What Would the Setbacks Do?

Email questions to advice[at]thesetbacks.com

Burning the Candle From All Sides!

January 24th, 2005

Robert from Carleton Place writes:

Guys, I'm having major time-management issues lately. I've been working 60 hours a week at the office and that's been burning me out in a big way. On top of that, I keep forgetting commitments that I make in the evenings with my friends and my girlfriend. A lot of the time I totally forget plans I've made, or I double book and end up having to bail on my friends. It's really putting a strain on my already fragile relationship (I've been caught cheating twice by my girlfriend) and I'm worried that if I don't get my act together she's going to hook up with my brother, who she dated for almost 6 years before hooking up with me. I've tried using personal day planners and calendars, but nothing works. Guys, how do you keep everything in your life organized?


Trevor
Listen ROBERT! You need to prioritize. Take a step back and make a list. A simple list that will determine what is important to you in your life. Take all the things in your life that take up time and put them in the order with the most important at the top, and least important at the bottom.

For example my list looks something like this (I won't include them all for the sake of brevity):

1. wife/kid
2. band
3. foosball
4. talking to Mr. and Mrs. Townsend
5. eating
6. sleeping
.
.
.
914. taking a bath with a plugged in appliance
915. getting a haircut
916. work

Once you put things in order and you find you have a conflict, check the list and blow off the lower item on the conflict. This may not help you avoid conflicts, but it will allow you to decide what you would rather spend time doing when a conflict does come up.



Steve
How do I keep things organized? I have a collection of fruits and vegetables that I use to manage my time. Fruits are professional commitments, vegetables are personal commitments, and people are represented by legumes. For example, if I plan to go for a beer with Trevor after work I'll bring a broccoli and some peanuts for lunch. That way I know what's on tap without having to remember anything (apart from my intricate system of fruit and vegetable cataloguing, and which friend/acquaintance goes with which legume).


Paul
There are a million ways to keep organized which include day planners and post-its and all sorts of other junk. All of these methods involve constant updating and maintenance. My technique is simple and it only involves only one investment of time. What you do is sit down and write about 100 (or as many as you can) excuses. If you want to be fancy, you can divide them up into sections of importance or theme or whatever. Once you have this list ready all you have to do is live your life. If you miss an appointment, pull out your list and tell them good old #45 "Had to take the dog to the vet" (Note: if you don't have a dog this might not work as well unless you use #27 "I was taking care of my friends dog" in conjunction). I guarentee that this will work. If it doesn't I'm sure that I will have an excuse for you.


Chris
I have a few tips for you here. Write all of the must dos that you have going on in your life, on your penis. I can guarantee whatever it is, you won't forget it if you put it there. Dayplanners are effective as well, but you have to take a leak, or pull on your buddy in the mornings or whatever, so you're bound to run into your little messages. I call these "genital post its". I've found them quite effective over the years, and I can assume that it will be no different for you.

Best of luck!

(Editor's note: I guess this explains why Chris always forgets things. How can he be expected to remember things when his list can only fit three letters.)

Page: