Leaving Breadcrumbs

Breadcrumbing: The New Sanity Booster

A few days ago, I picked up a file on my desk that I set aside weeks before. As with most of my files or loose papers (that need to be filed), when I set the file aside, I was multitasking, and to ensure that I didn’t forget one tidbit of information about the contents of the file, I stuck a purple sticky note on it. I was elated when I picked up that file later on because the note reminded me of some key info I needed.

What’s so amazing about the note is that when I picked up the file, I thought…hmmm…breadcrumb. I felt like the lost little girl who found her way home, or even better, the lost website visitor who found her way back to the homepage! I’ve been leaving breadcrumbs all over my office for quite some time, and this subtle little habit has kept me sane in my wild world of countless paperwork and computer files. In one program I use at the office, I can leave notes for myself in certain files. I can time and date stamp the note electronically so that I know when I left myself the note.

“Breadcrumbing” is an awesome habit to develop because your notes will become great ways to jar your memory. Your breadcrumbs could even help others when you’re not around. For example, placing notes in file footers (Microsoft Word) about when was the last revision date and who revised the file can work wonders when multiple persons in your office can access to the file. The Microsoft comment feature works even better for leaving crumbs. Whether you choose post it notes or electronic note features in programs like Outlook and Word, you’ll find that your productivity will increase when you can remember little details that would otherwise be lost in your memory because you didn’t leave some breadcrumbs behind.

Oops...How Did I Forget That Task?

Handling Routine Tasks

After about six months on blog hiatus, I’m finally ready to begin posting again. The non-blog hours of my life have been well spent (being productive of course). Actually, I’ve been very busy! And, in the next few months, I’ll complete the master’s program I started back in 2005. In the mean time though, while thinking about how much I haven’t blogged, I ran across a useful topic that affects just about anyone who struggles with completing routine tasks.

Before I stumbled on Microsoft Outlook task manager, I never wrote down routine tasks, because well, they’re routine. If something is routine, you don’t write it down, right? Routine tasks are second nature, like maybe brushing your teeth or taking a shower. Have you ever gone through your workday and forgotten to check your voice mail, eat lunch, open post office mail, or do some other routine task? When your day consists of completing routine tasks with a combination of ad hoc tasks that may dominate your day and take priority over the routine tasks, your routine tasks may get overlooked. Then by the end of the day you’re wondering, how did I forget to do that task?

Using a program like Outlook (or some equivalent) that you can enable recurring tasks can help you remember the tasks that need to be done regularly. Outlook’s task manager allows you to type in tasks (like a to do list). You can enable the recur feature for regular tasks and when you complete a task that recurs, and mark the task as complete, the same task drops down on your to do list for the next time the task is due. (Hey, I should add posting to this blog as a recurring task!)

New tasks that are not recurring can be added as well to Outlook or written down in a planner or some other area designated for ad hoc, priority tasks. Documenting recurring and ad hoc tasks also will help you decide how to prioritize what needs to get done in your day and what can be moved to other days.

Documenting recurring tasks will help with daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly tasks that are easily forgotten in fast-paced environments where recurring tasks are susceptible to neglect.

More Ways to Spend Your Extra Time

Spending Time with Others

In my last post, I mentioned some ways to spend extra time. Although I couldn't list all of the ways you can spend extra time, I thought I could mention one more. Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to spend some time with my older sister. We live about 35 minutes away from each other, and although we talk on the phone almost everyday, we rarely get to see each other. She joined me for my morning cardio kickboxing class on Saturday and then we went to breakfast at one of my favorite restaurants, La Madeleine. It was great to sit and chat with her face-to-face.

Often, we rarely think about spending extra time with others. But, taking the time to have lunch, go to a movie or to do some mutually stimulating activity with a relative, friend or colleague can be very rewarding. I certainly felt like I accomplished a lot in the time we spent together. If you have nieces, nephews, God children, grandchildren, younger cousins and so on, consider how you could make their day by opting to spend your extra time with them. And, if you have a family of your own, consider how you can spend your time doing rewarding family activities.