With a title like that, I just had to read this time management book I stumbled across on Amazon (http://astore.amazon.co.uk/businessstrat-21/detail/0968872301). And I’m glad I did – the ideas proposed seem to be working reasonably well for me. The basic tenet is to avoid having a single to-do list, and split it into types of tasks and reminders, using each list when appropriate.
Among the suggestions I found particularly useful are:
“They owe me” list – details of who I’m waiting for stuff from, with trigger dates when I should check that they’re on track.
“Talk-to” lists – all the things I need to discuss with a particular individual, so whenever I speak to them, I have a readily-available list to make sure I don’t forget something and waste time having to call them again.
Quite apart from the actual tools discussed, the book is written in a very easy and amusing style, as a story of Father Time’s visit to earth to deal with the crazy speed of modern life, picking on one busy and successful executive to be his “busy fool” to turn around. Well worth a read, I say.
