using reminder alarms on mobile devices
Most mobile devices such as mobile phones, blackberries and pda’s have a reminder function. But do we use them? I have been using my reminder function on my pda for about a year now. And I don’t know how I managed to get by without it before. I have had them on previous mobile phones that I’ve owned but never really got into using them. So why now? Why with the pda?
The Art of Using Reminders
I think there is an art to using reminder alarms. They have to be a part of your overall time management strategy. They have to help you to sort your life out rather than be like a parent telling you what to do. After all it is you who sets these alarms, just like it is you who sets the alarm at night to wake up in the morning. It’s as though there are two you’s. The one that sets the alarm and the one that hears the alarm. There has to be internal dialogue between the two or it doesn’t work. That’s a whole other topic in itself which I’ll tackle in another post.
I have a friend that puts a reminder on everything. Calendar events as well as to do lists. But that certainly doesn’t work for me. It seems that I use reminders for recurring to do list items. Things like bike maintenance or cleaning the fridge. These things get done once a month or thereabouts. This will make a bit more sense when I put this into the context of the rest of my time management strategy.
My Personal Time Management Strategy
Just like I was explaining in my post about css file structure how I work from the outside inwards or from a more general or global to a more specific or detailed rule, that’s how I work on my life. So it begins with plan the year. Around about December I start to jot down a few notes onto paper and keep it handy for adding more. As the year begins I make that into a more formal set of goals which are not too specific, but will span the whole of the year.
Next comes plan the month where I look at the whole list for the year and see what I might like to do that month. Again without getting too specific. That happens during plan the week.
Plan the week is where all specifics starts to happen. I used to do this on Tuesday mornings, but my week has changed so now I do it on Sunday afternoons. I look at the year plan and the month plan and write down some things I would like to achieve that week and that’s when I look at my reminders. I look at the reminders for that week and put those on the list as well. Some of them go immediately into the week’s schedule, but only a few. It’s only during the plan the day session that they get assigned specific times and durations etc.
So the bulk of my reminders are recurring ones. Just looking at the list now they come to about 28 tasks. Some are one-off tasks, but the rest are monthly or even quarterly. Some of the tasks even have a duration note to help motivate me when it comes to the time. But putting a reminder to do something at a particular time doesn’t work for me, but having a reminder does remind to do it. So used wisely they are a good thing. Overused, they can be a like the big boss breathing down your neck and not a good thing at all.
Why not start using them and find out how they work for you?