30 Days of Prepping - 2024

[EBuff75]

Day 30 - Order planner refill, and a bit of a talk about lists and organization

I've used a Franklin Planner almost since the time I graduated college and today I ordered a refill for 2025 (I bought an At-A-Glance refill, because the ones from Franklin-Covey are crazy expensive!).  I put all my meetings / appointments in there, fill in what I do at work in 15 minute increments, list expenses, put down tasks (both for work and personal), and write notes on the 2nd page (I use the 2-page per day version). 

If I haven't mentioned it before, I'm an IT Project Manager and there's a lot of stuff to keep on top of!  I currently have 8 projects at work which I color-code in Outlook (each project gets a separate color).  All of the meetings, emails, and tasks for each of them get that color so that I can quickly spot what I'm looking for, or filter based on the project.  It makes for a very colorful calendar view in Outlook!

So am I this organized at home?  Eh, sorta.  Being a bachelor, I tend to be a bit messy (although my friends with kids scoff at this, as my house is generally cleaner than theirs are), but I can usually find what I'm looking for pretty quickly.  My house tends toward clutter and I'm always working toward better organization of the stuff that I have.  Generally, I'm pretty successful at it.

One thing that I've done for many, many years now is to make lists.  I already mentioned having tasks in my planner and in Outlook, but this is far beyond that.  Just glancing at the desk in front of me, there are probably a dozen Post-It notes with lists of things on them.  Anything from lists of house repairs / maintenance / updates, to ideas for 30 Days of Prepping, to upgrades I'd like to do to my truck.  Most of them are on Post-Its, but there are also pieces of note paper or even notepads with lists on them.  There are also several pens, including one of those 4-color Bic pens that have been around since before I was born, so that I can mark things in different colors if I need to differentiate them.  Eventually, a lot of these lists get converted into Microsoft Word or Excel, so that I can easily go back to them for updates.

Lists are great!  They help you to remember everything you might need to buy on a trip, give you a checklist to go through to make sure you don't forget steps of a complex event, or give you the exhilaration of checking something off of a to-do list when it's done.  

Given my (possibly over-much) reliance on lists, I'm always surprised at how underutilized that they tend to be.  There are annual volunteer events that I work at where the organizers just sort of run by the seat of their pants each year, rather than creating a checklist to make sure they remember everything.  It's the same thing at work, where people frequently comment on me knowing what "the next thing is" during a project.  Yeah, that's because we gamed all this out months ago and I'm operating from a list / project plan that we put together and reminders that I added to my task list in Outlook.

So take it from someone who uses lists for just about everything - they really can help you to get things done.  

Let's use the example of building a BOB.  Make a list of what you want to include so that it's specific to you and your geography.  Put those items into categories, like food, water, shelter, first aid, etc. and don't be afraid to add, remove, or move them around.  Next, work out the tasks to complete the task.  Do you need to buy a bag or any of the items in it?  Put those on your shopping list.  Is there some training that you're deficient in, add that to the list as well.  What about actions relating to it, like calling a relative to get some contact info that you're missing, or needing to reach out to your eye doctor for a copy of your current prescription.  Put all those on there too!

Once you've done all that, you've defined the work that needs to be done in order to accomplish your goal.  Sometimes, things can seem too big to tackle, but if you break them down into smaller pieces, and break those down even more, you can reduce it to a list of achievable items, that you can check off as you do them. 

Lists, they make the world go 'round! 

[EBuff75]

And a big round of applause for everyone who participated this month, whether you only did one thing, or if you did things every day.  Completing one thing is that much closer to being ready when it counts.  Even reading about things that other people are doing can help you recognize ways to improve or how to respond to a new situation.  

Personally, I've lost about 4 lbs this month, as I've been exercising almost every day and keeping a better eye on what i eat.  I've gotten some projects done around the house, a few reviews out of the way (there are plenty yet to come), and gotten better organized. 

Hopefully you've all gotten something out of it and we can all come back and do it again next year!

Keep prepping!