The year is quickly coming to a close. We’re in the very last of the double digits of the number of days left of the year until we’re at 2010. Whew! Say that last sentence 20 times fast! If anything even vageuly related to “get organized with how I use my time” is on your New Year’s resolution list, well then congratuations. You’ve taken the first brave, bold step towards doing so by coming to Gearfire to start your research. Wikipedia says that humans learn very effectively through imitation. If you’ve ever watched a little kid follow their parents around, or been to a public high school, you’ll be able to second that motion.

We all know you’re not using the internet for entirely wholesome means. If you’re serious about getting serious, you might as well feed yourself with images of people who are doing something you will actually be able to emulate in your day to day life: being organised. The purpose of organisation porn is to get your blood flowing to your head (the one on top of your shoulders!) and get your hands moving (towards whatever areas of your life that you need to whip into shape). And by whip, I mean….oh, never mind! Don’t forget to clean up when you’re done. And of course, when I say “clean up” I am referring to how you’re going to pick up the loose ends of your life and get yourself together.

1. Philofaxy. If you’re a fan of Filofaxes, you’ll love this photoset.It’s hundreds and hundreds of examples of how people use theirFilos to stay organized. This one, will soon be mine! See also: getting creative with a highlighter. and how to store your post-its.
2. Do It Yourself Planners. This is for those who don’t subscribe to status symbol analog planners. And those who do subscribe to status symbol planners, but of the artistic/creative designers set. Se also: best use of watercolour ever, this clever idea on how to store your pen, and GTD in an analog planner.
3. Getting Things Done. The Flickr set for GTD users. Yum! See also: pen colour coding like I’ve never seen it before *drool* and a different kind of filing system functionality. And also: keeping yourself in check with jelly beans.
4. DIYPlanner. Don’t confuse it with Do It Yourself Planners’ photoset. There’s a lot of cross-content, but also a lot of unique content. See also: hand drawn calendar with use of post-its, and best blend of form and function, ever.
5. Pile of Index Cards. Perhaps I haven’t spent enough time browsing it, but this is a series of pictures of how people use index cards. But there is a pattern to their use, I just can’t seem to figure it out. Index cards aren’t really my thing in the first place, so maybe that’s why I just don’t get it, but some people get really creative. See also: back-of-door index reminders, and a beautifully arranged desk that compensated for the overly-industrial window scenery.
6. Index Cards. Index Cards with no structured use behind them, other than what the individual users demand from it. See also: storeyboarding with an index card which I think is the bestest, best use for an index card ever and has completely changed my mind about index cards,
7. Moleskinerie. Organizational goodness within the Flickr gathering. This photoset is h.u.g.e. It’s got well over 10,000 members, and it’s mostly use of the Moleskine for drawing, so you’ll be trawling through for a while. Or at least, you would be trawling through if I didn’t already trawl through for a while. I did eventually find a few nuggets of gold, but save yourself the time and check out number 8 on the list instead.
8. Moleskine Organisation. Organization with the use of a Moleskine. Bingo!There’s a lot of art here too, but see also: making a calendar colour coded, post-it notes as reminders of weekly habits (is my love of post-its showing yet?) and insert pages for the Moleskine.

Et voila! There you have it! Visual representations of how other people are using their time. This list focuses on paper planning system only because the pictures of digital screen-y thingies aren’t very good. Plus, I am also a big believer in learning how to to things manually first before adding electronic devices to spice things up. *Ahem* As well, all these photo streams have “power players” who go all out and add notes to their pictures explaining how they organize their time. It’s quite wonderfully, really. There are a lot of bloggers in the photosets, which is nice, because then you can really go in depth into looking at how other people do things. Enjoy!

Summary: In this post, I discuss my struggle with obsessive compulsive disorder, and explore the arguments pro and con a well planned out life.

**********************************

I was recently diagnosed with OCD (that is, obsessive compulsive disorder). I’m hardly ashamed, or particularly shocked in fact. A little confused perhaps, but otherwise, the diagnosis has been a serious wake up call. The only way I can describe it is that a window into my nature has been cleaned that I didn’t even realize was dirty. Looking back, it certainly explains waking up in a cold sweat and making a calendar out of post-it notes. Background information: waking up in a cold sweat over unfinished tasks happens about 3 or 4 times a day, whether I’m sleeping or not. For example, I’ll be sitting down eating a meal, and I’ll be plagued by the idea that I need to drop everything and get back to work. I’ve always thought that all high achievers push themselves the way that I do. But I have lots of high achieving friends and I realize now that none of them ever beat themselves up as much as I’ve been doing all these years.

