One of the ways that you can get out the door in 30 minutes for any trip – from a couple-day business trip to a three-week vacation is to maintain a standard packing list. All the little things that you have to remember are on this list so you can concentrate on the unique aspects of the planning. Examples of the little things are: extra contact solution, chargers for electronics, and the memory stick with a presentation backup. Unique aspects will tend to be event driven – will there be a party with a theme that you want to dress for? Is business casual rather than corporate dress appropriate? And don’t forget that book you’ve been meaning to read.

travel on!

In my continual reading a bundle of books on productivity, time management, efficiency, and similar topics, the 3 Ds has sounded like a mantra. In managing tasks and handling paper and email the writers say, Do It, Delegate it, and Defer it.

First I want to add my own D — Dump it. Before you get to the Do Delegate or Defer decisions — Dump all the stuff that doesn’t contribute to your most central functions and activities.

I wanted to attribute the 3Ds to someone here and have found it in multiple places… David Allen’s Getting Things Done, Sally McGhee’s Take Back Your Life, Time Design’s Planner Process, The Effective Edge’s material and more. Where the 3Ds originated is a mystery — it’s popularity does reflect that it works!

Need some input from our readers… do two screens really help with productivity? Just read that one can have about 30% increase in productivty by having two screens. Do you have any experience with that?

I’ll be jumping on that bandwagon as soon as I gather a little more information. Will share what we collect as we get it.

As a member of a couple of yahoo! groups, one for my bike club, the other for a professional organization, I was getting too many emails every day. As the president of West Chester Cycling Club I feel an obligation to view all club emails. Consolidating the multiple emails per day into a single email is an option offered by Yahoo! I solved the ‘dozen a day dilemma’ with changing the email delivery to a daily digest. Now I get one email mid-day that allows me to keep on top of things while keeping my inbox streamlined. Technology is tops!

If you’re a Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes user, try having the colorize tool code your emails as they arrive. For example, the messages from your boss turn red (the color of urgency), and messages from clients turn green (the color of money).

Glancing at your inbox you will quickly see the emails that you should address first – they will standout!

In Microsoft 2003 click on tools, organize, then using color. Next you set up the rule for applying color. Finally you apply the color and viola – the messages you already have and the ones that arrive in the future are color coded.

Here I am in Florida in July. The fireworks displays up and down the beach were remarkable and lasted until midnight. The heat and humidity down here is a bit much – but the friends and mesmerizing waves offer a great change of scenery. They’re refreshment so I’m more productive back at home.

In this land of vacation there is a vivid reminder of to do lists. It’s a publication called ‘Must Do’. Now they’re trying to sell me on taking a boat tour of the Everglades, to play mini-golf among the dinosaur reproductions, and to feast continually while the title triggers a valuable thought. While my todo list has hundreds of things on it (broken into subgroups called current, someday, for the 50th birthday party I’m throwing, for the website update, etc…) the really important one is just getting named today. It’s my new ‘Must Do’ list. It’s going to be the super list of lists. It’s the short list that will contribute to success by keeping my eye on key activities. Todo will keep my mind clear, Must Do will keep my actions most productive and allow the other do-ties to take a back seat.

Thanks Florida for keeping me moving foward!

Quick tip for those who have a supply of literature or stationary to keep available. Purchase a literature sorter from an office supply store or a shoe storage container from a mass merchant. Both of these have slots so you can separate stationary, paper stock or literature. Label the slot and viola – you’ve organized your paper inventory.