Time-Highlighting

Time-Highlighting

I'm a huge believer in using colour on purpose. This applies to highlighters too. Whilst being a massive fan of Dave Allen's "Getting Things Done" - I still have to prioritise at times, and I still fall into the trap of investing too much time on what is really unimportant. So, I find it helps to run a thinking template like this one where I get a grip on what's really important and what's only urgent. In the analogue world of paper-based Mind Mapping, I use a pink and blue highlighter. Everything that is urgent gets the pink treatment. Everything that is important gets the blue treatment. As highlighters naturally 'layer' - my important and urgent naturally emerges as a rich purple. Simple, fast, effective.
I can also keep an eye out for Time Bandits too - that tasks that are often a pleasant distraction that don't move me towards my important goals but can swallow up time.