I'm adding a new link to my list of handy links on the side bar. It's called Zen To Done, and I'm really looking forward to reading through the posts Leo has written on how to take control of your life, and to make it as simple as possible.
Just have to say that after a couple of weeks implementing as many of the GTD principles that I can cope with, life has changed!
The very best thing about my experience so far is the freedom I feel from being able to empty my head of all those little things I don't want to lose track of, but which I was losing track of anyway. They're out of the noggin, most of them, but they're in places that are easy to get to and review.
They aren't rigidly contained, the system is still fluid, and that is the most empowering thing of all for me.
When I was a child, my mum used to say that procrastination was my middle name. Here I am over 40 and the same label is still a comforable fit! Having had a weakness for notebooks, new pens and organising systems for many years now and still finding myself disorganised, I'm wary and tend to look the other way when a 'new method' intrudes upon my consciousness. Partly because I don't like the guilt factor, and partly because when I find a method I like I've tended in the past to spend more time setting up pretty folders than actually getting on with what needed doing.
DIY Planners is a great site for templates and instructions for putting together your own paper based organiser. [Click here for their beginner's guide to setting up a planner, and here for their handbook on the same topic which has a GTD bent.] It's through this site that I came across Getting Things Done, by David Allen.
Click on the link in the last sentence to download his FREE articles (you do need to register, but there's no cost) on personal productivity, written in real english with not a hint of patronisation in sight. This man is like Jamie Oliver with his Ministry of Food; he has some simple but brilliant insights, and he's willing to give a whole chunk of it away free. Just because.
So this week I've had a lovely cool and sweet smelling breeze blow through my brain as I put together a paper based organiser in the leather (*yes!*) organiser folder that someone threw away last week. Rescued it after it'd been in the rain for quite a few hours, but it still seems fine. Thank you to my anonymous neighbour (kind of hope I don't find out which neighbour it is, I think) for this fine addition to my organising efforts!
I love what I've seen so far of the GTD things because they aren't telling me what to do. They're explaining what's happening when I'm disorganised, and suggesting ways to capture and tame information, that won't strain my brain. I love the idea of the InBox, this is the first thing I've set up and it's helping me to springboard to the rest of the principles. Flexibility is so important to me in any organising effort; if I can't make it fit the way I do things, if I can't make it change from day to day or minute to minute, then I won't use it for long.
Tomorrow it starts....the beginning of a brand new school year. The last one that this century will be less than a decade old. Three children at school, one beginning university.
I aim to be more organised this year with school lunches. I have cake and slices in the freezer, fresh fruit waiting to be packed, and home made plastic lined fabric wraps to put the food in. Trying to avoid plastic as much as possible, but I'm not ready to make the break just yet. Inspired by Julie at Towards Sustainability I have made little drawstring bags and those lovely plastic lined sandwich wraps which J (year 5) calls 'nappies'. Ahem...can I ever look at them the same way again?!
Hopefully there will be some photos of these baggies to show you when a) I get organised enough to take some, and b) I find out which of the styles I have made actually turn out to be practically useful in every day real life situations.
Here is my sprouting set up. Small jars work best for us, as we don't go through very much of any one particular sprout very quickly. I like them when they are nice and small, seem to taste better that way. Who could have guessed that a girl who used to love weetbix, sugar and milk would one day prefer a bowl of lentil and mung bean sprouts with fresh raw almond milk!
