Ok, so in my quest to try and get even more done each day, but in an easy and fun way, (of course!), I decided to try dictating blog posts on the way to work. While this particular one wasn't dictated, I have several others coming up which were, so you should be hearing from me more often.
Anyway, there are two reasons for sharing my favorite digital recorder with you. One, because I love it! and, if you're in the market for a new digital recorder, you might benefit from knowing about this one. The other reason I wanted to share this with you is because I've lately been focusing on how I can streamline my work and make better use of my time. One way I've done this is to spend some time at the beginning of each month and map out my projects for the month, including details about each step.
You can see a portion of my mindmap here:
Anyway, so you can see that I set up a main topic and then put action items around it. I print out the large mindmap and simply check off when each step is completed. This has helped me stay more focused and actually follow tasks through to completion. I, perhaps like you, tend to jump around and try to work on multiple tasks at once- which leaves me with a lot of tasks in various half completed states. Anyway, I wanted to share this technique with you with the idea that it may be useful to you- or spark something useful for you.
These mindmaps are useful for helping me see the big picture- and, as you can see, with finding my new favorite digital recorder, a section of my mindmap has already been completed. The question to ask yourself is whether taking some time to plan out your month, in advance, would be helpful, and, if so, why not plan out the rest of the month right now?
If your mindmap includes finding a new digital recorder, I can wholeheartedly recommend mine: The Olympus Digital Voice Recorder WS-100. I picked it up for less than $70. It's extremely lightweight (we're talking ounces!) and it has a built in USB connection for easy transfer to the PC. This version records 27 hours at a time, and is super easy to operate, with few controls. Much easier to work with than other digital recorders I've tried.
You can find the Olympus here:
If you are looking for ways to accomplish more this month, why not build your very own monthly mindmap? See how much more you accomplish when you know what you should be working on.
