effort, dependencies, etc.) to each task and forget it! That is the best part! Once done it is no longer needed to keep it in your cranium. Your "secretary" will keep track of all you need to do and inform you when it is time to take action, but just like a real secretary, if you do not provide a clear and concise order your secretary will not return a clear and concise alert. GI-GO applies. For me, it really has been like having a good, competent and proactive secretary. That is the best way to describe My Life Organized, IMO.
If you are the bio-type that really
needs a "visual" graphic (calendar) which will allow one to maintain an
overview so one can macro/micro-manage one's life, then I strongly advise
against My Life Organized for you. It will
not be the tool for you and you will frustrate yourself to misery trying to force MLO to be something it is not. I know, because this is how I tried to use MLO when I first acquired a license.
It was not pretty.
On the other hand...
If you, like me, are fed up with every PIM that just sits lifeless like a bulimic mannequin, staring blankly at you stuffed with "appointments" of colored squares on calendar grids always saying, "feed me, feed me, feed me..." just so more colored squares can be filled in, but never "helping" you to make your life more manageable then MLO would be a breath of fresh air. In reality there is a curve that will have to be negotiated, but whether that hurdle is incidental or daunting is in direct proportion to how much one is willing to
let go of the reins and let your teamster-secretary do the driving.
If every tool you have used before was/is a calendar, MLO will take some adjustment, just as if you were switching from Windows to Mac to Linux or from the standard 104 to Dvorak. The good news is *if* you make that investment you will receive an outstanding R.O.I.
While the three bullets above may sound complicated, they are not. I have only re-committed myself to giving MLO a fair shake in the last couple of days and in just a few minutes (5-7) last night I was able to
enter,
arrange and
attribute a good 8-10 tasks with a number of sub-tasks. The big one was rebuilding my red-haired daughter's bunny hutch. I just started typing out the needed acquisition of materials, and sub-assemblies. Next, appropriate indenting, out-denting (branching) and vertical arranging netted a viable plan. The application of "contexts" streamlined the process (more on this below).
Yes, it really does become that intuitive that quick and as a bonus I did not expect, I have noticed that my mind is even beginning to work differently during the day without all those bits and pieces mucking up the joint. One other thing is although MLO does not have a Contact List of its own, it does reportedly integrate with "KeySuite" and "Beyond Contacts."
As sort of a final word on My Life Organized in this thread (unless one has a specific question), I have to tell you some more about "Contexts." Even if you never download MLO, this one piece of information is worth the price of admission (if you have never heard it before
). Now, I am not a Franklin Covey graduate, or a GTD aficionado so I do not know if this concept is new or not. I do not care.
In the mired world of attempting to bring order out of chaos, we need to remember that
every task must exist and/or be performed within a "context," or "place." If one will take the time to assign a "context" in every task one could find themselves performing then it becomes a simple matter of filtering the task list for the "context" you find yourself at present! Get it?
Let us look at the task list below without "contexts" first...
Task |
| Get nails for hutch..... |
| Get paint for lake cabin... |
| Get latches and hinges... |
| Send ticket request confirmations back to TicketMaster... |
| Call Fred concerning golf course arrangement... |
| Pickup cookies and ice cream for B-Day party... |
| Pay water bill... |
| Plan next Elks agenda with key members... |
Hmmm.... a bunch to do and a little foggy too.
Since a "context" is a place where we are "at," let's use the "@" symbol like this as a shortcut. Ok, let me create some "contexts" like this....
- @Errands
- @The Paint Depot
- @Lawyer
- @Email
- @Mestros Hardware
- @Online
- @Phone
- @Wal-Wart
- @Fran's Grocery
- @Home
Now let us apply these attributes to our list. Keep in mind any task can have multiple "contexts."
Task | Context |
| Get nails for hutch..... | @Errands, @Mestros Hardware, @Wal-Wart |
| Get paint for lake cabin... | @Errands, @The Paint Depot, @Wal-Wart |
| Get latches and hinges... | @Errands, @Mestros Hardware, @Wal-Wart |
| Send ticket request confirmations back to TicketMaster... | @Online, @Home |
| Call Fred concerning golf course arrangement... | @Phone, @Home |
| Pickup cookies and ice cream for B-Day party... | @Errands, @Wal-Wart, @Fran's Grocery |
| Pay water bill... | @Errands, @Wal-Wart, @Fran's Grocery |
| Plan next Elks agenda with key members... | @Email, @Online, @Home |
Now, the fog begins to clear!
