There were some problems with the 2008 Code. 2009 Organizational code of computer and household files has greatly improved so that all computer files are primarily all mobile accessible from ANY mobile phone, laptop, and/or desktop. Amazing improvement! And for the reference files all of them are organized in a fashion so that manual backups are smooth and simple (in contrast the 2008 organizational system had scattered or less-consolidated files). The name of the game of 09 is Consolidation and Mobile access!
Basic Breakdown of all organization. bu/ent holds ALL non-personal created files (blog image files, hollywood movies, iTunes mp3 from artists)
bu/my holds all my project files, audio recordings, film projects and film finished products, as well as all ebooks, and articles written. The key difference is that the all the finished audio, film, and document products are consolidated in the same folder, my/docs/ref/all_polished_finished_complete_audio_docs_film so that specific folder (the fruits of the work) can be easily backed up on a small to moderately sized flash. In other words all my files (my own creations bu/my and others creations but still my files bu/ent) are all consolidated adn then within that the fruists of all my work the final finished audio, film, and document files are all consolidated as well! We’ve got consolidation within consolidation!! haha!
The greatest feature though is the my/docs/ref file which contains all documents I created. Within that there’s convos and correspondance for ALL letters (thank yous, old letters to friends, letters to this or that, text chats saved) saved, a food_recipes folder, various project folders organized by Year now which is MUCH more efficient than by topic which always ends up being confusing and sloppy. I’ve discovered time organizers (chronological by date for example) to be some of the best organizing methods. Additionally I have “Jobs and School Apps” for Alll the applications, job interview, college essays, and graduate essays and application work I did. I have a Personal Finance Success (PFS) folder for a few receipts and financial research I did to increase my fico score, I have all my school files in bu/my/docs/ref/school all MASSIVELY organized by school year, semester, and class, making that information easily accessible. Additionally, I have a writing-creative/nonfiction and writing-poetry for partial writing projects and a personal_brainstorming_ideas folder for a conglomeration of writings that I felt would be useful in a motivational seminar so that folder is a collection hodgepodge of folder files that I added that I felt would be resourceful in a motivational seminar.
A solid GTD must be simple, intuitive, and not add to clutter in your life! MANY GTD apps actually increase clutter because of the multiple annoying, superfluous, patheticall useles check boxes and extra options for each tasks (Omnifocus does the extra clutter method perfect, so don’t use that). Things has the speed and extensibility to get a LOT organized quickly but it still has all the geeky awesome GTD features to shift around tasks automatically and structure them via tags. If you’ve used mailtags, you’ll feel at home with Things, but it’s far better than Mailtags. It’s definitely an exceptional program where you aren’t locked into “contexts” but have the freedom to tag based on context or whatever you choose. While omnifocus is rigid and annoying, Things offers dynamic flexibility with tags. I tried Actiontastic, Omnifocus, and others, and this definitely takes the entire cake. Nothing is better than Devonthink for file structuring and truly limitless database organization of todos, but nothing is better than things for Task management. Together you’ll have the most potent gtd system possible. But Actiontastic is great, simple, and intuitive (and free) as well.
But starting off low-tech is best! It may be tedious, but you’ll discover patterns and trends of how you structure them enabling you to fully customize a GTD app later on so it works for you instead of you working for it. One example is “watcings”, “listenings”, and “readings”. No GTD app has those categories (yet, I may try to craft one!) and I wouldn’t have had awareness that I like to structure things that way without that knowledge gained from doing low-tech GTD. You learn very useful knick-knacks of your own organizational sysytem very quickly from doing low-tech first.
Welcome back to the Productivity and Organizational Progress (POP) Suite. Today we’re talking about electronic organization.
We’re jumping straight to the nitty gritty here. In today’s age, “paper-based organization” is an incredibly small percentage of the organization management we conduct; mostly all of it is electronic.
I think the best first step in structuring and organizing your electronic management first starts with “contexts” of electronic. By “context” in e-management we do not mean “store”, “house”, “office”, etc, but rather applications! Just capture all your contexts for these types of information
Rss Feeds Email Web Bookmarks New Notes New Tasks Projects Reference Files
[2)Some solutions people have have just so much absence of logic and lack of practicality imbedded in them it's hilarious.] Cont…
I’m seriously thinking of submitting “Stupidest Productivity Ideas” to some kind of segment for the Jay Leno Show. I hear people rave and talk about how these “productivity systems” work so magically well, when they’re really wrought with stupidity and inefficiency. One of my favorites of this category is Google Notebooks.
Laughing at other methods. Here’s a “genius” method I’ve seen people raving over. What is with it with these people? I just start laughing at how much infuriation they create for themselves (and I’ve experienced it by trying out their system with my own tasks) with such idiotic systems! Here’s a brainbuster: loading all your tasks and projects into numerous Google notebooks. Why this works: it doesnt’. Why this doesn’t work: Endless reasons, but some important ones are: What do you do when you don’t have internet access, genius? All of your tasks and projects are inaccessible. Never a state you should ever want to come across. Secondly, the loading delays: waiting and extra 5 seconds while google loads information for EVERY task I update? I don’t think so, mabye if I was an 80 year-old grandmother who liked watching the “colors pop up” on the computer. Productivity needs to be electricity-like fast and google notebooks doesn’t cut it. Finally, advertisements. Period. What kind of moron delights in seeing countless advertisements when he’s trying to go into a zen-like mode of organization and productivity? There you have it, I dub “google notebooks for productivity” “mind-bogglingly dumb” because of Inaccessibility, Loading delays, and Distracting advertisements.
