Every year, I intend to write more holiday cards than I actually send and am inevitably late with some gifts. This year, things are different because I’ve got a clear plan of action. Here’s what I did to be on top of holidays hustle and bustle.
1. Create a 2012 Holidays List
You can just create your tasks inside of existing lists like Shopping, but I prefer to to have a dedicated list for all my holiday errands.
2. Write Down Names
I pulled up my Astrid list called People – blog post for another day, but it’s a place I keep contacts — and added names of people for whom I either want to write holiday cards or buy presents.
Since you likely don’t have a similar list of contacts in Astrid, you can go through your contacts, emails, and text messages to make this list.
3. Color Code and Organize
In the description of the list, I made a legend for my color coding: blue (priority !) is people I need to get an updated address from, orange (priority !!) is people whose address I have, and red (priority !!!) is those who I need to buy gifts for.
I used multi-select — one of our Premium features — to select all the people in the same category and changed their color with a single click.
4. Schedule Time to Get Things Done
I then scheduled time in my calendar to do each one of these three things: email people for their address, write cards, and pick out gifts.
As I get people’s responses, I’ll add their mailing address to the Description of the item and change their color from blue to orange. Then during my scheduled time for writing holiday cards, I’ll be ready to crank through them.
When I start shopping online for presents, I’ll be using the Astrid Clipper to add potential items to my 2012 Holidays list (there’s a handy List field under More.)
Want to do this too? Click the link to get reminded: ✓ Remind me: Create a 2012 Holiday list
Image credit: George Deputee