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Blog: Technology As An Organizing Tool
 My Time Management Journey
Up until 1984, I was satisfied to use whatever calendar was provided to me by my employer, bank or local card shop. That's when I bought my first planner. I was thrilled to have a full page where I could write my appointments and daily tasks and I used it faithfully.
Fascinated with technology, in 1992 I purchased a pocket-sized electronic organizer. I liked the fact that it was lighter and more compact than a paper planner, and it was fun to use, at first. I used it for a while, but quickly lost interest when I discovered that the only way to make a simple change in meeting time was to delete the information and then retype it in the new time slot. I went back to paper.
Somewhere along the line I learned about Day Timers, and I loved the concept. When I broke down and spent the money for one in 1994, I especially appreciated the ability to set up whatever sections I needed, and to leave out those that I didn't. I used it mainly for scheduling and to-do lists. I had all my contacts in my email address book, most of whom I'd have no need to contact when I wasn't at work, so I only entered the phone numbers I used most frequently into my planner.
When I started my business in 2002, I was using Microsoft Outlook for my email. I wanted to explore the calendar features, but since I was still working at an outside job where I wouldn't be able to access it, it was more practical for me to continue using my Day-Timer. I strongly believe in the importance of using one calendar to manage all of the different parts of your life!
As you can probably imagine, my life became much busier and more involved when I was running a part-time business while holding a full-time job, and I no longer felt that the paper system was meeting my needs. In 2004, I bought an HP iPAQ H1940 Pocket PC and was thrilled to pieces with it. (You can read all about it in an article I wrote at the time, Time Management in My Pocket.) By 2006 I had adapted my routines to where I no longer needed any kind of paper calendar or to-do list. I was totally electronic, using my Pocket PC, synchronized with my Outlook calendar, and it was working perfectly.
The challenges began about a year later when I replaced my desktop computer with a Dell Notebook. Setting up synchronization on the new computer was difficult, and since I rarely needed to access my calendar when I was away from my desk anymore, I was tempted to scrap the Pocket PC altogether. I persevered and got it working, at least until the time change this past spring. It was still working, although not well, and not for long. Shortly after that it started resetting itself frequently. I realized that probably meant that the battery was on its last legs, but by this point I had fallen out of love with it and wasn't prepared to spend any time or money finding a replacement. The day it completely cleared its memory, I took that as a sign that it was time to put it away for good. The one thing I did miss was having all my contacts accessible when I was out and about, so I learned how to sync my contacts with my cell phone, and now I'm all set – for now.
Outlook 2007 added several features that made earlier versions not quite as useful as I'd have liked in terms of task management, such as color-coded categories and the ever-present To-Do Bar which by default groups tasks as: Today, Tomorrow, This Week, Next Week, This Month, Next Month, or Later. Despite all of that, I don't always feel that I have as much control as I'd like, and from time to time I wonder about switching back to a paper system. Since the 2009 planners will be available shortly, I'll be giving this some serious thought over the coming weeks, and you can be sure I'll have more to say about this topic in my blog.
posted on: 9/4/2008 8:30:00 AM by Janet Barclay
category: Business
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Janet Barclay is a Master Virtual Assistant and the founder of Organized Assistant. Specializing in supporting entrepreneurs in the Organizing and Career Services industries, Organized Assistant provides top-notch Internet marketing services to business owners of all shapes and sizes.
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