I’ve gone this far without anybody catching anything because, well, the fruits of my compulsions are visually appealing things like post-it calendars that I can blog about, and good grades, and other grand achievements. I’m right on track with learning to control my obsessions and the resulting compulsions, but this whole “increased self awareness” thing has got me wondering about where my OCD ends and where the planning methods of the average person begins. 

I can’t leave the house without a book in my purse, or checking and re-checking my purse a million times to make sure I have a book in there, lest I finish a task and am forced to sit around with idle hands. I must always have something to do, or else my head starts to feel funny. I’d describe it as though the walls of the room are closing in on me, and my head slowly fills up with pressurized air that becomes hotter and hotter until I find something for myself to do- usually rearranging my surroundings. And you can bet I can’t sleep unless I feel like I’ve done all that I can to do all that I can each day.

I began using David Allen’s GTD method a few years ago, because of the fact that it is based upon the principle of maintaining never-ending to-do lists, organized by context of when you can do any given task. And then I learned about Cal Newport’s GTD for college students method. I’m sure you can see how much of an enabler GTD has been for me in the past few years. It never even occured to me that my constant need for always accomplishing something was out of the ordinary, until I sat down with a therapist and explain out loud how stressed out not having anything to do gets me. Hearing myself describe my daily thought process was a real wake-up call as to how out of the ordinary and incredibly unhealthy, my daily thought process actually is.

Learning to change my thought processes and behaviors  has been emotionally trying. Mostly, it’s been a lot of facing my fears. It’s also been a lot of trying to figure out where to draw lines and boundaries.  Feeling stressed about work on occasion is normal, and probably a little healthy. Making to-do lists so you can get in control of your workload is also OK. Fleshing out goals for yourself on a regular basis so that you feel proud of your life, and like you’re contributing to the world is also OK. Showering or exercising excessively for hours on end so you feel like you’ve accomplished something that day is not OK, nor is it particularly healthy.  Making lofty goals for yourself so you never have to run out of things to do is not healthy either. Planning out each second of your day and getting salaciously upset when your plans get derailed is also neither OK nor healthy. My biggest question for the past 4 weeks has consistently been: what do I actually need to plan and what do I need to learn to release to the ‘randomosityness” of life? And yes, randomosityness is a word- it perfectly describes how ridiculous and unnecessary I think it is to leave things to chance. (But I’m working to change that view!)

I have daily goals, and weekly goals, and monthly goals and yearly goals. And then of course I have my 5, 10, and 15 year plans. And then I have my life list. But the thing is, a lot of people have these kinds of goals. If you reverse engineer, these goals make a lot of sense. You begin with a vision of the kind of life you aspire to (e.g. a life list, or a mission statement) and then break your lofty aspirations down into action steps. That’s OK.

My theory is that what separates healthy goal setting from obsessive life planning is how it all makes you feel at the end. I often feel like I’m a slave to my goals and plans. I make plans to liberate myself from temporary anxiety, but then feel trapped by said plans.

I think it’s the same with those people who are the exact opposite of me- the one who “live for the moment” and “go with the flow” all the time. I used to look down on those people for never having plans. And to be honest, I still don’t really regard people with no path in life with particularly high esteem. There is a difference between trusting the universe to get you where you need to be, and just straight up being lazy. And when it comes to the day-to-day planning of how you will go about your life, I think the benchmark is how much progress you are making towards your goals. People with no vision, or who are afraid of making plans are also just as trapped within their lack of direction as I am within my over-planning. A certain amount of kicking yourself in the ass is important, because it gets your ass moving. You then draw the line in ass kicking when it begins to dis-empower you.

What I see, and admire and aspire to, and wholeheartedly recommend it planning until you feel liberated. Perhaps you feel liberated by  a 5 year plan, and anything more feels like too much. So that’s where you stop. Or even better, what I really aspire to are those people with daily to-do lists that don’t feel like they’re trapped within their plans. They set realistic goals, and they accomplish them.

But you know what else? I think that everyone has to draw these lines in their lives, whether they have OCD or not. If you’re not living your ideal life right here, right now, then you either need to do a little bit more, or a little bit less ass kicking. We all have an ongoing process within ourselves of finding the right balance between slacking and not slacking that keeps us chugging away towards what we want. And ultimately, what I am learning more and more is that it’s not crossing things off your to-do list that makes you successful, but being able to sleep at the end of the day, having enjoyed your entire waking period, and feeling secure in yourself.

I have no actionable list for you all in this post- making less of those is part of my personal action plan. (Oh the irony and contradictions!) I just wanted to get you thinking about your own thought processes.

