A few days ago I came across a mini folder for index cards complete with plastic tabs from an Asda supermarket. It looked useful and was very cheap so I just had to buy it even though I have no idea what I’d use it for. A few months ago I could have made good use of it, I had always wanted to use index cards in my GTD system but could never find a suitable storage medium for them that appealed to me. Nowadays I use my weekly planner sheet which works well for so I am loath to change.

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In the past I have talked about the GTD vertical map, and related to that, roles & responsibilities. One thing that GTD encourages is to write your life purpose/vision at the 50,000ft level. In other books it is often called a mission statement and is one the most common elements of any personal development program.

However recently I have been aiming to trim away some of the fat from my system, primarily evident in the latest iteration where I use a single sheet to do all my organizing. One thing I decided to leave off it is a box for defining a mission statement for my life. Even in the past when I did always write one down, I found little practical purpose to having one. So, I am curious to know if any of you guys have a mission statement, and if so how do you go about using it?

I read an interesting point in a book called Dejunk Your Life by Helen Foster which makes an interesting point about how working full time can be expensive. In theory doing more hours means more money. However, working all these hours means you have to give more consideration to such things as travel, food and especially childcare. Helen Foster claims the average worker spends around £3000 a year on actively going to work and that can seriously make a dent in all that money you would otherwise make from long hours/overtime.

Foster also includes such examples as retail therapy and holidays to de-stress and unwind as well as after-work drinks and meals. This is an interesting point, what do you all think? Is there an optimal number of hours per week a person should do to balance financial benefits and personal wellbeing?

Have you ever looked at someone’s resume or business card and noticed their email address was something quirky like eatyomama@genericmail.com? Has it altered your perception of that person? While I’m sure most people wouldn’t use an email address like xxxhardcore@ubermail.com to publicize themselves, in your opinion does having a sensible email like peterparker@spidermail.com over a more imaginative one have much influence?

While I keep digital copies of my photos on my computer, I also like to have them developed and put in a photo album as I am still very much for having physical copies of things. The only problem is all the photo albums I have ever come across are quite bulky, and especially after my recent holiday I have a large number of photos that need storing. I figure I will need another two photo albums purely for this latest set, and combined with the three I already have that’s a lot of space taken up. How much room will my photos take up in another few years at this rate?

So I’m curious as to what other storage options are out there that allow for easy viewing and are space efficient. If any of my readers have any ideas or experience on this matter then I would be very, very grateful to hear from you. Please leave a comment and we can share thoughts!