The Sopranos
I've been watching the Sopranos with family for weeks now. The last few days we moved on to Year 5 (and yes we've gone all the way from week 1, year one) and today I decided I'm out of the playing. In year 4 an edge of gratuitous violence crept in, and I wasn't just sickened, I got bored. That means, I suppose, it made me too anxious and I couldn't stand it any more. Year 5 is even worse. So I bow out. I think my household made a decision to move with me, and in the name of togetherness, we're moving on to watching House (which I have never seen). The oddest thing is that I never watch TV, but for a month or two over the past 15 years. I had an Ex-File summer the way this has been the Soprano season. I ordered Bones to take a look at it while I'm at it, I think it might be related to the X-Files in style. Or maybe its time I get back to work. Being a knowledge worker feels like an expressed aversion to labor. It's difficult to remember that teaching writing, continual reading of the scientific press are their own form of labor.
Monday, September 3, 2007
Labor Day: The Weekly Review
The Weekly Review
Yesterday I finally did my first complete weekly review. The "Weekly Review" as its called by the GTD people, is a time set aside to empty inboxes, gather in one place and enter into a data base all those index cards, circa notebook items, Molskine notebook items, and misc data from my computer (that's yet another data "collection" point.) Then, I print out my calendars from last week and the two weeks ahead of me, print out my "next action" list that I keep on Vitalist (www.vitalist.com) , print out my "tickler list," the "waiting for list," topping this off with a complete list of projects. I keep my list of "maybe/someday" in Vitalist, as I like to review it weekly to see if there is anything I want to get too soon, or even now. With everything now in hard copy, I read through it all. This way I keep abreast of what I am supposed to be doing, what I am in fact doing, and what I don't want to be doing yet. I also followed Allen's 2 minute rule. When I ran into anything in my in-boxes that I could deal with (meaning actually do) in 2 minutes or less, I did it right then and there, as soon as I ran into it. By mid-day my office was about as organized and efficient as I have ever seen it. Its time for another picture, the "After" picture of my work space.
Now that I've done the weekly review thoroughly I think I can keep it up weekly. What stopped me until yesterday was the amount of "stuff" that had gathered in my two wooden "in-baskets." I was afraid of the "stuff." I started the review at 6AM which left me plenty of time, no matter how long it took. I followed David Allen's recommendation to deal with only 1 piece of paper at a time, and deal with it then and there (throw out, file in references, file in ticker file for dealing with later (whatever day I file it in, in the tickler file). As I went, I added next action items to lists on Vitalist so I wouldn't forget any piece of paper representing an activity that I put into the tickler, references, "to read" folder, etc. I am almost there, I almost have a mind like water, the promised outcome of following the GTD method of life organization.
The difference GTD has made in my life is astounding. After planning things for years, I am finally getting them done, even while spending much more time on the "defining" of work phase of my work process. I never thought I would enjoy organizing so much. Allen suggests keeping your inbox and next action lists attractive, and I have done this. When my to do list on Vitalist begins to look stale, with ambiguous items, or otherwise overwhelming, I freshen items up, delete them, throw them into the Maybe/Someday category. As those of you who read this blog know, it has taken from March 1st to now to really get into this process as thoroughly as I have --six months to carry out a thorough weekly review, in fact six months to really understand the week review, what it means, and that I can do it.
How can I take this into my clinical work and my teaching?
I am thinking about how I can bring this method into my clinical work, with clients or into my teaching when students don't ask for it? I have many clients who are upset about their lack of organization. I quietly mutter about GTD, but if they don't immediately pick up on it, I drop it. Most of my students in most of my classes and seminars over the years have struggled with poor organization skills. Last year I tried to bring GTD into my seminar and failed. The students simply weren't interested. School begins next week, maybe I'll give it another try. I think that implementing GTD, if only for the dissertation process, might yield terrific results. Since my seminar is for third year doctoral students who are beginning to work on their dissertations, I wish they'd give me a chance to teach them GTD. Its only by teaching does one really get to know anything, any skill, any area of knowledge. If I can be "doing GTD" anyone can and I'm ready to begin passing it on.
