Plate Theory: Your Key to Mastering Personal Organization
Plate Theory: Your Key to Mastering Personal Organization
Over the holiday I had some family in town and was showing my uncle what I had been up to lately. While going through my list of current projects, including my job, getting my Master's degree, running a Sole Proprietorship, running a General Partnership, and starting a new partnership, I was perplexed to hear him say "I must be getting old, I don't understand how you can keep all this so organized. I could never do that much at one time."
When I look back only a few years ago I see myself as that same type of person. I would forget stuff constantly. I tried to keep my life organized with post it notes and my memory alone. Inevitably, organization in general caused me a lot of stress because I knew there was going to be certain amount of things that would fall through the cracks. When somebody asked me to do something I would instantly feel guilty because I would tell them yes knowing full well I might not remember. Integrity, to me, means doing what you say you are going to do, and it is one of the most important rules to follow in life.
When I was about 20 years old I started on a self-help reading frenzy. I have read literally hundreds of books on self-help topics since, many of them on organization and time management. I tried countless different tactics for staying organized and improving memory. There is one rule that changed my life completely. "Whenever you have something that needs to be done, do not wait a single second without doing something to step toward achieving it." Now, of course there are exceptions when you just can't do something right that very second, in which case it is vital you hold onto that thought for just a few minutes until the opportunity pops up that you can squeeze a small action in (such as putting a reminder in your calendar).
I call this the "full plate rule." I got the idea for the name while eating thanksgiving leftovers this year. I was asked if I was going to have any Jello, looked at my plate, and responded "well, yes, but my plate is full so I am going to have to eat some stuff first in order to make room!" Your memory is like a plate. It can only handle so many things at one time. If you want more to go on your plate, you need to clear some space first! Here's how it works. If my business partner calls and says, "hey I need you to call the lawyer at 3pm on wednesday," I do not wait a single second before grabbing my iPhone and putting a reminder in my calendar. Boom! That task is off my "plate"(memory). I do not have to worry about it any more because I know that my trusted technology will alert me to it when the time comes.
Throughout my day I am assigned various tasks in all parts of my life. I would say on average there are at least 10-20 very important things that I need to do but can't at the exact moment I think of them or am made aware of them. The moment you are made aware of the task is the absolute most crucial moment to your success in completing it. Never go more than a few minutes without writing it in your calendar for a time when you know you can take another step toward completing it or when you can complete it entirely. Take it off your plate!
Now, this doesn't mean you have to meticulously plan exactly when you are going to complete the task. All it means is you need to find a time when you know you can, at the very least, re-schedule it. For me, I always know I will be home with a few minutes of free time around 930pm. So if something comes up during the day and I have no idea when I can do it, I just put a calendar reminder in for 930pm because I know I will have enough time to think about when I can actually do the task, and then I will just re-schedule the reminder with the new time I chose. They key is, put in a reminder for some time, any time, just do it! Don't worry about whether or not you chose a good time... you can, and more than likely will, reschedule it at least once or twice.
I do understand that not everybody has an iPhone (or other smart phone). At the very least I recommend a small note pad that you can always have with you and an online calendar (I highly recommend "Google calendar", which comes free with Gmail). You can write your tasks into your notepad right away and then "dump" those tasks into your online calendar once or twice a day. Google calendar is great because it will send you reminders the day before an event you scheduled and on the day of the event. So as long as you check your email every day you will be set.
For those of us with smart phones (and the iPhone in particular) I highly recommend Google calendar as a supplement. Google calendar can sync to your iPhone(for instructions and a demonstration video visit http://www.google.com/mobile/sync/). This means that if you put an event in your iPhone calendar, it posts in your Google calendar (and visa-versa). If I put an event in my iPhone or Google calendar I end up getting an email, an alert on my phone, and an alert on my computer. Now maybe you can see why I never forget anything!
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