Blog FeedGetting Organised
I was talking to Pseudo last night, and the existence of my “To-Do List” somehow managed to crawl it’s way into our conversation. It’s just a text file which I keep in my quick launch bar, opened and edited probably over a dozen times during each sitting, which overviews anything and everything I need to remember for both the short and long term with my dealings both on- and offline.
So, right now it’s got the URL to my order tracking page (I’ve just ordered some PC components), a few lines relevant to spam comments here on Aelon and ideas on how to beat them, a slew of notes for other projects I’m working on, plus things I need to remember to do for this site, and of course for uni - my course transfer just went through today.
Now, I thought this was pretty standard stuff, but to Pseudo the idea actually seemed pretty foreign. So it makes me wonder just how everyone else organises ther crap-to-remember. I always found the basic text file to be the quickest and simplest method. Of course there are calendar programs, and in Pseudo’s case he just remembers it all in his head.
17th January | Reply
I’m horribly disorganised. Something like what you’re doing would probably help me, but most likely I’m too disorganised to keep it updated.
17th January | Reply
My To-Do lists are horribly messy but this is mostly to do with problems with ActiveSync, Lotus Notes, Outlook 2003 and my Pocket PC, and has resulted in total chaos during synchronisation (same calendar items multiple times and spanning days at a time). Aside from this I’ve started using MS Entourage in combination with Word 2004’s Notebook view where I can list tasks and set alarms/reminders into Entourage (i.e. Outlook for the Mac). OmniOutliner is nice program for managing tasks and I sometimes use MS Project when a full project plan is necessary. Aside from this, a bunch of notes in my notebook normally suffices, particularly if it’s going to be completed pretty quickly.
18th January | Reply
I barely write anything down. Pen and paper are becoming rather foreign to me actually and I notice my handwriting is showing that. I keep most everything organized in my head and it doesn’t really fail me for important things. I never really for get about papers or projects for class or anything I was meaning to do for the day. The only thing I could use more organization on is my side “hobby” projects. Websites, game maps, learning new things I am interested in independently, they all seem to scramble together and pop up in periods of obsession but never a constant progress. It seems as if I am not ‘required’ to do something it gets put to the back burner (which is probably the case for most people) but I would like to change that.
So currently I am seeking out an organizational program with a slick interface and such. I tend to be more sucessful when I have fun programs to play with
18th January | Reply
“Pretty foreign”
Actually, I’m fairly sure I suggested you had a rubbish form of OCD…
Aside from the obsessive nature of it (which is sort of understandable), my main problem was that you just make lists (of URLs, for example) without detailing why it’s in your to-do list.
All seems a bit half-arsed to me.
I did use lists rather often (daily, in fact) when I was still a store manager - if I didn’t lay out the quarter, month and week in advance (in increasing amounts of detail, of course), then tasks would get missed and I’d get overwhelmed fairly quickly.
But I was getting paid to do that (it was all part of the strategic and tactical planning for the store) - that could be why I find the idea of lists organising my personal life to be peculiar; when it’s stuff I want (or need) to do, I’m not going to forget (or procrastinate. Much)
18th January | Reply
Well, my to-do list is split into sections - each with a title, so any URLs under a title I will know what they relate to. Besides, if I had to go into immense detail, it would be because my memory is lacking, but it’s not - this just complements it well.
I pretty much just use it for what Holliday said - hobbu projects, like Aelon. Other stuff only gets in there sometimes, like if I know I’m going to forget due dates for uni projects.
19th January | Reply
In response I have started my own to-do list .txt to try it out. I am always in the mood for some self-experimentation so for the next month or so I am going to try this. Anytime I really don’t have anything pressing to do I shall check my list and do something there. Right now I have long term, short term, and constant sections. The constant being just a checklist of weekly things I should be more organized in completing. (I also have 1 aelon update per week planned, lets see how that works out)
19th January | Reply
Sometimes I’ll think of a song or movie I want to look into, or something really important, so I write it on my hand. Then later I forget to read it, until it’s smudged off, and then I go “There was something I was supposed to do…”
Today was an especially bad day for that idea, given the heat. I swear I wrote myself a reminder at lunch time and about ten minutes later it was gone and I couldn’t remember what it was.
It was a sad day for all.
27th January | Reply
I just use Rainlendar, I like have the to-do list sitting on my desktop, and my pc is always on so I can easily see what needs to be done whenever.