I Do It When I Think About It (so here's how to think about it at the right time)

How often do we hear someone talk about performing a routine task “when I think about it”? The corollary for that one is when the task goes undone, the excuse is likely to be “I didn’t think about it.” We hang up the phone after talking to Sam for 15 minutes and then remember the 3 things we really needed to ask. We think about the application we need to submit the day after the deadline. We wake up at 3:00 A.M. thinking about needing to buy ketchup. The next day we walk right past ketchup at the grocery store without a clue. If only we could think about things at the right time.

In all seriousness, I believe that all of us do things when we think about them. The challenge is to develop some type of mechanism which causes us to think about them at the right time. Car manufacturers understand this concept and build in a little chime to indicate the fuel level is low. That mechanism causes the driver to think about getting gas at the exact point the tank is approaching empty.

Cooks understand this concept and set timers to cause them to think about taking the cake out of the oven at just the right time. Merchants buy air time so that their commercials can remind us right at the peak of the gift-giving season of the products they sell.

Some people seem to always be doing the right thing at the right time. Others are continually letting things slip through the cracks. What is the difference? If it is true that I do things “when I think about it,” then the magic becomes developing a system which causes me to think about it at the right time. Yet there is one more crucial step. The real magic is making that system easy enough that I will sustain it not for a week or a month, but for a lifetime.

Countless times during the day, responsibilities come my way which cannot be handled at that moment. What I can do is trap that thought before it escapes. That reminder likely goes straight to my digital to-do list, worded clearly enough that its meaning will be understood weeks later. If the ideas are flying and the exact task is hazy, my journal traps the conversation and I flesh out the “to-dos” at a more quiet time later in the day. Or, when obligations or thoughts come “on the fly” as I am walking down the hall or sitting in traffic, the memo pad I carry in my shirt pocket traps the basic idea.

What I can do is look at everything I have trapped during the day, make decisions about when I want to see each task again, and set due dates in my digital to-do list. Now, everything I wanted to think about today is going to appear on the list for today. All I have to do is look at it.

We live in a world that is potentially filled with stress. In February 2003, Fast Company magazine referenced data from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stating that 80% of our medical expenditures are now stress related. The National Mental Health Association estimates that 75-90% of all visits to physicians are stress related. Tools as simple as a memo pad or as complex as a smartphone combined with a strategy for how to use them can relieve a good bit of unneeded stress. I have written about how effective free software, such as Toodledo can be for keeping up with our commitments.

Those little tools serve as our personal assistants and remind us at just the right time of our meetings, the gifts we have to buy, the reports we have to write, and anything else we need to be doing. All the while, we are able to focus and be fully present in the moment. Carrying that smartphone or memo pad, and developing the discipline to use it, is a small price to pay for the freedom from stress that it brings.

This short podcast explores the subject

 
We do it when we think about. That’s our nature. We just need an easy system, one that runs constantly in the background, does our remembering for us, and nudges us at the right moment.

What They All Have in Common...

The last several weeks have provided me wonderful experiences:

• Presenting to Alabama assistant principals at two live conferences
• Presenting to Illinois administrators in a three-hour webinar
• Presenting four sessions to Alabama National Board Certified Teachers at their annual conference
• Presenting four sessions for Mississippi educators at their annual educational technology conference

While their locations and roles in education may have differed, these groups have in common 3 important concepts:

• They are all interested in ideas, particularly in the area of technology, which are relevant and can be implemented immediately.
• They will all leave the convention atmosphere of excitement and return to lives where emails, voice mails, and paperwork have been accumulating in their absence.
• Their abilities to implement what they learned will be directly related to their abilities to organize their surroundings and manage their time.

When we step back into our lives, the conference bag is often thrown into the corner until we "have a chance to get to it." Months later, the notes have grown cold, the ideas have faded, and good intentions turn into guilty promises to do better next time.

