Being Organized

If you read last week's post Well... I Have A New Job, you will be aware that I am now also working as an editor for the popular self improvement blog Pick The Brain. I was very excited when I was offered this job a month ago, but I also realized that I would need to be on my best game if I were to perform well not only in this new role, but also in all the other roles I have in my life.

In the past being organized has not been a strength of mine. I was that person in university who would hand an essay in that I had had months to work on with only minutes to spare (and this was only after several frantic coffee-filled days of last minute research and writing). Anyway I have changed a lot since then, so as promised last week I will let you into my life and show you how I have prepared myself for this new commitment. I hope, of course, that you may pick up a couple of tips and tricks that may be of benefit.

1. Priorities

When John first raised the PTB job with me, it immediately made me think of my priorities. As much as I love blogging, my family and my health (both physical and mental) take priority. So I needed to ensure I had a plan in place that would protect these priorities.

2. Support from Loved Ones

After being made a firm offer for the job, I immediately sat down with Kathryn to discuss it. While my plan for PTB is to ultimately work smarter, it is inevitable I will be spending more time blogging. This is no big deal for me, but it would be pointless taking on this extra commitment if Kathryn didn't support me. Thankfully she does, as evidenced by my next point.

3. Outsourcing (but not to India!)

To be honest, I can't really ever imagine having some man (or woman!) in India (or wherever else!) handling my affairs ala The 4 Hour Work Week. My solution is to outsource closer to home. Kathryn has agreed to help take care of some of the more mundane tasks of running this blog, leaving me more time to work on the important things. It may only work out to be 15 minutes each day, but it helps me a lot.

4. Big Rocks

For those unfamiliar with the term "big rocks", basically it refers to the major things you want to achieve during the week. As per Stephen R. Covey's advice, I try to plan my week ahead of time (usually Sunday evening) by placing these "big rocks" first. For example, I mentioned earlier my health is a priority for me, so yesterday I looked at the week ahead and placed the "big rocks" relating to exercise into my schedule.

5. Planning Ahead and Blogging

A few weeks back I created an excel spreadsheet for my posts on thechangeblog.com