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Captain's Log & Manifests

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Continuing with my ship analogy, any good freighter needs a solid captain. I talked about scheduling tools and calendars in my last post, but there are more commitments in life than just time commitments. Most of the time, we have items that need attention when we have time, and we need to remember them so we can choose the most important ones. I use my calendar as the bones of my day, but many times, other items creep up that need some sort of attention. Captain’s Log While I go about my day, I like to record things that happen. Sometimes they are thoughts I want to express, tasks I want to remember, or facts I need to process. I record these in a daily log - just a notebook with lines or graph ruling. Every day, I print my agenda from Google Calendar. This shows me my commitments for the day. Sometimes I will schedule the all day items, but most of the time I record the time I spent on it, and update the calendar later. Anything that does not get done today gets moved t...
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References and Archives

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The final part of any good organization system is References and Archives. A good ship’s captain has charts and tables for navigation as they plan their route. These are our References - bits of information we may need to refer to again and again. We also need a system for archiving what we have recorded. What is the point of recording it if we don’t have a system for saving it?    First, let’s define References. I often come across information or data that relates to a project or a future task. I don’t want to go hunting for it again, and I don’t want to loose it. So I file it in the References part of my notebook. A good example right now is paint color cards I printed from the Internet. I had color cards from the hardware store, but they got lost and I had to choose colors again. This time, I printed them and filed them in my planner so I could refer to them while at the store and when discussing the project with my kids. If I had done this sooner, I may also have included ...
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Trust

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It occurs to me that much of my frustration and stress lately has to do with a lack of trust. I am quite suspicious and wary of anyone these days, and with good reason. We send our kids to school, trusting they will be taught, above all else, how to get along in our culture. Secondary, is the academics. We don't need to know everything under the Sun before the age of 18. We have the rest of our lives to learn all the facts that inspire us. I have learned more as an adult than I ever did in school, when my only job was to learn. We believe the school transportation office when they give pick up times and location, and assure our children will safely reach their destination. We trust the bus driver to do their duty. We trust the hiring agent to have chosen wisely. We trust the students to behave accordingly, so the driver can focus on driving. We trust the court system to enforce court orders and follow due diligence when parents don't pay their child support. ...
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