Organize IT

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?

The GTD vertical map (or horizon of focus) has always stood out like a sore thumb. It’s a neat idea and can certainly offer a lot of value to people, but in a book that focuses so much on the here-and-now, it just feels tagged on with too little detail on it. I decided it was about time it was really addressed but as I thought about it and tried to really implement it, something occurred to me. It actually kinda sucks.

July is a big month for me and for Organize IT. Most importantly, I will be getting married but don’t think I will leave the blog without any updates. I’m currently lining up some guest posts from my favorite bloggers and top commentors. Hope you enjoy having a few different voices, ideas and perspectives to read about. On top of all this I will also be releasing my first ebook! However, this post is meant to be about the best content from last month. In June I released a new tool and dedicated a week to my productivity tips series. If you missed any of these posts please check them out and leave a comment.