Taking Care of Business...

Collect.  Process.  Organize.  Review.  Do.  Thank you, David Allen.  To begin this process of efficiency and productivity, I defaulted to the convenient and familiar paper, pen, and planner.  Simply collecting proved equally as challenging as only processing, and solely organizing.  As I read the article linked above, I identified some strategies I currently use yet implement differently.  I noticed my tendency to blend the collect, process, and organize steps whereas the article above suggests distinction and separation.  Thinking through that a moment more, I notice my guilt of blending all five steps seeking to accomplish the tasks on a list immediately and wonder how much more efficient this system might be by separating the steps.  

Processing seemed most helpful as I am easily distracted from current projects by incoming tasks equally as eager to accomplish them.  This process certainly has potential to help accomplish tasks more efficiently and eliminate mental clutter since the process merged all my lists into one central location.  Creating an inbox proved especially helpful with scheduling appointments for students on my caseload.  Students often come to my office during passing time to ask for an appointment.  Instead of scribbling a name down on the nearest paper in front of me, my students wrote down the request and put it in my inbox.  This also provided the opportunity to determine priority and rework my schedule accordingly.  I am willing to continue to try this process with the mindset that trying it once won't provide enough perspective to gauge its effectiveness.