I rarely have a written To Do list as I usually keep a mental note of what needs doing and work through it - if things are urgent then they will be imprinted on my mental to do list so unforgettable and usually someone is sending reminders, if not so important then I will know that they need doing as soon as I get time and if they drop off the list then they can't have been that important. Sometimes I do make a list and like it be very neat and organised but it's not good use of my time and I tend to get side tracked putting the items in order and categorizing and prioritizing them - in other word procrastinating and prevaricating.
But sometimes when I'm extra busy, on the verge of being slightly manic, I do make a list. This morning I made a list. It has 19 'must do' items and 9 'do when I can' items. So far I've only done 7 but they are the worst and most urgent ones and it is a list for the next few days not just today.
I've finished PDRs, sorted out some details for interviews on Thursday, checked the staff survey and downloaded some results to analyse, liaised with Organisational Development about PSE training, sorted out details for a student survey regarding individual study rooms, changed Team meetings for next 2 weeks and organised individual meetings where needed. There have also been quite a few impromptu tasks and day to day tasks - problems with the lift, dealt with an external visitor, talked to our intern, collated stats for opening hours in July / August etc.
Other items for the next few days are to liaise with HR about some issues staff have raised, collect feedback from visits to other libraries, distribute notes and actions from meetings, reply to comments and suggestions from students, more to do with staff survey, catch up on progress re weeding, check floor plans and noise levels are right for 24/7 opening and exam time, organise the social media service development group, write up notes from my mentoring session, look at induction materials for new staff, etc. etc. and emails and meetings of course......