Two tools provide the structure that will turn good ideas into regular parts of our daily lives. Both are tools which are regular topics in my presentations on organization and time management at conferences just such as these.

The Journal
When I attend a conference, my journal is one of the items thrown into the briefcase. It's nothing more than a bound book of blank lined pages. The magic is that the same journal opens every time I send or receive a phone call, every time I meet with someone where topics of significance will be discussed, and every time I join a group setting where I plan to learn something or come away with commitments to myself or others.

Where one day leaves off, the next one begins. When I attend a conference session, I am not at a loss to know where to write things down. Just open the book to the next blank line and start writing.

As I write, "to-dos" will occur to me. I write those down along with the other notes. I help myself by putting an asterisk (*) beside anything I write that is not just a piece of information, but is instead a "to-do" for me. With a plan as simple as this, I can keep up with the speaker and make sure I leave the session with the ideas I need in order to implement great ideas trapped in the pages of my journal.

The To-Do List
Later in the day, when the dust settles, I revisit the journal. My responsibility is to look at what I wrote during the day and decide exactly what I need to do about any of it. The results of those decisions goes on my to-do list. I word them clearly enough that I will know exactly what I was talking about tomorrow, a week from now, or a month from now.

I do not re-copy the notes from the journal. If I have details in those notes needed when completing the "to-dos" on my list, I put the date the notes were taken in parentheses beside the appropriate item on my list. When I look at the item on the to-do list, the date in parentheses say to me, "Look here for information."

Most importantly, I make a decision as to when I want to see that to-do and assign it an appropriate due date. Cleaning up email, voice mail, snail mail, unpacking, and putting out fires which erupted while away at the conference will always take precedence over the creative ideas learned during the conference. So, we need to be realistic. When will we have the time to give the new ideas and their implementation the time they deserve? Assign a date. Now go about the process of clearing the backlog which accumulated over the last several days.

Rest assured your to-do list is going to make sure the good ideas you learned at the conference are not forgotten.

Our roles differ. Our noble aims, and the tools with which we accomplish them, are much the same.  

I Do It When I Think About It

"I do it when I think about it." When I hear that statement, it always scares me. At the same it gives me a "heads up" that I am talking to someone upon whom I did not need to depend. Things are going to slip through the cracks because the person doesn't think about it at the right time. This podcast explores the subject.

Click here to listen to "I Do It When I Think About It."

 

Clean Off Your Desk Day

Happy "National Clean Off Your Desk Day"! Yes, it is a real event, celebrated each year on the second Monday of January, The photo you see was sent to me by a friend...an actual photo of his desk. Today seemed to be the perfect day to share it.

Just for fun, take a look at these statistics related to the clean desk.

If you are looking for a solution to the paper blizzard, a very large part of the solution for me has been the "tickler file." If this concept is new or if you would like a refresher, here is a very old post from this blog which is right on point. Ask the question, "When do I need to see this again?"and file the paper for that day. Waiting on someone else to get back with you before you are able to move forward? Estimate when the person will be getting you the information and file the paper for the day afterward. When the paper resurfacing, you have the information you need to take the next step.

Do you have lots of slips of paper laying around or Post-it notes stuck to the computer monitor? Use your signature tool, explained in this post from a year ago, holds it all for you.

The picture to the right is the desk of a former workshop participant who put his tickler files to work!

Anyone have a photo they would like to share of their desk? I would love to see the good, the bad, and the ugly! Click here to e-mail an attachment.

A Success Story

I received this from a participant in a recent Get Organized! workshop:

Dear Frank,

I recently purchased a Day-Timer as my signature tool. Now I don't go anywhere without it; I use it all the time. My family is currently going through a major bathroom remodel. Keeping up with the carpenter, electrician, tile people, and plumber has been made easy with the handy Day-Timer. I keep daily notes and jot down all of my appointments. It's also convenient to have a small phone directory at hand. The Day-Timer also has calendars through 2014! So many times, my co-workers and I would be looking for a calendar. From now on, I am taking my "signature tool" to all meetings.

