Getting the Most out of Skoach

print

Getting the Most out of Skoach

Getting Started with Skoach

Getting the most out of Skoach requires an initial investment for a big pay off a little later. Just follow the easy steps we outline here and in a few days you'll wonder how you ever lived without Skoach.

To begin Skoaching, you need to learn the basic functions. The best way to learn these is through the Quick Start link at the top of your Skoach screen. Follow the steps in this brief guide and you'll be ready to begin.

With Skoach, your task list and your schedule are integrated - tasks are transferred to your schedule so that you can easily see what to do when all day long. With most time management systems, you live with "double-entry bookkeeping" - a task list and a schedule that are separate and unrelated so that you never have a smooth system of getting your tasks done throughout the day. With Skoach, the auto-scheduler integrates your task list and your schedule by placing all of your tasks onto your schedule. You'll need to do a little work in the beginning to provide the auto-scheduler with the information it needs to create a customized schedule that suits your priorities and deadlines.

There are two steps you'll need to take for the real power of Skoach to reveal itself through the auto-scheduler: 1) enter your tasks on your Task Map and 2) create your Time Map.

1. First, you'll need to enter tasks (to-do's and appointments) Into Skoach. Some new Skoachers get hung up on this task, thinking that they can't get started until they enter ALL of their tasks from other lists and day planners. Becauase this seems like a daunting task, they get stuck in procrastination mode and don't begin Skoaching. Instead, of falling into that trap, try our "divide and conquer" approach to getting started with Skoach. Here's how:
   1. first, start by entering today's and tomorrow's to-do's - this will be enough to get started
   2. tomorrow,enter all of the current week's tasks - you'll be well on your way
   3. starting on the third day, set aside no more than 1/2 hour on your schedule for several days to continue entering any other tasks until everything has been transferred from your previous dayplanner or various to-do lists
   Entering your tasks in this fashion means that you're already practising our "divide and conquer" approach to breaking down and completing large, daunting tasks!
2. You also need to fill out your Time Map to get started with Skoach. This should take no more than 20 minutes. (To find your Time Map, click on the green arrow on the left of your Skoach screen to open Tools and Options, then select "Time Map". Your Time Map is an outline of how you spend your time in a typical week. You will fill your Time Map with time block categories such as work, personal, family, sleep, chores, study, etc. You should customize your Time Map creating categories that best suit your lifestyle.
   1. Work - first, block out the hours you typically devote to work
   2. Lunch break - If you typically take an hour off for lunch in the middle of the day, you can specify this lunch hour so that the Skoach auto-scheduler won't place any tasks in this time block. If you tend to take care of personal tasks or chores during your lunch hour, then categorize your mid-day break as "personal" or "chores" so that the auto-scheduler will schedule appropriate tasks during that time.
   3. Sleep - now, block out the hours you typically devote to sleep (at least seven hours should be set aside). You will probably vary your sleep hours somewhat on week-ends
   4. Other categories - now that you've filled in the primary blocks of work and sleep, go back and fill in the time that you want to devote to family, recreation, exercise, home responsibilities, or any other category that typically fills time during your week.

Congratulations! Once you've entered your tasks, completed your Time Map, and spent a half-hour or so going through the Quick Start Guide you're ready to get started using Skoach. Over the next few weeks, you'll discover many other powerful Skoach features that can help you become even more focused and productive. But for now, start Skoaching!

Daily Planning Session

By developing the habit of scheduling a daily planning session, you are on your way to learning how to lead a proactive, intentional life. Your daily planning session need last no longer than 15 minutes each day.

Schedule a regular time for your daily planning session and put it on your schedule as a recurring event. Night owls may prefer to schedule a regular evening planning session; early birds may feel fresher early in the morning. It's best to develop a regular time for your daily planning session.

Use your daily planning session to:

1. Review - Reviewing tomorrow's schedule
   1. Add any additional tasks that have come up
   2. Make notes on tomorrow's tasks that may be helpful
2. Prepare - Gather all items you'll need tomorrow and placing them on your "launching pad"
3. Preview - Glance at your schedule for the remainder of the week so that you can think ahead and not face surprises later in the week
4. Balance - Take a moment to think about the balance in your life. Ask yourself whether you've left enough time for family, friends, and self-nurturing

Make a commitment to a month of daily planning sessions. You'll be amazed at how this single habit can help reduce your stress level, increase your satisfaction with daily life and help you feel more in control of your daily life.

Habit Building - Moving from Reactive to Proactive Living

Your goal, as an adult with ADHD (ADD) is to learn how to lead a pro-active, intentional life. Let's talk about both of these terms. Together they hold the key to better life management.

Living proactively rather than reactively is a fundamental shift for most people with ADHD (ADD). To becoming pro-active, you must learn to make things happen rather than reacting when things happen to you. Using a pro-active approach to life, you decide what goal or outcome you desire and then take steps to reach your goal.

Leading an intentional life involves learning to slow down and pay attention, learning to think about possible consequences before acting. The person who lives with intention thinks to bring along bug spray when taking a walk in the woods. A person that lives in fast forward swats mosquitoes as they bite.

How Skoach can help you become more proactive

Many with ADD have lived in reactive mode most of their life - waiting for events or other people to dictate what they do next. If you have ADD, planning, decision-making, and setting priorities may be difficult. When you don't know what to do next and can't decide what's most important, then you're likely to spend your days "putting out fires," responding to the latest crisis or to a demand from someone else.

If you're tired of living like that and ready to take charge of your life, Skoach is a tool that can help you learn to set goals and, step-by-step, every day, come closer to meeting them.

1. Start small - one of the mistakes that many ADDers make is to try to change too many things, all at once.
2. Don't set yourself up for failure - choose a daily goal that's important but not overly difficult. For example, if you want to get control over daily spending, you might set a goal of taking your lunch to work or school - allowing you to save $5.00 each day. Put this task (make lunch) on your task map.
3. Schedule your task. Using task properties, set this goal as a recurring daily task and place it on your schedule.
4. Daily planning session. During your daily planning session, review your progress in developing your new habit.
5. Problem - solve if you're not making consistent progress in developing your new habit. For example, if you find you're too tired to make your lunch late in the evening, schedule the task for an earlier time when you're less tired. Or, think of some ready-made, pre-packaged lunch that you can take to the office once a week and leave in the refrigerator.
6. Build on your success. Once you've developed your new habit - making your lunch, taking your walk, etc. - you're on your way to leading a more intentional, proactive life. Your first success will help you have more confidence when you tackle your next "intention."
7. Once this new habit is established, add a new step toward controlling daily spending. For example, set a reasonable weekly spending money allowance. Then schedule a recurring weekly task to withdraw this sum of money from your account. Set the goal of never spending more than your allowance on incidentals during the week. Review your progress during your Daily Planning Session.