Yesterday I finally did my first complete weekly review. The "Weekly Review" as its called by the GTD people, is a time set aside to empty inboxes, gather in one place and enter into a data base all those index cards, circa notebook items, Molskine notebook items, and misc data from my computer (that's yet another data "collection" point.) Then, I print out my calendars from last week and the two weeks ahead of me, print out my "next action" list that I keep on Vitalist (www.vitalist.com) , print out my "tickler list," the "waiting for list," topping this off with a complete list of projects. I keep my list of "maybe/someday" in Vitalist, as I like to review it weekly to see if there is anything I want to get too soon, or even now. With everything now in hard copy, I read through it all. This way I keep abreast of what I am supposed to be doing, what I am in fact doing, and what I don't want to be doing yet. I also followed Allen's 2 minute rule. When I ran into anything in my in-boxes that I could deal with (meaning actually do) in 2 minutes or less, I did it right then and there, as soon as I ran into it. By mid-day my office was about as organized and efficient as I have ever seen it. Its time for another picture, the "After" picture of my work space.
Now that I've done the weekly review thoroughly I think I can keep it up weekly. What stopped me until yesterday was the amount of "stuff" that had gathered in my two wooden "in-baskets." I was afraid of the "stuff." I started the review at 6AM which left me plenty of time, no matter how long it took. I followed David Allen's recommendation to deal with only 1 piece of paper at a time, and deal with it then and there (throw out, file in references, file in ticker file for dealing with later (whatever day I file it in, in the tickler file). As I went, I added next action items to lists on Vitalist so I wouldn't forget any piece of paper representing an activity that I put into the tickler, references, "to read" folder, etc. I am almost there, I almost have a mind like water, the promised outcome of following the GTD method of life organization.
The difference GTD has made in my life is astounding. After planning things for years, I am finally getting them done, even while spending much more time on the "defining" of work phase of my work process. I never thought I would enjoy organizing so much. Allen suggests keeping your inbox and next action lists attractive, and I have done this. When my to do list on Vitalist begins to look stale, with ambiguous items, or otherwise overwhelming, I freshen items up, delete them, throw them into the Maybe/Someday category. As those of you who read this blog know, it has taken from March 1st to now to really get into this process as thoroughly as I have --six months to carry out a thorough weekly review, in fact six months to really understand the week review, what it means, and that I can do it.
How can I take this into my clinical work and my teaching?
I am thinking about how I can bring this method into my clinical work, with clients or into my teaching when students don't ask for it? I have many clients who are upset about their lack of organization. I quietly mutter about GTD, but if they don't immediately pick up on it, I drop it. Most of my students in most of my classes and seminars over the years have struggled with poor organization skills. Last year I tried to bring GTD into my seminar and failed. The students simply weren't interested. School begins next week, maybe I'll give it another try. I think that implementing GTD, if only for the dissertation process, might yield terrific results. Since my seminar is for third year doctoral students who are beginning to work on their dissertations, I wish they'd give me a chance to teach them GTD. Its only by teaching does one really get to know anything, any skill, any area of knowledge. If I can be "doing GTD" anyone can and I'm ready to begin passing it on.