I plan to make my tickler file before school begins. Right now I'm focusing on completing the bathroom remodel.

Thanks for all of the wonderful, useful ideas!


The signature tool is something that works, as this teacher illustrates. Having one tool that keeps it all in front of us makes life easier!

Little Things are Big Things

One of the most rewarding experiences of my career has been mentoring those who are going down the same road I have traveled. That opportunity presents itself once again as a close colleague was recently appointed to a principalship literally overnight. During the past week, I have spent some time each day at the school in an honest effort to give this principal the kind of support that every new principal deserves yet few receive.

Seeing my colleague in action serves as a reminder of the challenge the principalship brings and the tools needed to meet that challenge. Input comes from all directions, often at the most unlikely of times. Even lunch is fair game. The requests for the principal’s time and attention are, by in large, little things. The challenge comes in handling the sheer volume of them. Now, more than ever, I am convinced that the “signature tool” is the secret to making things happen while maintaining sanity.

The “signature tool” can take many forms. It can be paper-based, such as a notepad, a loose-leaf planner, or a legal pad. It can be digital, such as a Palm or BlackBerry. Whatever form it takes, the signature is always available, must be quick, and must be easy to use. It is that trusted partner who never forgets anything and holds everything in one place. Over time, the appearance of that tool gives confidence to the observer that what is being talked about at the moment will not fall through the cracks. That little tool becomes unmistakably linked to accomplishment.

Over the last several days, a goodly share of the talk between me and my friend has included that particular idea. How and where will she record all of the requests, all of the ideas that strike while walking down the hall, and all of the positive activity that is happening in a school which already does so many things so well? How will she trap all of those “little things” while staying focused on the task at hand? We discussed the pros and cons of entry directly in the BlackBerry, initial entry on a notepad, and even the use of reQall.

During my most recent visit, a teacher walked into the principal’s office and in words which obviously came from the heart, began by saying, “I just want to tell you how much all of the little things you are doing means,” and went on to tell of how word of little things getting done was spreading into the community.

Doing little things, and doing them well, is a big thing. Virtually every task we perform is insignificant when viewed alone. Knit together, those small accomplishments move mountains.

My friend and I set up a voice mailbox, imported scores of repeating tasks into Outlook, devised needed forms, and ironed out all sorts of organizational details which will later save time for the entire faculty. Our work, however, was interrupted numerous times…by children. A child came to read to the principal, another came to show off her artwork, and another simply needed a little morale boost. This principal stopped and spent time with every one of them. A couple of minutes here. A couple of minutes there.

Little things, yet big things. Big things in the eyes of a child. Big things in shaping the direction of a school. Big things in defining a leadership style for a new principal.

I came away that day with the distinct impression that “a good place to learn and grow” just got a little better.

In the end, it is the attention to detail that makes all the difference. It's the center fielder's extra two steps to the left, the salesman's memory for names, the lover's phone call, the soldier's clean weapon. It's the thing that separates the winners from the losers, the men from the boys, and very often, the living from the dead. Professional success depends upon it, regardless of the field.

--David Noonan


Note: This post originally appeared exactly two years ago today. Since that time, this school has flourished under the leadership of its principal. The 80-year-old building has never looked better. The philosophy of providing a well-rounded education is pervasive. Stakeholders of all sorts have pulled together to provide the resources needed even in the leanest of financial times. A school that calls itself, "A Good Place to Learn and Grow" continues to get better every day.

I Do It When I Think About It

How often do we hear someone talk about performing a routine task “when I think about it”? The corollary for that one is when the task goes undone, the excuse is likely to be “I didn’t think about it.” We hang up the phone after talking to Sam for 15 minutes and then remember the 3 things we really needed to ask. We think about the application we need to submit the day after the deadline. We wake up at 3:00 A.M. thinking about needing to buy ketchup. The next day we walk right past ketchup at the grocery store without a clue. If only we could think about things at the right time.

