Personal Development for Smart People^TM Forums

Fusebox · 02-12-2007, 01:45 AM

Hi All,

Question and discussion required. Anyone here use MS Excel (or other similar program) to organise their life, write goals, use as a diary etc??

I want to know if you have used it, what tips would you give in terms of setting it up?

Thanks.

sadavis00 · 02-12-2007, 02:29 AM

i log every hour using a spreadsheet as being used for work, longterm goals (personal development, exercise), sleep, personal hygeine, eating food, or for "other". I schedule all my fixed commitments every week, and also note any self-imposed deadlines for the week. I write down all my insights about how best to use my time in the spreadsheet, which basically means I write down all good ideas I get about improving my life. Every week I revise my notes, set up best time allocation plan for the next week. At the end of the week it is fun to see excel calculate the percent of time I use for each task, and I can also find the patterns of procrastination or time wastage which I can then fix . Since I use a handheld, it is easy to log every hour, and the status updates about how I am progressing towards my target time allocation plan provides me with some good motivation.

My sheet is set up simply as 7 columns for days, 24 columns for hours. Below this matrix, a bunch of calculations for accounting for my time (using the "countif" function), an area to calculate how many hours I am behind on my time allocation goal for the week, an area to write down insights, and an area to write down any self-made deadlines

AndrewJ · 02-12-2007, 04:19 AM

You might want to look Remember The Milk which is a great organisational/time management tool.

Andrew

Fusebox · 02-12-2007, 06:45 AM

Thanks for the replies.

Sadavis, how long have you been doing this for and how effective has it been for you during this time?

Sarek@Vulcan · 02-12-2007, 11:08 AM

Maybe you can even share that excel spreadsheet document file with us?

lolly · 02-14-2007, 06:11 AM

wow, someone is very organised. I would also love to know how its working for you. So why not share with us or at least a lil example to get a better picture of how to do it our selves.

Shaden · 02-15-2007, 04:50 PM

I use excel to store data about my blog, my commitments, my exercise routine, my sleeping habits, my college grades/effort/success and my goal success/failure.

I don't use it for planning though. It's too inflexible with a cheap computer and a family to share it with. I prefer a simple notepad.

02-12-2007, 01:45 AM	#1 (permalink)
Fusebox Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 132	Getting organised using Excel spreadsheet? Hi All, Question and discussion required. Anyone here use MS Excel (or other similar program) to organise their life, write goals, use as a diary etc?? I want to know if you have used it, what tips would you give in terms of setting it up? Thanks.

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02-12-2007, 02:29 AM	#2 (permalink)
sadavis00 Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 98	i log every hour using a spreadsheet as being used for work, longterm goals (personal development, exercise), sleep, personal hygeine, eating food, or for "other". I schedule all my fixed commitments every week, and also note any self-imposed deadlines for the week. I write down all my insights about how best to use my time in the spreadsheet, which basically means I write down all good ideas I get about improving my life. Every week I revise my notes, set up best time allocation plan for the next week. At the end of the week it is fun to see excel calculate the percent of time I use for each task, and I can also find the patterns of procrastination or time wastage which I can then fix . Since I use a handheld, it is easy to log every hour, and the status updates about how I am progressing towards my target time allocation plan provides me with some good motivation. My sheet is set up simply as 7 columns for days, 24 columns for hours. Below this matrix, a bunch of calculations for accounting for my time (using the "countif" function), an area to calculate how many hours I am behind on my time allocation goal for the week, an area to write down insights, and an area to write down any self-made deadlines

02-12-2007, 04:19 AM	#3 (permalink)
AndrewJ Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Australia Posts: 177	You might want to look Remember The Milk which is a great organisational/time management tool. Andrew

02-12-2007, 06:45 AM	#4 (permalink)
Fusebox Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 132	Thanks for the replies. Sadavis, how long have you been doing this for and how effective has it been for you during this time?

02-12-2007, 11:08 AM	#5 (permalink)
Sarek@Vulcan Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 27	Maybe you can even share that excel spreadsheet document file with us?

02-14-2007, 06:11 AM	#6 (permalink)
lolly Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Oudtshoorn,South Africa Posts: 51	wow, someone is very organised. I would also love to know how its working for you. So why not share with us or at least a lil example to get a better picture of how to do it our selves.

02-15-2007, 04:50 PM	#7 (permalink)
Shaden Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Gainford, England Posts: 375	I use excel to store data about my blog, my commitments, my exercise routine, my sleeping habits, my college grades/effort/success and my goal success/failure. I don't use it for planning though. It's too inflexible with a cheap computer and a family to share it with. I prefer a simple notepad.

Personal Development for Smart PeopleTM Forums

Personal Development for Smart People^TM Forums