How is the way you think about your goals, both big and small, affecting your ability to get things done? Are you pushing yourself so hard that you’re tired and overworked? Or are you dragging your feet on a treadmill set to low? Or are you chugging along at a healthy pace and need to share your secrets and tips with the rest of us?

And regardless of where you stand on the workaholic spectrum, what can you begin to do, right here, right now to improve yourself?

Example: For me, it’s realizing that I just tossed an action list into this article, and that my point of improvement is not getting too upset with myself for doing so.

Hopefully, I’ve given you something to ruminate on for a while. At first, it’s a little difficult to face those inner monsters. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years of working myself to exhaustion, it’s that work breeds more work. The more you think about how your mental habits are affecting your physical habits and actions, the more you keep thinking about it. The more you think about it, the closer you’ll get to that “Oh my gosh, I need to get up and do something about this right now!” stage of action. And trust me- you don’t need an anxiety disorder to get up and do something about your life. When you’re done ruminating, you should give me a shout on how you feel about this topic.

P.S. I’ve got twitter. You should follow me! I’m basically an endless stream of witty!

In the spirit of the conversation here for the last few weeks (and given the fact that the summer is almost over) I thought it would be timely to post a few more ideas about how to spend your time in between semesters. Granted, my perspective is probably a little bit different – but this is a good thing. Like all of you, school isn’t the only thing I do; I also work full time, and I’m a husband and father. That being said, my academic life is very important to me – that’s why I’ve started writing here. I’m spending my summer preparing for my first semester of graduate studies. I’ve essentially broken this prep-work down into four categories that are useful no matter what your circumstances: administrative, financial, physical, and mental.

• Administrative Preparation:
  By administrative preparation, I’m referring mostly to paperwork: immunization records, registration records, transcripts, resume updates, etc. These are all things that my new school will require and since schoolwork isn’t occupying most of my spare time the summer is a great time to pull all these things together. For me this is mostly a matter of locating everything and making sure it is up to date and checking with my school to make sure all the required paperwork is submitted. Taking care of things like this now can prevent a lot of headaches when the semester starts and will allow you to keep your focus where it belongs – on your work.
• Financial Preparation:
  Taking a little time away from the beach, road trips, or whatever other plans you may have to make sure all of your financial aid paperwork is in order is sure to save you lots of hassle once things pick up and tuition bills are due. This is also a good time to review your finances overall and make the big decisions that will dictate your school year (will I have to work? How much do I have saved? Etc.). I’ve pulled a free copy of my credit report from each of the credit reporting agencies (start at annualcreditreport.com) and am in the process of reviewing these for inaccuracies and reporting any discrepancies. The summer is also a great time to earn money and/or valuable work experience. Work to save spending money, or even look for volunteer opportunities in an industry that you’re interested in. Either way, future employers will see this in a positive light as it shows that you have initiative and are responsible.
• Physical Preparation:
  Moonlighting as a student isn’t always the easiest thing. Sometimes after a full day of work the very last thing I want to do is sit in class for several hours and cap off the evening with a drive home and some reading… but I don’t really have much choice. My circumstances require this so I deal with it. One way to make the burden a bit easier to shoulder is to maintain my health. The stress from school and other commitments, the long hours, the mental work involved – these are all easier to handle when your body is equipped. I’m using the summer to refine a fitness routine so by the time the semester starts I’ll be in tip-top shape.
• Mental Preparation:
  Finally, I am preparing myself mentally for an enhanced workload and dramatic change in lifestyle. There are lots of ways to do this; I’m focusing mostly on organization. Most of you are probably familiar with GTD, I’m spending the summer re-reading the book and fine-tuning my organization system (things to explore in future posts). I’m also getting in some leisure reading (something I rarely have the time for when class is in session) and generally relaxing in order to rest up for what’s ahead. It’s just as important to keep your brain fit as it is to keep your body fit. This will keep you from getting burned out but allow you to stay sharp and focused once classes start up again. By honing my organization and workflow system I’m gaining not only time and efficiency, but the confidence that comes along with being prepared. Doing this now ensures that I’ll have a good system in place when the semester starts and it will only be a matter of enveloping some new responsibilities to make sure that it serves me well.

So, a quick recap: spend some time this summer relaxing, but don’t let the time slip idly by. Make sure you’re ready for the school year, focus on your goals, and do what you can to move them forward. Advance preparation will save lots of time and trouble down the road.