Let me pose this question: When is the last time you thought about chocolate ducks? My guess is that you have not thought about chocolate ducks in a while. Yet, what are you thinking about right now…? Yep, that right—chocolate ducks! A simple trigger caused you to shift your attention, even if for a brief moment.

In all seriousness, I believe that all of us do things when we think about them. The challenge is to develop some type of mechanism which causes us to think about them at the right time. Car manufacturers understand this concept and build in a little chime to indicate the fuel level is low. That mechanism causes the driver to think about getting gas at the exact point the tank is approaching empty.

Cooks understand this concept and set timers to cause them to think about taking the cake out of the oven at just the right time. Merchants buy air time so that their commercials can remind us right at the peak of the gift-giving season of the products they sell.

Some people seem to always be doing the right thing at the right time. Others are continually letting things slip through the cracks. What is the difference?

If it is true that I do things “when I think about it,” then the magic becomes developing a system which causes me to think about it at the right time. Yet there is one more crucial step. The real magic is making that system easy enough that I will sustain it not for a week or a month, but for a lifetime.

Countless times during the day, responsibilities come my way which cannot be handled at that moment. What I can do is trap that thought before it escapes. That reminder likely goes straight into the BlackBerry or Outlook worded clearly enough that its meaning will be understood weeks later. If the ideas are flying and the exact task is hazy, my journal traps the conversation and I flesh out the “to-dos” at a more quiet time later in the day. Or, when obligations or thoughts come “on the fly” as I am walking down the hall or sitting in traffic, the memo pad I carry in my shirt pocket traps the basic idea.

What I can do is look at everything I have trapped during the day, make decisions about when I want to see each task again, and word them clearly in my signature tool. Now, everything I wanted to think about today is going to appear on the list for today. All I have to do is look at it. If I need something more, adding an alarm to any appointment or task causes me to think about it at the precise time I need a reminder. One of the beauties of organizing with a digital tool is that when Sam calls unexpectedly, quickly keying “Sam” in the "find" command on my BlackBerry or in Outlook brings up a list of everything I wanted to talk to Sam about.

We live in a world that is potentially filled with stress. In February 2003, Fast Company magazine referenced data from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stating that 80% of our medical expenditures are now stress related. The National Mental Health Association estimates that 75-90% of all visits to physicians are stress related. Tools as simple as a memo pad or as complex as a smartphone combined with a strategy for how to use them can relieve a good bit of unneeded stress.

Those little tools serve as our personal assistants and remind us at just the right time of our meetings, the gifts we have to buy, the reports we have to write, and even the chocolate ducks we might like to see on an Easter morning. All the while, we are able to focus and be fully present in the moment. Carrying that smartphone or memo pad, and developing the discipline to use it, is a small price to pay for the freedom from stress that it brings.

A very good friend who proof-read the original draft of this post asked, “Did you write this with me in mind?” I was a little surprised, seeing as how this person is someone I view as being one of the most having-it-all-together people I know. The question did let me know that this message is one that probably speaks to us all at some level. Somehow, it clicked for me my senior year in high school and has made all the difference ever since. Perhaps it will click for someone else today.

We do it when we think about. That’s our nature. We just need an easy system, one that runs constantly in the background, does our remembering for us, and nudges us at the right moment. As we begin a new year that holds so much potential for each of us, can there be a better time to adopt a simple tool and simple system which will allow us to unleash some of that potential?

Choosing a Signature Tool

We have all been to workshops where we heard some good ideas and had full intentions of implementing them. When we leave the workshop and step back into our lives where things are coming at us from all directions, so many of those good intentions go by the wayside.

The best minds in the area of professional development keep telling us that for things to "stick," there has to be follow-up and time to practice. That's the whole reason for establishing this blog. This is a place where we can review material from the workshop. It also gives me the opportunity to bring these ideas to people I would never meet face-to-face.

