Tech Table Radio Show

Tech Table
Thursday, January 2, 2014

January 2, 2014

Justin: Welcome to MPA’s Tech Table. I’m Justin.

Diana: And I’m Diana.

Justin: And we’re your hosts. We’ll be serving up a heaping spoonful of all things tech.

Diana: We promise: it’ll be easy to digest. Well, hello.

Justin: Hello, Diana. It’s Thursday.

Diana: Yes, it is Thursday.

Justin: And Thursday on the Tech Table means that it’s Theme Thursday.

Diana: Yes. And we are going to talk today about calendar and time management.

Justin: Right. Which you are probably one of the most organized people I’ve ever known.

Diana: Which is scary because I still feel pretty scattered half the time.

Justin: I know. And people think that I’m organized until they meet you and then they realize what really can happen if you…

Diana: I am the spreadsheet queen.

Justin: You are. You spreadsheet everything.

Diana: I do.

Justin: What are we talking about here?

Diana: I was doing a little searching for some various tips and I found this article about the Zeigarnik Effect.

Justin: Zeigarnik?

Diana: Zeigarnik.

Justin: Zeigarnik Effect.

Diana: Yes. It effectively states that people remember unfinished tasks better than they do completed tasks. You know, you’re always worrying about the things that aren’t finished but you’re not thinking about the stuff that is finished. Which, I understand that.

Justin: True. You put it out of your mind.

Diana: Yeah. Uncompleted tasks usually add tension to our lives because our brain keeps nagging at us to make a plan and finish them. So this nagging makes us less productive actually because we devote a little piece of brain space to each unresolved task.

Justin: That’s interesting. I think that’s interesting to note. The nagging, the nagging wives, the nagging makes us less productive. Husbands? Yeah, it’s research right there.

Diana: Justin. Justin.

Justin: I’m sorry. Just kidding.

Diana: Back on topic. Think of a waitress who is serving at a busy restaurant. A good waitress will keep all open orders in her memory, mentally check them off as the orders are served. This process works as long the orders are served but if she goes too long adding orders but not serving them she will eventually fail to remember the open orders correctly.

Justin: Interesting.

Diana: So all the plates come crashing down.

Justin: How do you keep that nagging feeling of open tasks from bringing you down?

Diana: Divide and conquer. When you have a project that’s using up your brain space the first thing you should do is write it down and break it into smaller, manageable chunks. Make lists, make lists.

Justin: Right. I almost talk about envelopes; putting things in envelopes or mailboxes.

Diana: Mailboxes like in your brain? Yeah. Get it out of your brain and actually put them on paper. Once you break it down into those bite sized pieces, smaller chunks, and written down your head will become clearer. You may have already put things and compartmentalized in your brain but you can still get real worried about that so put it on paper. It’ll help.

Justin: That’s interesting. We can do that on the web through Google Tasks. Of course, Google has a built in component for that called ‘Google Tasks’.

Diana: You can just create a spreadsheet.

Justin: Right. If you have a Gmail account you go there and click on the drop down arrow next to the word ‘mail’ in the top left corner and then select ‘tasks’ and you’ll have your little task list.

Diana: Another popular web-based site would be checkvist dot com. Checkvist, with a ‘V’ dot com.

Justin: That’s really simple to use I’ve heard about that. I think it’s great.

Diana: If you just want to be on your phone you can get an app like just a simple notes or notebook. Or there’s a specific app called any.do. That’s any dot do and it’s available for iPhones and Android. You can also access that from the web so you have your one account. Keeps you organized.

Justin: Or you could just get married. Until next time.

Diana: Take care.

Justin: Tech Table is brought to you by MPA of Bloomfield, Iowa and God’s Country Radio. You can visit us online at askMPA dot com.

Diana: If you have questions or comments please send them to questions at askMPA dot com. That’s questions at askMPA dot com.

Justin: And thanks for listening.