OK, based on my 'post it note planning' topic, I've expanded the exposure to my secrets of planning and put together a quick PDF.

PDF - http://web.omnidrive.com/APIServer/public/i8KASJJ1O3B3EY0AYSPLlv0w/

Enjoy!

P.S. I call it the McKenzie Plan after my wonderful grandmother who used to call me Hollywood. I have no idea why?

wow - too planned for me

am positive i couldnt pre-plan realistically for MAPE for a week ahead... would then start missing some and get discouraged.

i like the post-it - am sticking with it - no pun intended!

I think post its work really well for "visual thinkers"

which is kind of a way of saying "mentally lazy"

Like Einstein I guess? At the end of one interview in his later years the reporter was winding up, but just before he closed his notebook he asked for Albert's phone number in case he had to double check something as he wrote the article.  Einstein reached behind him pulled the phone book off the shelf and proceeded to look up his phone number....the reporter was, to say the least, some what incredulous but Albert insisted that it didn't make sense to clutter up one's mind with things that could be easily looked up.

Yes, the same Einstein responsible for gedanken experiments such as visualizing trains passing each other at the speed of light ... which led to the theories of relativity.

Good.... I can't remember my phone number either

The MAPE is not that bad. I'ts not a strict procedure, it just means that I know the key 'big rock' I'm getting done in that time. Often I don't have one for M or E and regularly things will happen to shift them out. but if I don't start with the big rocks, then I end up doing 100 little tasks and no big ones.

A lecturer at a university is giving a pre-exam lecture on time management. On his desk is a bag of sand, a bag of pebbles, some big rocks and bucket. He asks for a volunteer to put all three grades of stone into the bucket, and a keen student duly steps up to carry out the task, starting with the sand, then the pebbles, then the rocks, which do not all fit in the bucket.

"The is an analogy of poor time management," trills the lecturer, "If you'd have put the rocks in first, then the pebbles, then the sand, all three would have fit. This is much like time management, in that by completing your biggest tasks first, you leave room to complete your medium tasks, then your smaller ones. By completing your smallest tasks first you spend so much time on them you leave yourself unable to complete either medium of large tasks satisfactorily. Let me show you.."

And the lecturer re-fills the bucket, big rocks first, then pebbles, then sand, shaking the bucket between each so that everything fits.

"But Sir," says one student, slouched at the back of the theatre, "You've forgotten one thing.."

At which the student approaches the bucket, produces a can of lager, opens it and pours into the bucket. "No matter how busy you are," quips the student with a smile, "There's always time for a quick beer."

(Ack Simon Dedman)

http://www.alanchapman.com/stories.htm#big%20rocks%20in%20first%20time%20management%20story

In reverse order:

• Very good Mick. Like your time management tale
• Really pleased to read that about our Albert. Evidently he and I are peas from the same pod

Well, there is a difference Alex.... he didn't remember his phone number.... you tend to not remember your phone

Perhaps he needs an update on the old check for essentials:

Spectacles, testicles, wallet and phone.....

HAHAHAHAHA

Yours are detachable????

Yours aren't? Come on Richard - get with the times. A permanent set of testes is just so limiting these days. Plus I'm getting married soon, so I have to put them in a pouch and hand them over to the wife.

If that's part of the current Australian Pre-Marriage Counselling process, I'm glad I had mine here in British Columbia 35 years ago!

You are a colony too Bric - if it wasn't for the French blood in your maple syrup you'd be handing them over too!