Organize IT

Hello everyone. As previously mentioned, this weekend I am getting married and will then be on a mini honeymoon (the main one will be in a few months time). As a result my time will be quite stretched (my wedding speech alone is proving to be very time consuming) and I won’t even be around for the next few days.

However, don’t think I will be leaving all of you faithful readers without fresh content! I hope to line up a few guest posts from my favorite bloggers and commentors which should keep you going and I will have some pre-prepared posts of my own too. You can already get a taste of what to expect with Wednesday’s post by Shanel Yang covering whether you are simplicity-inclined or productivity-inclined. It’s also worth mentioning that I will be publishing my new ebook before the end of the month and seeing as August will mark the second year of Organize IT expect a couple of announcements regarding that, too.

To conclude, thankyou to everyone who reads this blog and leaves comments, and for giving me loads of encouragement over the last year. See you soon!

This is a guest post by Shanel Yang of Easy Steps To Success.

Is your main focus to be as productive as humanly possible, accomplishing more in one lifetime than you ever imagined possible? Or, are you more interested in slowing down your life and simplifying it, so you can enjoy it at a more leisurely pace? What will bring you the most happiness?

Last year I spent several months out of work. After two years of working under a poor, belittling manager, I finally walked out but not before my motivation took a hit. It was a spontaneous decision and as a result I had little to fall back on, but at the time I was just so relieved and happy to be out of that oppressive environment. However I quickly realized that I’d have to deal with different challenges to get back onto the job ladder. As tough as it was, looking back now it was a productive experience. Like any experience, it’s what you make of it. Below are my tips for staying sane while you are unemployed.

Organize IT recap for 11th July 2008.

• Despite having increasingly dabbled in social media over the last couple of months I am acutely aware of the problems that can come with it, such as how it can expose your life to a multitude of people… including job recruiters looking for dirt. Dumb Little Man makes a few very interesting points about not being reckless with what you share. With people increasingly putting their lives online it’s a timely topic. How much information do you hold back about yourself? Do you keep to the basics or do you happily put up pictures of your latest drunken night out?
• The lack of prioritizing in GTD is a weakness in my opinion. While there is logic in the idea that if you need to do something you might as well do it as soon as possible, it’s also where a lot of the problems of excessive workload spring from. In response I discussed my approach to prioritizing where tasks are split into those you need, should or want to do. However, Donald at Life Optimiser has a great look at just why exactly GTD doesn’t have any prioritizing. It’s certainly made me rethink my approach.
• On Monday I did a critique of the vertical map, and how it can (or cannot) be used to align your life with what you really want to do. I also proposed my own simplified approach using three distinct levels rather than the overly complex six. One of my main problems has always been that David Allen gave very little coverage of it in GTD and ironically after I put up the post I came across a great read over at GTD Times discussing the vertical map in more depth, which answered a few of my doubts. Do you use the vertical map or do you use a different approach. How do you find it works?

When it comes to planning out your life there are two approaches. You either plan from the top down (start with where you want to be and plan how you’re going to get there) or plan from the bottom up (start with what you’re doing now and plan how you going to get to where you want to be). Both approaches have advantages and disadvantages but is there another way?