If I could isolate one idea as being the most important from the workshop, it would be that of having a "signature tool" that does your remembering for you. That tool could be a Day-Timer, a legal pad, a notepad in your pocket, or a smart phone. Any of them work provided: 1) you have your signature tool with you all the time; and 2) you have formed the habit of writing down that appointment, to-do or idea immediately.

The idea seems simple, yet so many people ignore it and try to simply hope they will remember it all. While we may have gotten by with this approach as late as our college days, it simply doesn’t work in our busy day-to-day lives. We wind up with sleepless nights wondering what we have forgotten, or waking up in the middle of the night remembering what we forgot to do.

Others write things down but do it on any scrap of paper at hand. With pockets full of Post-Its and various slips of paper scattered everywhere, putting our hands on the telephone number of the salesman we spoke with last Tuesday is impossible.

What will that “signature tool” be for you? Make a decision on that. Make sure it is something that will hold your calendar items—that is, things that happen at a specific day and time. Make sure you have room for your to-do list. Also, you will need a place to write down ideas or notes from meetings and phone conversations.

Forming a habit takes about a month. So, for the next several weeks having that capture tool handy and using it will be something you will force yourself to do. After that, habit takes over, and you will begin to notice a good deal of the stress in your life will start to vanish.

The Best $10 You Will Ever Spend

My life is on my BlackBerry...or at least as much as I can reasonably store there. There are those times when I have to jot something quickly or draw a quick sketch. In addition, I do need some way to carry credit cards, business cards, and so forth.

In my shirt pocket, you will find a little memo pad that ran me around $10 at an office superstore. It's manufactured by Buxton. Simply putting "Buxton Memo Pad" into a Google search will return plenty of hits.

In the pocket on the left side, I keep about half-a-dozen business cards, a couple of major credit cards, and my driver's license. Credit cards receipts, business cards from other people, or other miscellaneous little pieces of paper also go right up front on that left side until I can get home and handle them. The right side features a memo pad. A pocket underneath the memo pad houses my insurance cards just in case.

The whole thing measures 4 3/4" high X 3" wide X 3/4" thick. The best thing is that I carry no wallet! Money goes in a magnetic money clip in my left front pocket. Pictures are digital and stored on the BlackBerry. The memo pad handles the rest.

One little tip. The memo pad includes a couple of pen loops and a pen. I found the pen loops to get in the way big time, so a pair of scissors took care of that problem.

While the BlackBerry is certainly my signature tool, that $10 memo pad provides the perfect companion.

A Success Story

I received this from a participant in a recent Get Organized! workshop:

Dear Frank,

I recently purchased a Day-Timer as my signature tool. Now I don't go anywhere without it; I use it all the time. My family is currently going through a major bathroom remodel. Keeping up with the carpenter, electrician, tile people, and plumber has been made easy with the handy Day-Timer. I keep daily notes and jot down all of my appointments. It's also convenient to have a small phone directory at hand. The Day-Timer also has calendars through 2014! So many times, my co-workers and I would be looking for a calendar. From now on, I am taking my "signature tool" to all meetings.

I plan to make my tickler file before school begins. Right now I'm focusing on completing the bathroom remodel.

Thanks for all of the wonderful, useful ideas!


The signature tool is something that works, as this teacher illustrates. Having one tool that keeps it all in front of us makes life easier!

I Do It When I Think About It

How often do we hear someone talk about performing a routine task “when I think about it”? The corollary for that one is when the task goes undone, the excuse is likely to be “I didn’t think about it.” We hang up the phone after talking to Sam for 15 minutes and then remember the 3 things we really needed to ask. We think about the application we need to submit the day after the deadline. We wake up at 3:00 A.M. thinking about needing to buy ketchup. The next day we walk right past ketchup at the grocery store without a clue. If only we could think about things at the right time.