Monday, August 27, 2007
The Dalai Lama, Tibet and the APA
The Dalai Lama
Yesterday I watched a run of movies about the life of the Dalai Lama and his escape from Tibet to India where he remains as Tibet continues to be destroyed by the Chinese. I had heard from Paul Ekman, a famous emotion researcher, about his remarkable experience when he was in the presence of the Dalai Lama. He felt peace for the first time in his life. His proneness to anger dissippated, and when he returned to the United States, he continued to be an altered person. It was three months before his temper returned, and I think he then went into some type of Buddhist training, although I am not certain about that. I heard about a man who was cooking for the Dalai Lama when he was in San Francisco, and he too reported that being in the presence of the Dalai Lama was a remarkable, life enhancing experience. There is something in this story that brings a lesson to all of us, as the tales of global warming become more realistic every day, and we see that the effects are already upon us. I do Kundalini Yoga, but I keep lapsing in my program. The mind training involved in this simple practice is something I need, and the question I pose to myself is: Why do I turn my back on my practice for weeks at a time? When should I be doing my practice, what time of the day? Will it make a difference if I build that into my "scaffold" that a wrote about a few weeks ago? I am still constructing it, I've made great progress, but a Yoga practice is not yet in it. I think I could take some hints from Steve Pavlina who said something about getting on your running shoes as the way to get yourself running. Pulling out my yoga mat at the same time every day, then putting on my yoga pants might be the simple answer to my dilemma. There is something in the practice of monks and yogis that effects the brain as studied by fMRI. What are we all waiting for?
The American Psychological Association and Atrocities
Last week the APA convention was held in San Francisco, so it was easy for me to attend. I only went for two half days, one to present a poster describing some of my research, and the second to register and attend a few meetings. I went to hear Phil Zimbardo and as usual his session was worth discussion. Zimbardo has been campaigning for some years now, in defense of our soldiers involved in torture in Iraq and Guantanamo. Zimbardo was the scientist who carried out the famous Stanford Prison study. The study selected normal healthy, well adjusted Stanford students for participation. Some were to be "prisoners" and some were to be "prison guards." Zimbardo had thought that dispositional differences between the prisoners and guards would determine their behavior in the course of the study. What happened instead was that the prison guards got carried away, thaqnks to the conditions of the study, and began to exert such cruelty upon the prisoners that the study had to be stopped after only five days. Zimbardo and the research team concluded from this study that normal healthy, non sociopathic people will turn into perpetrators of absolute evil given the right conditions. He said "You think you know yourself, and you think you know the people near to you, but you don't. You have no way to know what you will do under certain conditions." He spoke of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo conditions, the orders from the authorities, everyone going along with it, secrecy, all producing a situation in which ordinarily kind people became evil. Could this happen in a community in which everyone engaged in a Buddhist practice? I think not. As a country became Buddhist over the past thousand years, all prior tribal warring stopped and a blanket of peace came over the land we know as Tibet. It was the migration of hundreds of thousands of Chinese that turned Tibet into a blood bath. The pictures from the news showing the atrocities committed against the monks remind me of Abu Ghraib.
I used to think "there are no private solutions" and perhaps its true, there aren't. However, why ignore a private solution when one becomes obvious, just for some old political principle. A daily yoga practice belongs on my morning scaffold. I can do a 30 day experiment. I wake up at 5:30 every morning now, automatically, what started as a 30 day experiment became a wonderful new habit. I'll report back on how it goes.
Yesterday I watched a run of movies about the life of the Dalai Lama and his escape from Tibet to India where he remains as Tibet continues to be destroyed by the Chinese. I had heard from Paul Ekman, a famous emotion researcher, about his remarkable experience when he was in the presence of the Dalai Lama. He felt peace for the first time in his life. His proneness to anger dissippated, and when he returned to the United States, he continued to be an altered person. It was three months before his temper returned, and I think he then went into some type of Buddhist training, although I am not certain about that. I heard about a man who was cooking for the Dalai Lama when he was in San Francisco, and he too reported that being in the presence of the Dalai Lama was a remarkable, life enhancing experience. There is something in this story that brings a lesson to all of us, as the tales of global warming become more realistic every day, and we see that the effects are already upon us. I do Kundalini Yoga, but I keep lapsing in my program. The mind training involved in this simple practice is something I need, and the question I pose to myself is: Why do I turn my back on my practice for weeks at a time? When should I be doing my practice, what time of the day? Will it make a difference if I build that into my "scaffold" that a wrote about a few weeks ago? I am still constructing it, I've made great progress, but a Yoga practice is not yet in it. I think I could take some hints from Steve Pavlina who said something about getting on your running shoes as the way to get yourself running. Pulling out my yoga mat at the same time every day, then putting on my yoga pants might be the simple answer to my dilemma. There is something in the practice of monks and yogis that effects the brain as studied by fMRI. What are we all waiting for?
