Organize IT

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Last week I was asked on Twitter what my favorite GTD tools were for getting organized. Did I prefer the hifi or lofi approach? What was my favorite app? My answer was unequivocally that I prefered good ol’ pen and paper. I’ve always prefered the low tech approach and have never really experimented with apps. But it got me thinking, why do I prefer paper? Well, below are my six main reasons…

This month I finally achieved something I’ve always wanted to achieve as a blogger – do a guest post for a really big blog. If you’re interested in how I productively manage and maintain Organize IT without spending hours on it, check out my post at Problogger. As for the rest of the month, below are my top choices from August. As ever, if you’ve missed any of them, this is a great opportunity to play catchup!

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Welcome to the second part of my series looking at techniques to help achieve an efficient mind sweep (part one can be found here). As the name suggest, a mind sweep involves you capturing down any loose thoughts – whether it be a creative idea, something to do, things to remember, problems that require your attention – onto something external to your brain like a notebook, PDA, iPhone, etc.

This guest post was written by Daryl Furuyama of WhiteHatBlackBox.

James wrote a post a little while ago discussing the myths about simplifying your life and he has been kind enough to let me explore the myth a little more. Living a simpler life is definitely appealing. I sometimes imagine living without the hassles of everyday life – paying bills, cleaning the house, dealing with people that aren’t particularly nice. Sometimes I wish I could just give it up and breathe. Just looking at a person meditating brings up feelings of peace and calm that I want in my life.

If I had to choose two books that have most influenced what I write about here at Organize IT, it would have to be Getting Things Done and The 4-Hour Work Week. Very mainstream and unoriginal I know, but there is a reason why they’ve sold so well. For me personally, as a package deal they complement each other well. GTD helps with how I do my work and 4HWW helps with cutting out all the junk so I can focus on the most important things.