Let me pose this question: When is the last time you thought about chocolate ducks? My guess is that you have not thought about chocolate ducks in a while. Yet, what are you thinking about right now…? Yep, that right—chocolate ducks! A simple trigger caused you to shift your attention, even if for a brief moment.

In all seriousness, I believe that all of us do things when we think about them. The challenge is to develop some type of mechanism which causes us to think about them at the right time. Car manufacturers understand this concept and build in a little chime to indicate the fuel level is low. That mechanism causes the driver to think about getting gas at the exact point the tank is approaching empty.

Cooks understand this concept and set timers to cause them to think about taking the cake out of the oven at just the right time. Merchants buy air time so that their commercials can remind us right at the peak of the gift-giving season of the products they sell.

Some people seem to always be doing the right thing at the right time. Others are continually letting things slip through the cracks. What is the difference?

If it is true that I do things “when I think about it,” then the magic becomes developing a system which causes me to think about it at the right time. Yet there is one more crucial step. The real magic is making that system easy enough that I will sustain it not for a week or a month, but for a lifetime.

Countless times during the day, responsibilities come my way which cannot be handled at that moment. What I can do is trap that thought before it escapes. That reminder likely goes straight into the BlackBerry or Outlook worded clearly enough that its meaning will be understood weeks later. If the ideas are flying and the exact task is hazy, my journal traps the conversation and I flesh out the “to-dos” at a more quiet time later in the day. Or, when obligations or thoughts come “on the fly” as I am walking down the hall or sitting in traffic, the memo pad I carry in my shirt pocket traps the basic idea.

What I can do is look at everything I have trapped during the day, make decisions about when I want to see each task again, and word them clearly in my signature tool. Now, everything I wanted to think about today is going to appear on the list for today. All I have to do is look at it. If I need something more, adding an alarm to any appointment or task causes me to think about it at the precise time I need a reminder. One of the beauties of organizing with a digital tool is that when Sam calls unexpectedly, quickly keying “Sam” in the find command on my BlackBerry or in Outlook brings up a list of everything I wanted to talk to Sam about.

We live in a world that is potentially filled with stress. In February 2003, Fast Company magazine referenced data from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stating that 80% of our medical expenditures are now stress related. The National Mental Health Association estimates that 75-90% of all visits to physicians are stress related. Tools as simple as a memo pad or as complex as a smartphone combined with a strategy for how to use them can relieve a good bit of unneeded stress.

Those little tools serve as our personal assistants and remind us at just the right time of our meetings, the gifts we have to buy, the reports we have to write, and even the chocolate ducks we might like to see on an Easter morning. All the while, we are able to focus and be fully present in the moment. Carrying that smartphone or memo pad, and developing the discipline to use it, is a small price to pay for the freedom from stress that it brings.

A very good friend who proof-read the original draft of this post asked, “Did you write this with me in mind?” I was a little surprised, seeing as how this person is someone I view as being one of the most having-it-all-together people I know. The question did let me know that this message is one that probably speaks to us all at some level. Somehow, it clicked for me my senior year in high school and has made all the difference ever since. Perhaps it will click for someone else today.

We do it when we think about. That’s our nature. We just need an easy system, one that runs constantly in the background, does our remembering for us, and nudges us at the right moment. As we begin a new year that holds so much potential for each of us, can there be a better time to adopt a simple tool and simple system which will allow us to unleash some of that potential?

Little Things are Big Things

One of the most rewarding experiences of my career has been mentoring those who are going down the same road I have traveled. That opportunity presents itself once again as a close colleague was recently appointed to a principalship literally overnight. During the past week, I have spent some time each day at the school in an honest effort to give this principal the kind of support that every new principal deserves yet few receive.

Seeing my colleague in action serves as a reminder of the challenge the principalship brings and the tools needed to meet that challenge. Input comes from all directions, often at the most unlikely of times. Even lunch is fair game. The requests for the principal’s time and attention are by in large little things. The challenge comes in handling the sheer volume of them. Now, more than ever, I am convinced that the “signature tool” is the secret to making things happen while maintaining sanity.