I have 2 weekend, 3 weeks and 3 blue Post-Its until my first exam. Yes- 3 blue Post-Its. See:

My first exam is the first blue blue Post-It in the third row, and there are three blue Post-Its before it. The green Post-Its are the weekends I have to study (far right), and the yellow ones are days where I don’t currently have any event scheduled that will require my mental or physical energy. (I apologize for the blurriness. Walls are surprisingly difficult to photograph!)

Why all the Post-Its? Because I woke up on Saturday morning in a cold sweat, panicked about everything I knew I had to do, but was completely unable to conceptualize how much time I had to do it all. Everything was written down, but I couldn’t turn the words on the paper in my day-timer into anything that made events clear in my mind. It’s my very last exam set of high school (I’m graduating afterwards!) and I’ve been feeling/putting a lot of pressure on myself to go out with a bang. But I wasn’t anticipating the high blood pressure that my personal expectations would bring. So I took 10 deep breaths and tried to figure out how to get organized so I can maximize my productivity in preparation for my exams.

When it comes to my world, I like three things:

• lists
• colour
• Post-It notes
• and Tina Fey

Okay, so that 4 things, but lets pretend it’s 3. So, I combined all of these things and made a Post-It calendar. Actually, it’s not a full calendar of the month, but I leave on June 26 for a 6 week vacation travelling the other side of the planet, so I didn’t bother with the rest of the days. The day my plane takes off is the last thing I’ve written:

I like this idea because I can see at a glance when everything is, as opposed to flipping through pages. I do have a month-at-a-glace page in my planner, but it had gotten messy with “maybe-happenings” and “not-sures.”  I applied the GTD principle of only putting in concrete events. For each of the days I have an exam, I also wrote the time and place so I won’t forget. It helps to keep this from becoming another ambiguous list of things that may-or-may not occur so you then have to spend more energy sorting it in your mind. Whew, that last sentence was a mouthful!

This calendar is on the wall beside my computer, where I notice it every time I look up. So when I’ve been spending too much time on Facebook, out of the corner of my eye, I notice everything I have to do, and I log off :

This calendar is easy to replicate for yourself, using any colour combination you wish.

And also, since I’m using this to track school work, I put in fun events too, so I don’t forget that life isn’t a 24/7 study session. Like the day of my tattoo appointment:

It’s something to look forward to.

So tell me, what’s your strategy for conquering the mental clutter that exams bring?

“Disorganized Desk Syndrome” can affect all of us. When you are practically diving into piles of paper to find what you are looking for, and the floor surrounding your desk is even cluttered with “stuff”, something needs to be done!

Tip One - Get an Inbox
A proper physical inbox is a must for keeping an organized desk! It’s there to keep anything entering your desk in one place, looking neat and tidy ready to be organized later. At one stage, my whole desk acted as my inbox (as well as the floor around it when things got really bad), with everything just being piled on top of what already lay on it.

Tip Two - Set up a “student filing system”
As students, we haven’t got the need for a full filing system, it’s just an overkill and wastes precious space in our work area. We do still need somewhere to file things though, what I’ve found works best is a large arch-lever folder with dividers in for each category. This keeps everything filed away, without taking up too much space.

Tip Three - Organize how to arrange your school notes
If there is one thing I produce a lot of, it is lesson notes! Everyone has different systems for organizing notes; whether it’s individual folders for each subject, one big folder with dividers in or notebooks, the possibilities are endless. Leaving notes laying around your desk is not a solution however; and for the sake of your desk, find the system that works best for you as soon as possible!

Tip Four - If you are not a regular filer, add a “To File” tray on top of your inbox
I know that I don’t file regularly unless it is necessary, there is often useful tasks that I could be doing and therefore, I batch all my filing so that it becomes more productive, and usually do it every couple of days. If you buy into this “batch processing” mentality, then have a “To File” tray as well as an inbox tray. This means that when you get to filing, the papers aren’t all across your desk, they are all in one place.

Tip Five - Get a stationary holder
Whether it’s pens, pencils or paper, there are two problems people often have here. You can either never find them, or they are dotted all over your desk! Buying stationary holders not only keeps your desk looking tidy, but also improves your productivity by making it easier to find what you are looking for.

Tip Six - Invest in a good quality desk
If possible, buy a stylish looking desk that you really like the look of. It’s all psychological, but if you like the look of your desk, then you are more motivated to keep it presentable so that you and others can see how stylish it looks.

What tips do you have for curbing the clutter on and around your desk? Share them with us in the comments section below.

Image © Steve Woods

Going to school or college unprepared can be a nightmare. It will often result in angry teachers, chaotic days and the near impossible feat of trying to get everything done without the adequate resources. My top tip for preventing this, prepare what you need for the next day, the night before.