The American Psychological Association and Atrocities
Last week the APA convention was held in San Francisco, so it was easy for me to attend. I only went for two half days, one to present a poster describing some of my research, and the second to register and attend a few meetings. I went to hear Phil Zimbardo and as usual his session was worth discussion. Zimbardo has been campaigning for some years now, in defense of our soldiers involved in torture in Iraq and Guantanamo. Zimbardo was the scientist who carried out the famous Stanford Prison study. The study selected normal healthy, well adjusted Stanford students for participation. Some were to be "prisoners" and some were to be "prison guards." Zimbardo had thought that dispositional differences between the prisoners and guards would determine their behavior in the course of the study. What happened instead was that the prison guards got carried away, thaqnks to the conditions of the study, and began to exert such cruelty upon the prisoners that the study had to be stopped after only five days. Zimbardo and the research team concluded from this study that normal healthy, non sociopathic people will turn into perpetrators of absolute evil given the right conditions. He said "You think you know yourself, and you think you know the people near to you, but you don't. You have no way to know what you will do under certain conditions." He spoke of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo conditions, the orders from the authorities, everyone going along with it, secrecy, all producing a situation in which ordinarily kind people became evil. Could this happen in a community in which everyone engaged in a Buddhist practice? I think not. As a country became Buddhist over the past thousand years, all prior tribal warring stopped and a blanket of peace came over the land we know as Tibet. It was the migration of hundreds of thousands of Chinese that turned Tibet into a blood bath. The pictures from the news showing the atrocities committed against the monks remind me of Abu Ghraib.
I used to think "there are no private solutions" and perhaps its true, there aren't. However, why ignore a private solution when one becomes obvious, just for some old political principle. A daily yoga practice belongs on my morning scaffold. I can do a 30 day experiment. I wake up at 5:30 every morning now, automatically, what started as a 30 day experiment became a wonderful new habit. I'll report back on how it goes.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
A quiet Sunday morning
This will be a short one. I've been experimenting with rising early again, as part of the bigger experiment, creating a scaffold for my day. I set my alarm for 4:30 each morning, get up when it goes off, and first deal with email. I'm going through it as fast as possible. If something requires action I'm following the GTD 2 minute rule. Meaning if I can deal with it in 2 minutes, I do. If not but I have to do something with it, it goes into the "action" folder on my desk top and I enter it into the next action list in Vitalist (www.vitalist.com). This means I am clearing out my inbox very quickly, and nothing is forgotten. When my email inbox is dealt with, and this takes about 40 minutes to an hour, I start writing. I have several projects going on, and I get to choose what I'm writing according to how I'm feeling. This goes on until 10 or 11, when I begin making phone calls on my next action list. So I think I might be developing the morning routine or scaffolding. I have my fingers crossed that I can keep this up. There's not question about it, having those early morning hours for writing is precious.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
8/2/07 Wanted: Morning & Evening Scaffold on Which to Construct the Day
The scaffold might be emerging..
Last week I wrote about plans to build a "scaffold" to help structure my life as a home-office information worker. Zen Habits just wrote a rather inspiring post about the same, speaking of a morning and evening routine http://zenhabits.net/2007/08/tips-to-establish-a-morning-evening-routine-with-an-august-challenge/.
I’ve written before about how morning and evening routines can create some sense of sanity and calm in your life.These are two habits that you can start today that will make a big improvement in your day.
Now, because of different things that have come up in my life, I’ve fallen a bit out of my routines. I’ve also been changing them over the last few months as my needs have changed.
So, this month, my August Challenge (read more about the Challenge below) will be to focus on re-establishing my daily routines, refined and simplified.
