Wednesday, November 24, 2010

The Color-Coded Schedule


If you write full-time from home, you still need to follow a schedule as those who work outside the home must--at least, they should if they want to accomplish the most important things as well as the urgent ones.

Without a schedule, beginning with my to-do list, I'm sunk.
I go back to my list many times a day, making sure I've given priority to those things I marked with a RED pencil (most important tasks).
Next I do the GREEN things--work or income related.

After that, I move on to yellow. Yellow items are neat things that are good to do, but if I don't get to it, my credit rating won't be affected, and my house won't burn down. You get the idea.

Last is orange--things I'd like to do, hope to do someday, and want to keep on my radar screen. If I can, I put an Orange item on my daily list, but oftentimes I know better. I keep a list of ORANGE items and scan them quickly a couple of times a week to see if I can fit one in. Every now and then, I can, and this adds to my enjoyment of life. ORANGE items don't give me the sense of professional accomplishment that red or green items do, but in some ways they are even more important.

An ORANGE item might be "fix the ripped wall paper in the den." But when I finish it, I get a great feeling. It could also be "check out the new store in town."
It may not get my book written, but it gives me important down time so that when I get back to writing, maybe I can do it with a little more peace in my soul.

Try using the color system for your daily "to do" lists and see if it helps.
To be honest, I like using the colors, the colored pencils, and that, in itself, makes me want to finish things on my list! How about you?

But the noble man devises noble plans;
And by noble plans he stands.
Is.32:8 NASB


Note: I got my color system ideas from Trapper and Mark
Woods. They're book entitled Attack Your Day: Before it Attacks You explains the system in much more detail.
Clock image from Fairy-Flowers

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