The “signature tool” can take many forms. It can be paper-based, such as a notepad, a loose-leaf planner, or a legal pad. It can be digital, such as a Palm or BlackBerry. Whatever form it takes, the signature is always available, must be quick, and must be easy to use. It is that trusted partner who never forgets anything and holds everything in one place. Over time, the appearance of that tool gives confidence to the observer that what is being talked about at the moment will not fall through the cracks. That little tool becomes unmistakably linked to accomplishment.

Over the last several days, a goodly share of the talk between me and my friend has included that particular idea. How and where will she record all of the requests, all of the ideas that strike while walking down the hall, and all of the positive activity that is happening in a school which already does so many things so well? How will she trap all of those “little things” while staying focused on the task at hand? We discussed the pros and cons of entry directly in the BlackBerry, initial entry on a notepad, and even the use of Jott.

During my most recent visit, a teacher walked into the principal’s office and in words which obviously came from the heart, began by saying, “I just want to tell you how much all of the little things you are doing means,” and went on to tell of how word of little things getting done was spreading into the community.

Doing little things, and doing them well, is a big thing. Virtually every task we perform is insignificant when viewed alone. Knit together, those small accomplishments move mountains.

My friend and I set up a voice mailbox, imported scores of repeating tasks into Outlook, devised needed forms, and ironed out all sorts of organizational details which will later save time for the entire faculty. Our work, however, was interrupted numerous times…by children. A child came to read to the principal, another came to show off her artwork, and another simply needed a little morale boost. This principal stopped and spent time with every one of them. A couple of minutes here. A couple of minutes there.

Little things, yet big things. Big things in the eyes of a child. Big things in shaping the direction of a school. Big things in defining a leadership style for a new principal.

I came away that day with the distinct impression that “a good place to learn and grow” just got a little better.

In the end, it is the attention to detail that makes all the difference. It's the center fielder's extra two steps to the left, the salesman's memory for names, the lover's phone call, the soldier's clean weapon. It's the thing that separates the winners from the losers, the men from the boys, and very often, the living from the dead. Professional success depends upon it, regardless of the field.

--David Noonan

Choosing a Signature Tool

We have all been to workshops where we heard some good ideas and had full intentions of implementing them. When we leave the workshop and step back into our lives where things are coming at us from all directions, so many of those good intentions go by the wayside.

The best minds in the area of professional development keep telling us that for things to "stick," there has to be follow-up and time to practice. That's the whole reason for establishing this blog. This is a place where we can review material from the workshop. It also gives me the opportunity to bring these ideas to people I would never meet face-to-face.

If I could isolate one idea as being the most important from the workshop, it would be that of having a "signature tool" that does your remembering for you. That tool could be a Day-Timer, a legal pad, a notepad in your pocket, or a handheld digital device. Any of them work provided: 1) you have your signature tool with you all the time; and 2) you have formed the habit of writing down that appointment, to-do or idea immediately.

The idea seems simple, yet so many people ignore it and try to simply hope they will remember it all. While we may have gotten by with this approach as late as our college days, it simply doesn’t work in our busy day-to-day lives. We wind up with sleepless nights wondering what we have forgotten, or waking up in the middle of the night remembering what we forgot to do.

Others write things down but do it on any scrap of paper at hand. With pockets full of Post-its and various slips of paper scattered everywhere, putting our hands on the telephone number of the salesman we spoke with last Tuesday is impossible.

What will that “signature tool” be for you? Make a decision on that. Make sure it is something that will hold your calendar items—that is, things that happen at a specific day and time. Make sure you have room for your to-do list. Also, you will need a place to write down ideas or notes from meetings and phone conversations.

Forming a habit takes about a month. So, for the next several weeks having that capture tool handy and using it will be something you will force yourself to do. After that, habit takes over, and you will begin to notice a good deal of the stress in your life will start to vanish.