This week has been unusual in that I have a family member sick in the hospital and I'm one of the family responsible for frequent visits etc., so my days are scheduled somewhat differently. Nevertheless it has seemed to me to be the perfect time to build my scaffold, meaning, to build a scaffold that I do every day and that will help me get oriented to the day of work, and then the orientation to winding down, whatever that will be. So here is what I've come to so far: I've only been developing a routine in the evening, the mornings are still full of random email checks, reading my favorite bloggers, and other disorienting activities.
Building my routine...
I have to work on the mornings, and that is my commitment to myself in August. I'll put it up here when I've figured it out. My evenings however, are taking shape. Around 9PM I do Kundalini Yoga, at least 20 minutes and often more like 40 or 50 minutes. Then I shower, or take a bubble bath. This is something I hadn't done in years, and I don't know if I'll keep it up, but it seemed like a good idea this week. In fact last night I even lit candles in the bathroom and meditated while lounging in the tub. Next comes a cold shower, and drying off, getting into sleep clothes. Finally I talk to my husband, sometimes watch a movie (the movie part is entirely out of character, just thought I would try it right now, catch up on the culture a bit since I'm on break from teaching). The biggest change is what follows, I don't fall into 4 or 5 hours of web searching, crawling. Instead I only allow myself only an hour on the computer, and then I review my next action list, my project list, loosely plan the next day. Finally I read, no more computer. I am falling asleep earlier this way, and I am quite relaxed by the time I fall asleep. This seems to me, to be the scaffold for the evening, if only I keep it up for the whole month. And now, its time to build the morning scaffold which thus far seems more difficult. Maybe writing this here will inspire me to get moving, and next week I'll be able to write about the morning routine.
Last week I wrote about plans to build a "scaffold" to help structure my life as a home-office information worker. Zen Habits just wrote a rather inspiring post about the same, speaking of a morning and evening routine http://zenhabits.net/2007/08/tips-to-establish-a-morning-evening-routine-with-an-august-challenge/.
I’ve written before about how morning and evening routines can create some sense of sanity and calm in your life.These are two habits that you can start today that will make a big improvement in your day.
Now, because of different things that have come up in my life, I’ve fallen a bit out of my routines. I’ve also been changing them over the last few months as my needs have changed.
So, this month, my August Challenge (read more about the Challenge below) will be to focus on re-establishing my daily routines, refined and simplified.
This week has been unusual in that I have a family member sick in the hospital and I'm one of the family responsible for frequent visits etc., so my days are scheduled somewhat differently. Nevertheless it has seemed to me to be the perfect time to build my scaffold, meaning, to build a scaffold that I do every day and that will help me get oriented to the day of work, and then the orientation to winding down, whatever that will be. So here is what I've come to so far: I've only been developing a routine in the evening, the mornings are still full of random email checks, reading my favorite bloggers, and other disorienting activities.
Building my routine...
I have to work on the mornings, and that is my commitment to myself in August. I'll put it up here when I've figured it out. My evenings however, are taking shape. Around 9PM I do Kundalini Yoga, at least 20 minutes and often more like 40 or 50 minutes. Then I shower, or take a bubble bath. This is something I hadn't done in years, and I don't know if I'll keep it up, but it seemed like a good idea this week. In fact last night I even lit candles in the bathroom and meditated while lounging in the tub. Next comes a cold shower, and drying off, getting into sleep clothes. Finally I talk to my husband, sometimes watch a movie (the movie part is entirely out of character, just thought I would try it right now, catch up on the culture a bit since I'm on break from teaching). The biggest change is what follows, I don't fall into 4 or 5 hours of web searching, crawling. Instead I only allow myself only an hour on the computer, and then I review my next action list, my project list, loosely plan the next day. Finally I read, no more computer. I am falling asleep earlier this way, and I am quite relaxed by the time I fall asleep. This seems to me, to be the scaffold for the evening, if only I keep it up for the whole month. And now, its time to build the morning scaffold which thus far seems more difficult. Maybe writing this here will inspire me to get moving, and next week I'll be able to write about the morning routine.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
