Life Planning with Excel

For a long time now I’ve used a series of Excel worksheets to provide a template schedule to organise my day and a place to record any tasks that need completing for the days ahead. The overnight they system received a big overhaul, which is the topic of this post.

Whilst utilising the spreadsheet system I’ve identified two problems with how I’ve been using it. Firstly I would populate so many tasks on the Tasks worksheet that it left me needing to utilise a variety of colour codes and highlights to identify what actually needed to get done that done, and what was merely there to fill any spare time I may find myself with. The second problem was that I became so focussed on this are of the overall system that I would neglect my Schedule work sheet, and would feel like I had finished for the day just because my tasks under the Tasks sheet where complete, or worse reordered onto another day.

Improvements were needed to make this system more beneficial. The first step was to separate important tasks that sooner or later needed to be completed from the additional tasks, that were mostly there to fill in during times of boredom and to encourage me to be more productive with my time. The result was a two sets of columns side by side, with the left hand column featuring a deadline column to record the final day the task had to be completed by. In addition I established another worksheet to serve solely as a reminder of what tasks needed to be completed the day, or the day ahead. You can see an example of this improved worksheet bellow.

Next came a new addition to the workbook in the form of an Upcoming Events worksheet. This was simply an idea to help me keep track of the various meetings, appointments and other commitments that I’ve been made aware of or signed up for, which can be quite tricky to keep track of in this day in age, with events posted on Facebook, meetings being arranged via e-mail and traditional appointments being made over the phone, etc. I really needed a place where I could record all of them down and see clearly if there were any conflicts and know ahead of time when I’m free or unavailable, I hope this solution solves that problem.

The final addition was a Budget worksheet, up until now I’ve simply jotted expenses down on a Word document, but having the figures adjusted for me as I had or deduct expenses is a real benefit and will hopefully aid me in keeping track of my expenditure. I’m already planning a couple of extra additional worksheets, so a menu system is definitely going to be required to avoid this whole thing feeling over complicated. Ideally each morning I’ll than be able to load up the workbook and be presented with an intuitive menu system that allows me to quickly delve into the areas of the system that I need to check for that particular day. I will upload copies of the individual blank worksheets and the complete workbook to the Downloads area of this website.

Motivation Through Organisation

I can now finally see my days becoming less and less focussed on a singular endeavour like they were towards the end of last year. Being solely focussed on one thing can have its positives such as a potential for increasing efficiency, but there are negatives too. Not giving yourself a break, or a change from the same routine or focus can lead to burn out, something I’ve experienced before during my time as an online poker player, and is a state of mind I don’t wish to return to.

So I’ll be widening my focus, participating in some new hobbies, dramatically increasing my efforts in career and personal development, getting back to practising Italian, plus a whole host of other activities and responsibilities. Some of these demands for my time I am excited about and can’t wait to crack on with, some of them I’m committed to yet always end up putting off for the next day… and the next day, others are too easily forgotten or ignored entirely. With that I’m always keen to try out new organisational techniques to help structure my day, keen to realise benefits in time management as well as derive a boost in my motivation towards the things that can be easily be put off and then forgot.

I’ve tried numerous organisation techniques in the past with varying success. Time tables are the obvious technique that everyone’s used at some point, I’ve used them, or ignored them through my school years, and all the way up to University. I’ve even created my own time tables at home. Whilst working as an online poker pro, my life got so hectic, especially when I offered to coach students all over the globe and fit myself around time slots that where convenient for them that at my request one of my students who had gone through similar experiences helped me set up a schedule for my coaching, and added dramatic amounts of structure to my previous routine which was totally devoid of any structure at all. By far the biggest problem I’ve had with the timetables I have created myself is that I have a tendency to overpopulate them, or set them up in a manner which is too rigid, which usually ends up in me having a very nice looking timetable up on my wipe board, only for it to get ignored. Even if it wasn’t ignored entirely fill in activities like checking e-mails or catch up on Facebook would take infinitely more time and I’d allocated and would totally skew the rest of the day.

