Board Blog: Listen to my Mother

Dave Asplund, CBI Vice President

“I make my lists and list my dates” are words I heard mom every time she would have someone ask her how she could juggle working, advocating for special needs children/adults, painting, raising a teen, managing a husband, and being a Minister’s wife. She lived by her lists and had a color coding system in her date book what a given date or event was about. Guess what color her notebooks were for the lists she kept. Yep, the list notebooks matched her color coding system.

I am my mother’s son, and I have a Franklin Covey planner that I use daily.  But this is not a advertisement for Franklin Covey, it is a blog idea I thought of while I filled in the myriad of dates in my planner for the new semester. The entries start with two board meetings, a budget and planning meeting, board of regents meeting, three doctor appointm …  Well you get the picture for my next two weeks.  This blog is about organization and dates.

Organization is the hard part because no two people have the same way to organize.  My mother had her lists, date book, and files she kept.  I have my day planner, the stacks of papers/material I am working on now, and files I have put away for later.  My wife has her day planner, the files of her information, and the Library of Congress.  What works for me leaves my wife shaking her head, and that is why everyone needs to find their own organizational method.  Whether you use the very formal and structured like Franklin Covey’s “Productivity Practice,” The Pomodoro Technique, Order of Importance, David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” method, Seinfeld’s Productivity Secret/ Don’t Break the Chain, the Action Method, or combining some/all of multiple methods to find the best way that works for you it is important to find that method or combo. I was trying to think of a good place to start and the public/college library was my answer until my son said “just Google it, dad” for methods of organization. Just a hint, I used ‘methods of organization’ in the search window.

The dates are easy.  As a student you have dates for assignments, group meetings, class meetings, extracurricular events, school events, work shifts, etc. As a college advisor, instructor, or staff member you have dates for department meetings, work shifts, planning sessions, family stuff, radio/TV stuff, university events, etc.  Any group you belong to has dates, tasks, and things you need to remember. Your college radio or TV station has a list of dates all their own along with things you need to do. The CBI website (askcbi.org) is an excellent place to find the published dates for this year, including Feb. 17, 2017, the date nominations must be received by for the offices of Secretary, Development Director and Student Member on the Board of Directors.