Organize IT

It seems that mind mapping is a hot topic at the moment with a lot of sites discussing it. In contrast to this, having covered my own experiences of mind mapping recently I have now hit a brick wall. Beyond doing rough scribbled mind maps in my notepads for brainstorming purposes I have not had any other practical use for it. My hope was to implement mind maps in my GTD system. For instance, I would have a sheet of paper for each project with a mind map of all relevant next actions. However, I found that nothing beats a simple to-do list.

Welcome to the second part of my Clutter 101 series. In the introductory post I covered why we clutter and what thought processes go through our head to justify being so unorganized. In this post I will look at the actual process of de-cluttering, whether it be a mini project to get back on top of it all, or whether it is the first time you are de-cluttering and you are jumping in at the deep end. I will cover the preparatory work you can do so you don’t get overwhelmed by it all and then look at the physical process of disposing of your junk and organizing what remains.

Yes, it may well be an advert for margarine (we’ll ignore that fact) but it’s a very amusing advert and it makes some really pertinent points about being proactive and taking responsibility… OK, maybe it doesn’t, but it’s still funny!

Organize IT recap for March 24th 2007.

• Ever spend half your night stuck waiting at the bar to order your drinks? I am sure all you readers from the UK can vouch for how bad Friday and Saturday nights in particular are, so these little tips on how to get served quickly should come in quite handy. I personally find just trying to make eye contact with the barperson to be very effective.
• Lifehacker has some good suggestions on how to make MS Word less annoying. My personal suggestion? Just download OpenOffice instead! It certainly feels a lot less bloated and obtrusive.
• Scott Young has written a post giving suggestions on how to read more quickly and includes such ideas as using a pointer and removing distractions. Having recently joined a library and doubled the amount of books I’m reading this is useful advice. However, isn’t it a shame that we feel to the need to speed up our reading. Can’t we just take our time and enjoy a book anymore?
• I came across an interesting tool the other day called Thinking Rock. I’m not normally interested in hi-fi tools for managing my system and has such I may be going over old news. Either way I just feel it needs a mention because it looks much more simple and effective compared to most other productivity software, and I may just have to give it a go. Anybody out there tried it and have thoughts to share?

Productivity:

• Having the power of producing; generative; creative.
• Producing readily or abundantly; fertile: a productive vineyard.

Productivity is what GTD is all about, creating the necessary tools and attitudes to increase your productivity so as to create and achieve more without a discernible increase in the stress and pressure that would otherwise be associated with such actions. It involves knowing why you are doing a project, seeing where you need to go next with it by having next actions, and having the final result in mind at all times. Having this sort of information off your mind and in a system you can trust allows you to move your work forward efficiently without procrastination or lack of focus being an issue.