But it astonishes me how someone could not only deem such a “mind-bogglingly dumb” system not only “efficient” (when it’s anything but) but worthy of sharing with others. I couldn’t believe when that the author of that productivity post actually thought he was helping people providing obtuse methods.
Thus begin the first installment of the Productivity & Organizational Progress (POP) Suite. Stay tuned for the next 5 (or more) installments detailing everything from organizational mastery within email, on the homefront, within your office, how to douse email insanity, and get clear and stay clear on your todos…
This may be one of the most curmedgeonly posts in the history of blogging. Okay, that’s a little extreme, but this does have a critical flavor to it.
One of the most brilliant “insulters” of the 20th century was Roald Dahl.
While I think South Park has become the 21st century internet-infused electronic “Roald Dahl” of sorts, he definitely has a knack for clever insults.
This details the list of all productivity heros of which I can conjure
David Allen – The “Father” of modern productivity. His GTD is referenced in myriad productivity apps, resources, and books. The uber-productivity trend-setter, David coined words like “mind like water productivity” “blackbelt GTD” and other Zen-like terms. He has a martial arts background, lives in Ojai (sweet, a neighbor!), and has to have some kind of computer programming background with his references to LIFO, FIFO, and the entire “closed” loop GTD system is set up like a computer program with if-then statements. If anyone wants to know about productivity, they’ve got to understand or at least get the gist of Collect, Process, Organize, Review, Do. Here’s David giving a stellar speech to Google: I suggest you subscribe to some of his RSS Feeds and checkout the DavidCo Forum.
Merlinn Mann — If anyone knows GTD high-tech style, it’s Merlin Mann. In a way he’s like David Allen 2.0. He invented an amazing program called Quicksilver for the mac. With that handy gem you can load most any program or document with the keyboard, making it an essential for keyboard jockeys. Using words like “byzantine”, “email bankruptcy”, and “attrition” all in the same paragraph, he really cracks me up and reminds me of a high-tech jim Carrey infused with hyper-intelligence. Check out his hyserical mockery FlockedUp site debut. or the more traditional presentation of his essential productivity material “Inbox Zero” with this video presentation at google or at the main Merlin Mann hub. The guy has numerous pages, blogs, and sites, so it’s hard to pinpoint a central hub, but if one existed it would be 43folders.com.
Cameron Johnson – This may be transforming into a “leaders of business” by listing Cameron, but I had to include this guy. Cameron wouldn’t typically make the productivity list because his expertise is entrepreneurialism, not productivity. But, come on…if you started 12 business by the age of 21, how could you call that NOT productive! Here’s a rundown of his startups: TrueLoot.com 2004 CertificateSwap 2004 KazaaGator 2003 AimBuddy 2003 ChooseYourPrize.com 2002 Zablo.com 2001 SearchOmega 2001 VoteStation.com 2001 SurfingXChange 2001 SurfingPrizes.com 2000 EmazingSites 1999 MyEZShop.com 1999 MyEZMail.com 1998 Cheers and Tears/ Beanie Wholesale 1997 Cheers and Tears Printing Co. His book is well-written, well-organized, and massively helpful for anyone eager to launch their own business. The best part? Cameron writes from my (Generation Y) generation, so instead of hearing some garbage about 1980s reveries at Harvard or how “back in the day we didn’t have computers”, you just get waves of solid, clean, lucid business advice…plus the guy’s just massively intelligent. Additionally, he wrote “You Call the Shots” like an autobiography, giving it the “true novel” flavor to the prose.
TDK — You must saying, I’m getting more and more off-track, but I had to list my dad, Thomas Dale Kuczmarski. Sure, I’ve seen him stressed out and carrying jumbles of paper, and still using paper calendars, he definitely isn’t the most technologically advanced fellow but really, he knows how to get things done. Some of his highlights for cognitive productivity and avoiding stoppages and blockages of doubt are failure parties: simply celebrating any feedback, by not labeling it as positive or negative. Such an approach has major congruence with an essential presuppositions of NLP.
Restructured the blog. This about the 4th revision since I started this blog 5 years ago 2003 in a galaxy far far away (aka London during my studies at the London School of Economics). We’re going high-tech, baby! Ajax right-hand menu bar. New color design. Simpler, more intuitive interface. Best of all, more in-post links, video embeds, higher utilization of “article tags”, and embedded photos for more dynamic and “colorful” posts.
When the sordid, uncertain, or fear-based moment arises we frequently turn inwardly. Phobic fear causes us to focus in on ourselves. Most importantly it turns us into passive beings. We are not intrinsically, authentically, naturally passive beings. When we go “passive” we begin seeking outwardly for guidance, advice, forms of faith or knowledge. This is the basis of the enormous self-help genre in bookstores. Now granted, those books are incredibly worthwhile and poignant and offer insightful messages. But you have the capacity to write the same material you read, but accessing your active inner voice. If you’re in financial troubles, why not “write” instead of “read” books offering financial wisdom? You’re fully capable of doing so. If you’re in relationship doubt and confusion, “write” the best script to say to your loved one, don’t passively look for it! With the active voice engaged, you have the capacity to offer incredibly illuminating insight all the time.
We can break the cycle by not allowing these kinds of seeds of suffering to be transmitted to our children, our friends, or anyone else. (Interpretation: Transactional Analysis) — Thich Nhat Hanh
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