Another technique, that I’ve used a lot, but haven’t done to any significant extent recently is to create a list of what I am committed to get done the next day, the evening before. This creates a “tick off list”, which I personally find really motivating, even if its partially populated with jobs you hate, your motivated to get them done, because then you can clear that list! A cautionary note with this technique is that I believe its important that you only write down, at least initially, what you are seriously committed to get done, even if that means focussing on the bigger things you need to get done. You don’t want to create an all-encompassing tick of list, which is going to stretch your time or motivation too much, doing so, as you inevitably skip certain items, you’ll be reinforcing a negative habit and you’ll find in my experience, that you will increasingly skip or re-prioritise more and more, until the technique because mostly ineffective.

The only other technique I’ve used that I can recall at the moment, is to randomly… or I guess more accurately based on how I’m feeling the night before, commit to doing one key thing, or one group of related things on a set day. I’ll usually big it up and either visualise getting it done if its something rather crappy like doing chores that I’ve neglected, or will be enthused about it so much that its self motivating, those cases are usually work outs that I’ve put off for too long and all of a sudden feel really in the mood for.

Given that outside of “formal education” I’ve mostly been employed part time, self employed or unemployed and have had either a large amount of free time or a very large amount of freedom in my typical day, I rely on such techniques to ensure that weeks and weeks don’t fly by without me doing something productive or meaningful. My next step, as I’m writing this offline without access to the internet tonight, will be to do some further research on organisation and motivational techniques tomorrow and until I find something more beneficial I’ll get back to my old routine of listing my key tasks for the following day, as I’m winding down and preparing to go to bed. To give you an example, I’ll include a few key tasks I’m going to commit to doing tomorrow bellow.

Key tasks for tomorrow will include:
1. Posting this post on my website, and doing some further research when I get online.
2. Contact some training providers about enrolling on a course.
3. Complete either a body weight home workout I have previously created from the Women’s Health Big Book of Exercises or complete a routine from a yoga or pilates video.
4. Wash the dishes I’ve left on the side and mop my kitchen and bathroom floors.

Looking ahead, after having a (very) short meeting with a Next Step advisor today, I was advised to get enrolled onto a confidence building course and a business administration course. Both of these courses will help me immensely in career progression and personal development, and having been given a reasonably lengthy list of providers, I will be contacting some of them within day’s and hope to be on either course as soon as possible.

Website for Wakefield Socialist Party

I had a rather busy night last night, well more accurately a very busy morning as it was probably around midnight by the time I got started, and it wasn’t until around 6am when I felt too tired to do any more, although I kept trying. The mission I tasked myself with was to set up a website for my branch of the Socialist Party, which I joined whilst with Occupy Leeds, as outlined on my About page. Being camped in Leeds for a number of weeks with Occupy Leeds, I was a little more aware of the Leeds branch, they also seemed to be more active on the web front, with a website already up and running as well as Twitter and Facebook pages. Seeing an example of what seemed to be missing from my own branch empowered me with realising I could give something to support the Wakefield Socialist Party, so after a few e-mails to ensure I wasn’t stepping on anyone’s toes, I got to work, and the new website was born.

I’ll outline for you what got achieved during that period, and what the next step will be, including what I hope to tackle today. The website was setup on the WordPress.com platform, I chose this for two key reasons, the first being it was free, and the second is that I am most familiar with WordPress based websites, so I knew I could get something setup a functioning without too much hassle. The immediate step was to go through the settings and perform a few tweaks, set up a static home page, and after deciding on a theme, creating a new custom menu. The current theme supports two menus, the primary menu is set up for site navigation and currently features the Home page, About page a Join / Contact page and a News page. The secondary menu will probably be used for displaying some key categories prominently at the top of the page, I have left this menu empty for the time being until the categories are established and sufficiently populated with entries.

