Never Again Miss a Good College Football Game

Around this time of year, rivalries are being played, conference championship races are coming into focus, and the hype for the road to the national championship is in full swing. Every Saturday brings with it must-see games.

How do you stay on top of who is playing who on TV and when? Television schedules are not set far in advance. Even games as close as two weeks out are listed as "TBA."

I found a site that gives me the information I need in a very concise form:

Click here to see the college football schedule

As you see, the site lists games only for the future, so as the season progresses, I am not scrolling through past events. The game time (listed in Central Time) and television network for each game is listed. Games for the future, along with time and television commitments as known, are listed.

In my digital to-do list, I created a task that reads "Plan football games to watch." In the note section of that task, I pasted the URL for this site. The URL is a clickable link taking me straight to the schedule.

I set the task to repeat weekly, with a start date of Thursday and a due date of Friday. So, every Thursday, viewing the schedule of games for the weekend is a task which is available for me.

Sure, I would probably wind up seeing advertisements for the big games anyway. But that one task on my list serves as a trigger to go to the schedule, plan the games I want to watch, and put them on my calendar. One less thing to remember. Putting the little things like this on "autopilot" is one of the chief ways I am able to give my attention to many things, yet keep the stress level very low.

Automate Routine Tasks with IFTTT (If This Then That)

We all have routine tasks which keep our lives going. Sometimes, those routines involve small things which take little time. Added together, small things can become big things in terms of their cumulative benefit. At the same time, when we add the time required for these individual routines, the total required can be significant.

What if we could put some of those tasks on "autopilot"? For example, examine these routine tasks:

• I want to check the weather each day, and it would be nice if it simply arrived in my e-mail.
• If someone retweets one of my tweets, I want to thank him/her.
• If someone includes me in a #ff (Friday Follow on Twitter), I want to thank him/her.
• If someone follows me on Twitter, I want to follow him/her back.
• If someone follows me on Twitter, I want to send a greeting.
• If one of my scheduled blog posts appears, update Facebook. 
• If one of my scheduled blog posts appears, update Twitter.

A free site called "ifttt.com" does the things listed above for me. "Ifttt" stands for "If this, then that." After signing up for a free account, you can explore the "recipes" others have crafted (such as having the weather forecast e-mailed to you each day). If you are interested in the tasks which I had automated, clicking the above links will let you choose those same tasks for yourself.

Again, each of these tasks are small things, but small things add up to big things both in terms of their benefits and the time required to perform them. "If This Then That" takes care of the time and lets you enjoy the benefits.

If you already used ifttt, what tasks do you have it performing for you?

Repeating Task System Revisited

I have spoken and written often about the importance of developing a repeating task system to take control of the tasks which must be completed not just once, but every year, every quarter, every month, every week, etc. In working with people one-on-one, I am finding more and more that the concept of repeating tasks is one which requires a great deal of review for people to truly "get it," and that is the reason for this post.

A couple of events forced me to dive into the world of podcasting literally overnight. I wound up putting together a podcast, less than 10 minutes in length, which not only explains the problem, but gives you three solutions.

To listen to that podcast, click here.

Anybody have their own repeating task system set up? Is it like one of these?

Getting Control of Repeating Tasks in the New Year

The New Year is a good time to make those grand plans and resolutions. This year, make it a time when you will get control of all of the routine tasks in both your personal and professional lives. From replacing the filter in heating/cooling system to buying the spouse’s gift at anniversary time, we all have tasks that come around the same time every week, month, quarter, or year. If you are like most people, those tasks will number in the hundreds. Hoping you remember each one at the right time is an exercise in futility and a huge stress producer.

One of the biggest productivity boosters for me over the last 30 years has been recognizing repeating task as soon as they appear and putting them in a system. Thirty years ago that system consisted of each task being written on an index card. The task was written in the middle of the card and instructions for when it needed to be done again were written at the bottom. The cards were then thrown in the tickler file.

Over twenty years ago, the system evolved into one continuous list of repeating tasks organized by month. It was stored electronically so that adding tasks and reprinting the list annually were easy.

Today, repeating tasks are housed in Outlook. Enter a task, click the “Recurrence” button, and set the repeating pattern, and I never have to hope I remember to do that task again.

The repeating task system keeps the routine aspects of my life running, keeps the stress level low, and frees my attention for bigger things.

The following podcast is one that appeared on the Eye on Education blog. You can also read about your choice of three systems for handling repeating tasks in this post.

Eye on Education Insights Newsletter

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Repeating Task System Podcast

I have spoken and written often about the importance of developing a repeating task system to take control of the tasks which must be completed not just once, but every year, every quarter, every month, every week, etc. In working with people one-on-one, I am finding more and more that the concept of repeating tasks is one which requires a great deal of review for people to truly "get it," and that is the reason for this post.

Today, the Eye on Education blog features a podcast I created on the subject. The text of the podcast is also included. Happy listening!

To listen to that podcast, click here.

Anybody have their own repeating task system set up? Is it like one of these?

Constitution Day and the Repeating Task System

"Constitution Day" was established by Congress in 2004. The legislation establishing it also set forth the requirement that all educational institutions which receive federal funds are required to hold educational programs pertaining to the Constitution on September 17 each year. 

When this legislation was passed, communication flowed as it normally does through the chain of command. Memos went from Washington to each state department of education, who in turn sent memos to school systems, who in turn sent memos to principals.

E-Mail on Repeating Tasks

I have received some nice comments on my repeating tasks e-mail. If you are not on the mailing list and would like to be, click the link to e-mail me.

Repeating Task List (Paper Planner)

With the start of school drawing ever closer, we are all planning for the coming year. Some of those plans involve new projects and new ideas we will be trying. Other plans we will make involve thinking some of the same thoughts we thought through last year. What tasks do we need to perform to be “ready” when students walk through the door? What materials will we need? Do we have a good idea for the bulletin board? Will we write a “welcome to my class” letter to parents?

As we think through the year, what field trips or other special projects will take place for your class? What plans need to be made? Do you need to reserve busses? What information will you prepare and send to parents? What purchase orders will you need to secure?