Organizing your mind- advice?

[avad]

Hey all. serious question.
I'm wondering if anyone has some advice on how they are best able to organize daily, short and longterm goals and contact management.
Specifically I'm interested in personal techniques...from to do lists on paper or emails to self to computer programs, mindmaps, rolodexes, binders...what helps you to SEE and REMEMBER what needs to be done daily, monthly and in the bigger picture?

Also how about how you organize business cards you collect from people you meet and are supposed to keep in contact with...and how to possibly integrate them into a more efficient yet still visual contact database etc...

thanks so much!
(and for those who share my question and current longing for organization- really good tips and resources are being compiled in the comments/replies- worth a look!!)

Comments

[sendao.livejournal.com]

I use google's calendar for scheduled events.
Notepad for everything else.

Most of the time I use notepad in a mindmap format... just writing it all down...

As for contacts... there are a variety of solutions, but I just keep a contacts.txt file... as I know that I will be able to access it whether I am online or offline, travelling, etc.

My methods are very simple but they work well... an outline format is great because it lets you break goals down into groups, then establish more detail on what needs to happen for each goal etc.

There's also a very useful tool in MS Office for managing schedules, you can for instance set events to be reliant on each other, and they automatically resort themselves if some event goes overdue etc.

Just a few ideas... I am not visual though.. I am textual, so good luck :) try google! It has a lot of tricks.

[avad.livejournal.com]

thanks so much sendao:)curious on a few details: do you jot any notes on how you met this person or anything on the txt file? Because I'm so visual, the actual card tends to act as a mnemonic trigger for the context in which I met the person and perhaps Why we exchanged info...but I think I have to start taking some notes and jotting them in with contact list. I'd love to find a way to 'tag' contacts with keywords so that groupings of related people cluster visibly if I am looking towards a certain project...

I love outline format as well for goals..wiki-ish....have to utilize it better to see the micro and macro more clearly...I seem to get stuck in the middle/general.
xo

[sendao.livejournal.com]

Well I let my mind do most of the management; I am honestly a bit afraid of controlling my own mind (or destiny). So no... I do not record details of meetings and etc... although it'd be cool hehe

tags and clouds... such wonderful associative tools. *nods* Well I have a mindmapping tool that runs in secondlife *grins* that is visual...

hmm, stuck in the middle... well I don't know what the middle is *laughs* My goals are almost always programming things... so it does not take me long to break the goal into pieces and then describe those pieces rigorously. Looks like someone else has some great ideas as to tools you can use, though.

I think the key part is actually doing it, and keeping up with it. That is what I have always had a problem with, with my various information management attempts. Because of that I settle on the simple and easy solution (notepads)

[sendao.livejournal.com]

also, nothing wrong with pencil and paper

[sendao.livejournal.com]

Hey Dar... you got me thinking about this again, and now to organize my daily and weekly tasks, I'm using a single spreadsheet... it has multiple pages; one for each week ("short term goals"), one for goals for the year, one with larger guiding directions... the year and larger guiding directions help to build the weekly/daily views, and those in turn help me keep track of how quickly things are going and whether or not I can allocate myself free time. Neat!

I'm using openoffice.org Calc, as I can't afford microsoft's crapware and don't like it anyway. :)

[avad.livejournal.com]

hey sendao:)
I'm still having some trouble...mostly because there are great tools but once on the computer I'm toooo easily distracted by all the other things I want to 'check' or read. Need to figure out better ways to organize off the computer to actually get the myriad things I need done that are not computer related...in the studio for example.trying to make better to do lists as a start..
loveyou,D

I think about this all the time, for real.

[deeptape.livejournal.com]

I've used a number of different tools over the years, Franklin Planner, Palm, ShadowPlan, text files...

Currently, I use a Treo 650 synced to my MacBook Pro using Missing Sync. That lets me use the Mac OS X utilities to track data on both my desktop and on my PDA. This is one of the things I'm looking forward to having with the iPhone -- even better integration with my desktop tools.

I have a daily log where I track things accomplished each day and use as a scratchpad for daily thought. I currently use an older tool, Personal Organizer's journal function for this, but any text editor will do. I find logging my activity keeps me on track and gives me a sense of accomplishment when the work day is over. (Note, I don't yet recommend their current version of Organizer 6, too buggy)

I use iCal for scheduled events, the day, week, and month views can then give a great visual display of how I've blocked out my time. I use Contacts for tracking name, address, email, and phone information -- I'm getting pretty good about harvesting and adding that info when it crosses my virtual desktop. I've also started using LinkedIn for business social network contact. I also use the NotePad app that came with Missing Sync for reference information, shopping lists, ideas, and other things handy to have synced to my PDA.

For todo management, I use a combination of techniques from Gettings Things Done and The Four Hour Work Week. For a long time I used OmniOutliner for tracking tasks and subtasks, but now I'm abusing OmniPlan for pretty much the same utility. However, I'm very much looking forward to migrating to OmniFocus for a more GTD-supporting technology.

I do also use OmniPlan for its intended purpose as well, project management. That's great when you have to coordinate multiple people working on multiple tasks with dependencies between tasks. And I like it so much better than Microsoft Project.

Now for brainstorming and visual communication, I often use OmniGraffle for diagram creation, mind mapping, and sketching out ideas. I do some "big idea" goal diagramming here, too. (Can you tell I like the Omni tools? :-)

Here's my rough daily process:

- Wake up, get ready, bike to work
- Plug in the laptop, get some coffee
- Review my High Priority Tasks for the day
- Do a quick sort on my new email into High, Medium, and Low Priority inbox folders
- I begin the core of the work day, working on my High Priority Tasks
-- After completing each Task, I take a short break
-- If I'm mid-Task, I also break about once every 30 min
-- Iterate until all High Priority Tasks for the day are completed
- Next, I process my High Priority Inbox
-- For each inbox item, if it takes less than 5 minutes to complete, I do it
-- Otherwise, I make a Todo in the appropriate Project task list
-- And file the item in the associated folder
-- Twice per week I also process my Medium Priority Inbox
-- And once per week I catch up on my Low Priority Inbox.
- Then, I'm open for meetings with project teams, brainstorming, running errands, etc

At the start of every week, I review my open Projects and identify High Priority tasks for the week, often assigning them to specific days. At least once per month, I review major goals and my progress toward them. Every three months or so I tend to do a major course review -- and if necessary, course correction.

One thing I've started doing is meeting with my crew every morning and working with them on task prioritization and progress review. I've also started coaching the crew on GTD and related techniques. So far so good!

Re: I think about this all the time, for real.

[avad.livejournal.com]

wow what a Goldmine! thank you so much for taking the time to spell this all out for me- I've got a lot to look into! Giving me a sample day was SO helpful...this is exactly what I needed to see to contemplate how to manage my time a bit better for efficiency and progress. THANKYOU!.

Re: I think about this all the time, for real.

[deeptape.livejournal.com]

Good luck!

Re: I think about this all the time, for real.

[deeptape.livejournal.com]

BTW, you might also want to take a look at OmniFocus -- my peer group is going nuts for it!