Organize IT

I find that waiting around can be a frustrating experience, especially because I can be quite an impatient person. I have enough to do without wasting time waiting at the checkout, or sitting around while the train runs late! However, recently I’ve tried to make the most of the experience. It might be annoying waiting around but it can also be a great opportunity to do something. Because there are none of the distractions you would get at home or in the office, it’s usually a great opportunity to do those niggly little tasks you’d otherwise ignore.

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We all have one of those days from time to time. But what do we mean when we say that? Typically one or more bad things happen that put you in an unhappy mood. Maybe you feel everybody is on your back or your computer is constantly breaking down when you need to finish a report. Perhaps all your current work isn’t satisfactory, the deadline is getting closer and you just can’t seem to get focused. Without really thinking about it we put it all down to fate or being unlucky and then we typically end up feeling sorry for ourselves. That can then spiral and affect the rest of our day. However, it need not be this way. Here is a handy guide to getting your day back on track.

Organize IT recap for 23rd May 2008.

• I’ve just found out Organize IT had been accepted into the 9rules Network This is great news as I will now be sharing company with other top productivity blogs like Evomend, Unclutterer and Dumb Little Man.
• Investing and procrastination shouldn’t really go together, right? Well Newsweek has… news for you. Companies such as Starbucks and eBay encourage procrastination in the workplace (ever nipped out for a quick coffee break to get away from it all?) so it makes some sense that with procrastination on the rise, you should invest in those companies.
• I got an email a few days ago telling me about a new search engine designed for productivity fans (Linux and command line fans will probably like it too). It can be used exclusively with the keyboard by inputting special commands (“g” for Google, “w” for Wikipedia). I’ve not really used it, but it seems like a neat idea worthy of mentioning.
• Cultivate Greatness suggests writing a binding contract with yourself for the life of your dreams. It’s a brilliant idea that I’ve been meaning to touch on for some time now. Many people have problems keeping promises with themselves and writing a contract may go some way to focusing us.

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I had the day off last Sunday with my fiancée and because the weather was so nice we decided to spend a few hours at Castle Howard, an historic house surrounded by a massive estate (great for picnics). I was in the museum reading about some of the former lords and ladies that had lived there, and one thing that became apparent was that they all did a lot of personal writing, typically in the form of letters to their family and friends. One individual in particular stood out because of how thoughtful, self-explorative and intelligent she came across. She happened to be the one who also put most of her ideas and feelings down on paper.

The traditional approach of prioritizing, where you assign a task a high, medium or low priority (or maybe even something more meaningless than that) is outdated and largely ineffectual in today’s workplace. In fact David Allen of Getting Things Done fame actively downplays the importance of prioritizing, claiming that each task is equally important otherwise you wouldn’t be doing them in the first place. However, this implies a “need to do-don’t need to do” attitude which, as I’ve discussed before, can be a surefire way to end up burnt out as you continuously feel compelled to do something. With the focus increasingly being on working smarter a different way of prioritizing is required that takes into account time mangement.