The next phase would have me traversing backwards and forwards between the website, Facebook, Twitter and Gmail as I created new accounts to be used in conjunction with the website, allowing the branch’s Twitter feeds to be displayed in the side panel, and a like box for Facebook to be set up. Having done that, I spent some time on both the Facebook page and the Twitter profiles, adding the Socialist Party logo and filling in some basic information. Thankfully the basic information was already present on a Facebook group, which made it a simple copy and paste. In addition I sought out some appropriate people to follow on Twitter and then uploaded a map and a photo showing the usual location of our branch meetings to the Facebook page.

Having already used the contact form on the national Socialist Party website to request help on the direction I would like to move towards regarding branch websites, the only thing left to do was add some link categories, and modify the default Hello World! post to something a little more appropriate.

Looking ahead, today I would like to focus on the Join / Contact page, I will probably do a similar design to that used on the national Socialist Party website and use a “page within page” structure, utilising contact forms for requesting user information. Longer term I would like to mirror more of the appearance and functionality of the national website, and do so on a private domain. Ideally I see this being developed to a degree that it can be used as a template for other branch’s who don’t yet have their own website, or who would like to follow suit, becoming more consistent with the theme of the national site.

About Emotivated Erika!

My About Page has undergone a rather massive transformation today, which was a rather satisfying task to get done. Within the updated page you’ll find a more detailed description of this site, what I plan to write about and show support for, as well as a section on myself, outlining a bit of history, listing a few hobbies and interests that I expect to write about. Tooked in down at the bottom is a link to my new Press Page, which currently holds a few quotes of mine regarding Occupy Leeds from regional media.

I’ve probably spent too much time on website and blog related work today actually, as I’ve still got a mountain of household chores that need completing, but it has been enjoyable and hopefully rewarding. Even more importantly I have got more work to do on career planning. Yesterday I did some research on various job profiles that I had short listed from the Next Step website, and later on I’ll continue with that, perhaps reducing my short list of careers I am interested in pursuing a little further. My main objective for tonight however is to get started on some star stories. Star stories are short “stories” you create to highlight or document your skills and experiences. There a useful aid memoir for filling out job application forms, updating your CV and can assist with preparing for an interview.

Before I get busy on tonight’s agenda, I’ll be rustling up something quick and simple to eat. I expect I’ll go with some stir fried vegetables, as I still have plenty of spinach, mushrooms and courgettes in the fridge. To ensure I’m not back in the kitchen looking for something else to eat within thirty minutes, I’ll prepare a jacket potato to go with the stir-fry.

Looking ahead to next week, there is a mountaineering club meet and Socialist Party branch meeting in the pipeline.

As predicted tonight’s evening meal / supper was a jacket potato with some fried vegetables.

Thoughts of the day

Today has been one of those kind of days that makes me very eager to start tomorrow. Not in that today sucked or anything, it was okay, even with the apparent boredom I have found myself simmering in at the moment. It just feels as if I haven’t really achieved anything, in comic terms, today was a filler, and I don’t much care for fillers, I’d rather just get on with the story.

I need to use this “meh’ness” to drag myself up out of bed nice and early tomorrow, get on the phone, get sending e-mails out, get writing letters, above all get creating some more positive change, cause things have slowed to a crawl right now, and I need something to get excited about. I’ve actually got a lot going on, or rather I could be doing a lot this week, if I could afford it. Its pretty pathetic when you can’t even afford a bus into town and back, but that’s become my situation, at least for a few more days.

Oh, so badly do I need a job, and its a rare feeling I admit, but oh, so badly do I actually want a job. I am sick of not actively working towards something, and even if its just rent payments or money for that new dress I’ve got my eye on, that’ll give me a real uplifting boos and give me some, pride I guess. Its my own faul, there is always something I could be working towards. I started to learn Italian last month, and I haven’t barley made any progress this past two weeks. I’ve also got a few new books I could be reading, but for whatever reason, lately these things are still left “un-ticked” on my things to do list, forever being past along from one day to the next.

Life is good, but I’m annoyed at myself for not getting ahead more, not getting back into employment as quick as perhaps I could have. I’m still uncertain about which career direction I want to head in, and its hard to make an honest commitment without getting some more work experience, and that’s been thin on the ground recently.

Now its time for a mug of green tea and some comfy nightwear, goodnight all xx