July 20, 2007: Creating a Scaffold
Steve Pavlina wrote a terrific post for someone like me, working at home and wasting far too much time reading email and surfing the web. http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/07/how-to-create-a-personal-productivity-scaffold/
The whole day can go by with little accomplished when I end up reading favorite blogs all day, in between hits of "catching up" with my email. Sure I've kept my inbox to 0 but that can't be the whole of my day. I want to get over this bad habit, replace it with better habits. Steven is the big "30 days to form a habit" man (I don't know where he really got that data, that 30 days in a row is what it takes to form a habit). But he maintains that in order to form a new habit, first it is wise to have what he calls a day's "scaffold" in place. This, he says, will help me stop the nonproductive use of my time. Steve reports that the way he has managed the email-surfing-email problem was to create a scaffold, a structure or edifice to hold the beginning and the end of his work day. With a highly structured beginning, he is able to the proceed to be productive in the ways he wants all through the day. His beginning includes a simple review of the day, a short period of journaling, meditating and a few other activities that he does somewhat by a checklist. His whole "morning scaffold" takes an hour, from 8 to 9. Now I know from other Pavlini posts that he has already gone out and run or lifted weights or whatever else his current exercise programs consists of, and that he does this every day. He failed to include that in his description of his "scaffold" or morning routine, and this is an important emission. If I were getting up at 5 everyday, running for 45 minutes, eating breakfast, I would be ready for a sold scaffold by 8, and it would be a whole new me. I tried getting up early for a few weeks, and it fell apart, I couldn't keep it up, I simply got too tired. Right now I am trying to establish a daily Kundalini yoga habit.
I like the idea of establishing a "scaffold" for my day in my at home office. I'll let you know how I progress; I'll work on it over the weekend when things are varied (family demands) from my usual patterns.
The whole day can go by with little accomplished when I end up reading favorite blogs all day, in between hits of "catching up" with my email. Sure I've kept my inbox to 0 but that can't be the whole of my day. I want to get over this bad habit, replace it with better habits. Steven is the big "30 days to form a habit" man (I don't know where he really got that data, that 30 days in a row is what it takes to form a habit). But he maintains that in order to form a new habit, first it is wise to have what he calls a day's "scaffold" in place. This, he says, will help me stop the nonproductive use of my time. Steve reports that the way he has managed the email-surfing-email problem was to create a scaffold, a structure or edifice to hold the beginning and the end of his work day. With a highly structured beginning, he is able to the proceed to be productive in the ways he wants all through the day. His beginning includes a simple review of the day, a short period of journaling, meditating and a few other activities that he does somewhat by a checklist. His whole "morning scaffold" takes an hour, from 8 to 9. Now I know from other Pavlini posts that he has already gone out and run or lifted weights or whatever else his current exercise programs consists of, and that he does this every day. He failed to include that in his description of his "scaffold" or morning routine, and this is an important emission. If I were getting up at 5 everyday, running for 45 minutes, eating breakfast, I would be ready for a sold scaffold by 8, and it would be a whole new me. I tried getting up early for a few weeks, and it fell apart, I couldn't keep it up, I simply got too tired. Right now I am trying to establish a daily Kundalini yoga habit.
I like the idea of establishing a "scaffold" for my day in my at home office. I'll let you know how I progress; I'll work on it over the weekend when things are varied (family demands) from my usual patterns.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
"15 Ways to Use a Wiki:" And --How I use my own Wiki..
A great post on Web Worker Daily: (http://webworkerdaily.com/2007/07/13/15-productive-uses-for-a-wiki/ ) by Leo Babauta, provides a detailed list of ideas for how to use a personal wiki.
"A few of the things that are emerging about web workers is that 1) we do just about everything online; 2) we want to be able to access it from any computer, anywhere; and 3) it’s hard to organize all the stuff we use and do, in our work and personal lives.