On any errand, for someone besides our self, we might find our self significantly
distracted by being a little grumbly by being inconvenienced to "... run get some gullywumps at Wal-Wart." Eh, it's human nature, but if we have developed a good routine at viewing our filtered PIM/Task Manager on the flat-screen or glancing at the printed "ToDos" we are jarred back to a pleasant reality!
Our being inconvenienced by picking up those blasted gullywumps now turns into a peaceful feeling of convenience because while we are at Wal-Wart we can also grab some nails, cookies, ice cream, and pay the water bill we were originally intending to pay at Fran's Grocery on a separate trip, but Wal-Wart Customer Service takes the bill, so here we are!
Hmmm... you realize you do not have to get the latches, hinges and paint here, since you were going to Mestros Hardware and The Paint Depot this Saturday anyway, but you think you will go check it out and see what might be available? Well, no latches or hinges to suit you, but as you saunter through the paint aisles, you discover a whole pallet of Premium Satin Latex with a sign prominently posted...
75% Off - Today Only!
Wow! Now you are able to get the paint here, you save enough on paint to pay for the boat rental while at the cabin and you no longer have to go to Fran's Grocery, The Paint Depot and the Water Office! The time savings you cached means you can leave for the cabin an hour-and-a-half earlier on Saturday! Oh Happy Days!
You are now back at home (think:"context")...
Opps! It took a little longer to get the gullywumps (you did pick them up, didn't you?), but when you produce the gullywumps from the sack (whew!) and tell of how your mastermind planning (milk it, baby, milk it!) was the very paragon of organization! She rolls her eyes and walks away, munching gullywumps. Later you relate making your "killing" on the paint, it was serendipitous, to be sure, but her response is only an impish,
"Uh huh, sounds to me like you just got lucky," thrown over her shoulder, one eye hidden by her shoulder-length honey brown hair.
You think to yourself,
"Perhaps, it would be advisable to not "milk it" so boldly next time, Eh, Professor Einstein?"
The wood floor creaks familiarly as you make your way to your computer...
"Oh well, what's next?"
Next is... a quick view of the flat-screen monitor and re-filter the "contexts" for @Home since you are "at home." Some mouse clicks and you pick up the phone to call Fred. Right, that's done. Another mouse click. You consider what is left...
Task | Context |
| Get latches and hinges... | @Errands, @Mestros Hardware, @Wal-Wart |
| Send ticket request confirmations back to TicketMaster... | @Online, @Home |
| Plan next Elks agenda with key members... | @Email, @Online,@Home |
Great! The time has come to log into TicketMaster to confirm the deal for those first-balcony tickets to the "Chicago: Let's Do it Again Tour" concert next Friday! Yeah! Love that Chicago sound! (click) Done! Next!
Task | Context |
| Get latches and hinges... | @Errands, @Mestros Hardware, @Wal-Wart |
| Plan next Elks agenda with key members... | @Email, @Online,@Home |
A little early for the group, but you log onto the "Official Elks Chatroom" site anyway and see that BernieB and Chilton are logged in too! You say to yourself,
"Just the guys I need to talk to! Bummer! Yep, those two are at it again! Always harassing each other about drag boats."
You don't even have to read the previous lines since you know that BernieB ALWAYS howls about how the methane-powered "flat-bottoms" are so much more fun cause they last longer and Chilton has undoubtedly broached his forte of alcohol-fueled hydros being such a "rush" when they roar by the stands!
"Enough of this!" comes out of your mouth before you have time to stop! More sedateley, you command,
"Time to break in and make a decision about where we want to have our next BBQ chicken cook-off?
Some well-chosen phrases about the discounts for Elks Members and Dean's Rentals gets the bid! Now, you make some remark about how the paddle-boat races are your fav and the conflagration ensues, but you sign-off just as the words sizzle in bold-face type from BernieB,
"... Oh yeah! My grandmother paddling her canoe could...."
Nope, you are not going to listen to this, besides Chilton is sure to say something about the "flat-boats" being passed by BernieB's "grandmother!" They'll never miss you. Click and done!
Ahhh! You lean back in your chair, your fingers interlocked behind your head. Smiling, you look at the screen...
Task | Context |
| Get latches and hinges... | @Errands, @Mestros Hardware, @Wal-Wart |
Everything but this last ToDo to do on Saturday and it is only 7:43pm! You think to yourself... My Life Organized! What a feeling! <snicker, snicker!>
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