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Author Topic: Parking Lot Tool: Set up a PIM based on .TxT  (Read 6122 times)

Paul Keith

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Parking Lot Tool: Set up a PIM based on .TxT
« on: June 03, 2009, 08:25 PM »
Note: mouser hasn't sent me a pm in a while on what format and order to do the one post, one week thing so I thought I'd first restore 2 of the topics that were accidentally deleted along with the other 3 posts. This one already received a reply from rgdot when it was deleted so I'm posting it back. Sorry for not doing it as soon as possible for those who were reading this topic, I thought I'd time it with the post of the week but something probably came up on mouser's side. (I asked him to give me some suggestions because I have no experience with the week format way of posting things.)

Who is this for?

For those who are becoming unproductive due to being in a transition stage of switching from one system to another.

What it aims to do:

Make your brain dump/to-do list more efficient by applying the concepts of a parking lot tool.

Recommended:

Windows desktop or any desktop environment that simulates align to grid and drag and drop

Guidelines:

Create a folder in your desktop

Name it anything you would notice (I name mine: "Personal Information Manager of Text")

Create these blank folders inside:

Lists
Tweaks
Rocketdock (or any docking program)
Temporary

Create any .txt you want to read daily on your Rocketdock folder. Then transfer everything in that folder to RocketDock. Options: appear on Windows Startup.

Optional habit: Hover your mouse on all of those RocketDock icons once everyday preferably when you just booted your computer

Put any productivity-related text in there that you don't want to put on your software of choice.

For example: Maybe your software of choice isn't as snappy as opening a text editor.

Optional: Batch move the items later on into your productivity system.

Every week, move the folder to your backup location. Delete the old one and copy the new one there.
Warning: Do not copy the folder over to the backup folder nor use any folder syncing program. (online syncing programs aside)

Feel free to add any other folder and .txt within the folder.

*Never use this folder as your main PIM/Productivity-related Notetaker
Optional:

Download Akeplad
Set it as your default text editor
Download the auto-save and minimize to tray plugin and place them in the plugin folder of the application
 Go to plugins - AutoSave Settings -> check save on lose focus
Download FARR or Launchy
Minimize the application to tray and if you accidentally close it, open Akelpad with FARR or Launchy
Set the default font bigger. (I use 14 on 1024x768)
Set background to gray.

Recommended time for testing:

3 weeks maximum
 First 2 weeks to put anything you want in there.
 3rd week for viewing what you have inserted in there if you haven’t found the interest to do so already.

Cons:

Possesses neither the simplicity of paper nor the advanced features of most true PIM software

Why this will get you disorganized:

Unlike a todo.txt concept or any other personal information manager, the value of this idea is to serve as a digital placeholder you can run wild with as far as text notes goes but still keep the data in one place for simple backing up and recovery.

As with any parking lot tool, the point of it isn't to add anything to your productivity but to add a place for your unproductivity.

Think of it as a bed and any productiviy system you're trying to implement as an incomplete room. Once you're exhausted, even a generic bed can be the penultimate difference between resting well and waking up less stressed.

Note: I sleep on the floor so obviously the analogy doesn't apply to everyone however there are days when I wake up tired and I just think maybe this one time, I'll sleep on the bed and that's where I based the analogy from.
« Last Edit: June 04, 2009, 09:38 AM by Paul Keith »