Organize IT

Organize IT recap for 10th July 2009.

Some time ago I created a weekly planner. I tried existing designs from the likes of DIY Planner and David Seah and I had experimented with all the different refills for my Filofax, but none of them were tailored to my individual needs. So I designed my own. The second version of it that I published last year was very popular, and even got mentioned by Lifehacker. However, move forward several months and I was increasingly feeling that the planner needed a refresh to suit my current needs. And so the time has arrived to introduce version three of my weekly planner….

This guest post was written by Sherri of Serene Journey.

A couple of weeks ago James wrote an article about the importance of identifying the root cause of a problem and not just addressing the symptoms. Having done root cause analysis for companies on a number of issues, I’ve seen first hand the benefits of taking this approach to problem solving. It’s not always easy to just sit down and do it. It does take time, practice and patience and it also helps to have a guide on how to do it.

Regular readers of this blog will no doubt know how keen I am about the whole idea of breaking your work down into tiny chunks of activity (or next actions if you’re a GTD fan). I do it so often in fact that any little project I have I will look at how it can be broken down. When I decorated my bedroom recently, I did one wall per day. That might sound obtuse and on the surface a little counter-productive, but what’s the alternative? Several hours one weekend doing a big, laborious chore.

As I mentioned on Monday, I’m currently reading a book called Do Good Lives Have To Cost The Earth? which discusses what living well actually means (basically, not the consumerist pursuit of material things that we’re used to) and how we do not have to damage the planet in order to achieve it. It’s well worth a read, but it brings up the question of what a good life really is. All the contributing authors in the book have their own take, what’s yours?