To-Do…

1. Check your schedule
Take a look at what lessons you have got the next day and get prepared! Make sure you’ve got all homework assignments completed and the notes you will need for tomorrow. Pile up your textbooks ready for the morning as well so you aren’t on the hunt for the inevitable textbook that goes missing.

2. Plan out your free time
If you’ve got a lot of free time between lessons, it can be a good idea to consider what you are going to do, and that you have everything you need to get those things done! Free lessons can become a tremendous waste of time, or a blessing that stops you having to work late into the night depending on how you treat them.

3. Check you e-mail
Not applicable to all of us, however; some teachers use e-mail a lot more than others. Actionable items can hit our inbox over the weekend that will bog us down come Monday. Check you’re emails in the early evening and see if there’s any notes that need printing or anything that needs scheduling into you’re calender.

4. Prepare lunch
For anything that can be prepared the night before, do so and stick it in the fridge. Not only does this save time in the morning, but you are likely to eat much healthier by doing so. It will also help your budget because you’re less likely to run late and not have time to make lunch, which usually results in a trip to the local cafe/coffee shop.

5.  Charge your gadgets
Check any gadgets you will be taking with you (your PDA, cell phone, MP3 player etc.) and see if they need charging. I’ve lost track of the times I have had to borrow someones’ phone to make a call because my battery has gone flat.

On a final note…
It’s a great idea to have everything in your bag and ready to go. This save so much stress as you know that all you have to do is grab your bag and go!

What do you do to to prepare for the day of lessons you have ahead of you? Share this with us in the comments section below.

© Sanja Gjenero

How many times have we spent longer planning something than it would take to just do it? I know I have. Revision is my favorite task to apply this method to, because you feel like your getting something done whilst still putting it off. I’m sure you can all remember times you’ve done this, where there are glorified plans put on the wall, but nothing that actually achieves results has been done.

For some projects, it’s best to just get started. Set a limit on the time you’ll take to plan something so it doesn’t eat away at the time you have on hand to do it.
For real Zen Planning, look at what you have to do, pick something, and start doing it!

Note: I am on holiday when this post is published, therefore I will be unable to respond to comments until Thursday 31st of July.

——————————————————————————————

This is Carl Hickson’s regular “Tuesday Tips” column, writing on all aspects of student productivity to help you become a more effective and stress free student.

© Jose Fernando Carli

How many of you are just approaching the end of the academic year? I’ve finished a couple of weeks ago, and many students are starting to break up for summer in the coming weeks. You’re all imagining it already, the great (or not so great) weather, the BBQs, the parties and proms. With all these temptations, it’s easy to put off those essential tasks that make summer more relaxing and getting back to work next year a lot easier to stomach. Although it might seem like a pain now, you’ll be thankful for it later. The list below should cover the basics.

Things to Do

Return all textbooks borrowed from School

The last thing you want to deal with over summer is letters and invoices for textbooks that you’ve borrowed and should have returned. Do yourself a favor and return them to the right people after you’ve finished using them.

Cancel any subscriptions you’ll no longer need

Perhaps you’re dropping a subject next year and you’ve got a subscription to a journal related to it. Make sure you cancel these and save yourself a bit of cash!

Tidy your workspace

This exam period can be a stressful period and unfortunately, for many of us, with stress comes mess. Make sure your work area is tidy, filing systems sorted (see below) and that you could work at it if you needed to. The last thing you want is a messy workspace cluttering your home when it isn’t even being used.

Sort out filing systems

Get all of your notes organized now, making sure everything is ready for next year. This includes throwing out notes you really don’t need (remember, if re-sits are likely etc. – keep the notes) and making sure they are all in the correct places.

Sort out computer files

Almost the same as the above on sorting filing systems out; make sure your computer system is not neglected. Archive files that you aren’t going to need to refer to regularly and make sure you have a clear file structure in place. Now might also be time to do some computer maintenance you should have been doing.

And finally…

Enjoy summer

I’ve got 11 weeks off this summer, and I’m sure going to take a break after the stressful exam period has finished. For some tips on how to make summer worthwhile, see Maria’s post on “Summer Goals” and check out my post published next Tuesday entitled “Things to do during summer”.

Liked this post? Subscribe and keep updated when we publish more posts like this.

This list isn’t exhaustive, if you’ve got any other tips for things you do to wind down for summer, please share them in the comments section below.

——————————————————————————————

This is Carl Hickson’s regular “Tuesday Tips” column, writing on all aspects of student productivity to help you become a more effective and stress free student.