I still can't say what exactly a "wiki" is except it is a place where I do some heavy personal planning, complaining, whining, and writing up my goal statements and I do it fast. So a wiki is fast. I have mine on the zoho site http://wiki.zoho.com/HomePage.html/ meaning I didn't have to know anything to get it going, and I still don't know anything to keep it there, always available when I log in to my Zoho Wiki . Zoho (http://www.zoho.com/) is a very cool service offering online documents that take and provide ms compatible files, a project planning program, a personal wiki service, and many other options. I like it. I've been using my wiki there for a few months. I also use BackPack (www.Backpackit.com) for some of my listmaking which I could do entirely on my zoho wiki, but I love the aesthetics of Backpack, its ajaxy feel. I like the big fonts, the way the lists look. So I use that for lists that I return to, but I use my wiki for sudden jerky planning that I'm not likely to use again. I date the entries, so lets say its a planning diary that maybe I won't ever look at again. I write down a sudden commitment to FOCUS because I've been unfocused for hours at a time, or I write down an evening's plan, that doesn't belong on my Vitalist "to do list" because its too spur of the moment, its intended to get me up off my ass, to begin a day or evening of ten minute dashes. My wiki is a tool, part of the process that I sometimes need in my working, its only for process for that matter. I don't use it for storing for the future but for motivating me, organizing my spinning around mind, to get going right now.
I love my wiki
I recommend a wiki for everyone. It can be shared, or very private. If you want to get started, go to http://www.zoho.com/ and start your own wiki, free, fast and effective. There are many other sites providing free wiki service, this happens to be the only one I've tried, so I don't know about recommending anything else. I love my wiki, its the way I get inspired when my enthusiasm and spirit is drifting downward. And I have a record of my process, not that I look at it again. This one is for me, not history.
"A few of the things that are emerging about web workers is that 1) we do just about everything online; 2) we want to be able to access it from any computer, anywhere; and 3) it’s hard to organize all the stuff we use and do, in our work and personal lives.
But online organization dozen’t have to be complicated. There are many tools for organizing all our stuff, of course, but one of the simplest is the wiki.
We’re all familiar with wikis, of course — Wikipedia being the most famous example, but many other useful wikis abound on the Internet. But one of the most productive forms of wikis is the personal wiki, which you can create at any number of sites."
"Once you’ve got your personal wiki set up.. this post lists "15 ways to use a wiki productively, web worker style, beginning with a to-do list."I still can't say what exactly a "wiki" is except it is a place where I do some heavy personal planning, complaining, whining, and writing up my goal statements and I do it fast. So a wiki is fast. I have mine on the zoho site http://wiki.zoho.com/HomePage.html/ meaning I didn't have to know anything to get it going, and I still don't know anything to keep it there, always available when I log in to my Zoho Wiki . Zoho (http://www.zoho.com/) is a very cool service offering online documents that take and provide ms compatible files, a project planning program, a personal wiki service, and many other options. I like it. I've been using my wiki there for a few months. I also use BackPack (www.Backpackit.com) for some of my listmaking which I could do entirely on my zoho wiki, but I love the aesthetics of Backpack, its ajaxy feel. I like the big fonts, the way the lists look. So I use that for lists that I return to, but I use my wiki for sudden jerky planning that I'm not likely to use again. I date the entries, so lets say its a planning diary that maybe I won't ever look at again. I write down a sudden commitment to FOCUS because I've been unfocused for hours at a time, or I write down an evening's plan, that doesn't belong on my Vitalist "to do list" because its too spur of the moment, its intended to get me up off my ass, to begin a day or evening of ten minute dashes. My wiki is a tool, part of the process that I sometimes need in my working, its only for process for that matter. I don't use it for storing for the future but for motivating me, organizing my spinning around mind, to get going right now.
I love my wiki
I recommend a wiki for everyone. It can be shared, or very private. If you want to get started, go to http://www.zoho.com/ and start your own wiki, free, fast and effective. There are many other sites providing free wiki service, this happens to be the only one I've tried, so I don't know about recommending anything else. I love my wiki, its the way I get inspired when my enthusiasm and spirit is drifting downward. And I have a record of my process, not that I look at it again. This one is for me, not history.
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