Cataloging the Detritus of my Life
Two weekends ago I was up at Lake Berryessa with the rest of my Masters Swim Team, Davis Aquatic, putting on our annual mile swim event. I’ve swam the mile swim before and I had decided that before we moved away I should go full bore and do the two mile swim event. FYI this post contains pictures of me in a Speedo. Hot, I know.
I feel dirty even writing this post. I don’t make any money off of selling strangers crap they don’t need to get organized in life. There are whole sectors of the internet that do that and do it really well. I don’t think they’re helping you. As the old saying goes, “your wallet doesn’t make you money.” So, doesn’t matter how many great apps or tools there are to help you keep organized buying them isn’t going to make you anymore organized. All you really need to do is want to be organized, if that is the case you’ll be organized even if all you have is some scraps of paper and a pencil to help you. So, before you go to check out anything I talk about here, and certainly before you go and spend your hard earned money on anything. Actually, if I think about it everything I use is free, except for the index cards and the binder clip; those will cost you around 65¢.
Analog Capture/Task List: Hipster PDA
Electronics are great. Computers, laptops, and smart phones are all fantastic ways to assist you in staying organized. They do run out of batteries though, and they’re not always the easiest thing to use. This is where the Hipster PDA comes in. A few index cards clipped together and a pen. The cards can be used for all sorts of things; click the link to see quite a few of them. I generally use them to do mind sweeps, idea capture, and to do lists. If you take anything away from this post take away the Hipster PDA.
Digital Task List: Wunderlist
Wunderlist is on everything (iPhone, iPad, Mac, Windows, Blackberry, Web) Whatever and wherever you use Wunderlist it syncs up with the web and all your other devices that have Wunderlist. You can tag tasks, give them priority and dead lines. It’s nearly perfect for my purposes as soon as its makers integrate it with Wunderkit, the next item on this list
Project Planning: Wunderkit
Wunderlist works well for simple to-do lists or task, but when you’re organizing projects that have multiple tasks, multiple goals, and multiple levels you need something a little more robust. That is what Wunderkit is for. It allows me to track all my projects and all my next tasks. The makers have said Wunderkit/Wunderlist integration is on the way and as soon as it is I’ll be set.
Deadlines: GCal
The last thing I use for this sort of thing is Google Calendar (you can find it on-line and on your smart phone.) I’m still just beginning to start scheduling my days but blocking out hours for tasks in GCal helps for me to make them real and to sit down and do them when it is time.
I’m always interested in seeing and hearing what other people use to get through their tasks. Leave a comment below and tell me how your system works and what works best for you.
Follow these links for the other posts in this series: Mind Sweeps, Winnowing Tasks, Actions
1. Pay off credit card debt – This has been a millstone around my neck for too long. I want it gone by the end of the year.
2. Climb Half -dome – Now is the time to start planning this.
3. Cut down on distractions – I spend too much time reading stuff. It’s all very interesting stuff but it doesn’t serve any higher purpose. It’s just another way to distract myself from my life.
4. Write a poem a week – 52 weeks, 52 poems
5. Draw something once a week – 52 weeks, 52 doodles
6. Continue meditation – Extend meditation time from ten minutes to twenty, add evening meditation.
7. Step away from the television and computer – I have a great dog, a beautiful wife, and wonderful friends. I should spend more time with them instead of tapping keys.
8. Fix my knee, start running, cycle more, swim more, do some free weights – I figure with all the free time I have why not make myself better with it?
9. Intentionally left blank
10. Intentionally left blank
You never know what is going to happen in a year. I figure I’ll leave some room for growth/change.
Before we get started here why don’t you click these two links first. They’re my original goal post written just about a year ago and my half-year review. I’ll wait…
Back? Good. So, you already know that I wasn’t doing so well this year meeting my goals. I’m sorry to say that things haven’t really improved much. No use being gentle though, let’s tear this bandaid off.
1. Submit writing every month to a publication – I submitted some poems back in January and February. I never heard back and I never followed through. Worse, I haven’t even been writing. I do write book reviews almost every month and those do get published in either the San Francisco, Sacramento, or Portland Book Review but I don’t think that counts at this point. FAILED
2. Develop, outline, draft and write two short stories – I failed to write a single short story. FAILED
3. Participate in NaNoWriMo – Didn’t even sign up this year. FAILED
4. Review Latin – FAILED
5. Learn algebra – I was doing quite well with Khan Academy but I stalled out linear equations and fractions. FAILED
6. Do the Lake Berryessa two mile swim – Cancelled due to freakish weather. I didn’t sign up though so, this counts against me. FAILED
7. Bike a century – Didn’t do nearly enough training and never picked a day to do this. FAILED
8. Buy as few new things as possible – I was really good this year when it came to purchasing stuff. I got the Ipod and the cell phone and a couple of video games. SUCCESS
9. Do more with my hobbies (besides gaming) – I’ve continued to sell off the models and hobby stuff I no longer use. This goal sort of morphed from do hobbies into get rid of stuff I don’t use anymore. I’ve sold off a number of models that I hadn’t put together or painted, including all my Chaos Space Marine stuff. I’m in the process of selling my Necron and Ultramarine armies and will be putting up my Horde models for sale as well. That leaves just the Battlefleet Gothic, and Mordheim materials to get rid of. My main hobby has become book reading with fifty read this year. SUCCESS
10. Jump out of a plane – This joke goal stayed a joke goal. FAILED
11. Meditate everyday – I did this for the first four months of the year and the last three months of the year. I’m going to round up and call this a win. SUCCESS
Three out of eleven isn’t that great. I’m thinking about my goals for next year right now and after doing this for two years (writing done my goals and keeping track of things periodically) I have some ideas on how to improve my performance. First, focus on a few important things. Second, break your goals down into action plans with simple do-able steps. Third, don’t put on your list of goals things you’d like to do someday. Only put down things you know you will do. Fourth, work on the actions plans every week if not every day.
I’ll have my goals for next year up next week.