Today's work-tickets
- Pick up the yard. We have contractors scheduled to come over on Wednesday
- Run impulse sprinkler on west end of potato patch until 1:30
- Tidy up front porch
- Pick tomatoes
- Pick cucumbers
- Pick broccoli
- Tie up tomato vines
- Go to the gym
- Walk with Mrs ERJ
- Buy whole-wheat pita bread, hummas, tahini and a bottle of red wine
- Sharpen the chain on the chainsaw (small job tomorrow)
- Pull some weeds
- Throw bottles of water into freezer to make ice
- Cut bud-wood from a pear tree
Last night, the weather-guessers were saying 0.8" of rain today. Now they are down to 0.5"
A warning to my readers in the mid-West, be sure to lock your vehicle doors when you leave it unattended. It is zucchini season.
ERJ, how do you keep these as a working list? In a notebook? On your phone? On a piece of paper you carry? Curious because you have a very efficient system.
ReplyDeleteI work off of a clipboard. I use unlined paper and write in cursive. I am getting to be of-an-age where every little trick to maintain brain health is used.
DeleteI was driven to this because I am now maintaining several properties. I think in terms of projects and expand them into sub-tasks and material/tool lists. It sucks to drive 40 miles and find out that you forgot a tool.
I also include things I need to bring back and write down "needs" lists. For example, the Upper/Hill Orchard site needs a new 6' step-ladder due to damage to the current one.
I don't have a robust system for "rolling over" tasks that don't get done. That comes into play when deciding which tasks to let slide. I am more likely to let a task that is "Self-declaring" slide than one that is buried for that reason.
Realistically, I get two-to-three hours of time-on-task done most days. I don't count prep and transportation time. Even though they are real costs the 90 minutes transit time between home and Upper Orchard, for instance, does not create any value. It is a pure cost.
It feels like I danced around your question and didn't answer it. Sorry.
Not at all ERJ, you answered it completely. My original "change" to an analog notebook happened because I figured out that I was already spending too much time on a screen (the same reason I got away from electronic reading as well). I did a version of what you describe in terms of tasks and needs when I would transit back and forth to The Ranch once a month.
DeleteI will say that for me, having things in a bound book and putting an arrow indicating it is moving to the next week has worked better than expected. The things get done if for no other reason than I get tired of seeing them there week after week.
With my change in commute I have much less time in the car - good in a lot of ways, but I did use that time before for things like language CDs. That is much harder now.
How many zucchini did they stick in your car while you weren't looking?
ReplyDeleteIt is the only time of year I feel that I need to lock my doors when I go to church
ReplyDeleteIf I thought there was a realistic chance of finding squash in my car if left unlocked I'd make a sign saying my car is unlocked.but I'm uninformed
ReplyDelete