DonationCoder.com Software > The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006

more fasting: No newly installed apps till 2007; limiting internet intake to 1h/

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tomos:
that sounds great app,

I have been writing a bit in connection with the GOE, but it turned out to be about anything and everything - I mean if youre trying to change your work ways it about YOU, ME, I mean, in my case  :)
But thats been more like once a week (writing).

I read in Mark Forsters old website (but cant find it in new site) about this book called The Artists Way (I think or maybe the writers way, about developing your creativity) & one of the things they suggest is to write three pages every morning without thinking -
three pages non-stop, & if nothings happenning to write: bla bla bla ... or whatever.
He says he still does it every day.

might try that.

P.S. thanks urlwolf for the prompt!

urlwolf:
Hey App,

Good to know that things are working better for you now. The first software fast I did I wanted to 'convert' the extra time into short stories... one a month to be systematic. It didn't happen. I just translated an old one. so I stilll 'owe' myself 2 stories.

Writing is freaking hard most of the time. I have found that mindmaps help me to position ideas together, so if I work on a mindmap first the writing is faster and almost painless. I think the visual part of mindmaps help reducing working memory load.

@Tomos:
Yes Forster likes journaling a lot. I tried a smaller version (10 min a day, first thing in the morning) but it's hard to keep up :) Actually, right now I don't think I'm using ANY time management system :(

nudone:
i hope soon that we do discuss how successful these time management systems are. so far it sounds like mouser is the only person to have stuck at it. i hope there others that stayed committed - hopefully they will reveal themselves.

hunt me down and kill me for saying this but i do doubt the whole 'self-improvement' gurus and what they preach. i like to think that simple 'time management' can be achieved but when it's just another version of 'how to change your life in 7 days' or whatever the latest life-style book is then it's garbage.

i'm not attacking any of the time-management authors that we've discussed. i just want to raise the point that there is a difference between getting a grip on wasting time reading email and wanting to change your life. i think it might be easy to expect a bit too much from these advice systems and a bit easy to be confused about what you want out of it.

if anything, i've learned that self-control is way more taxing and complex than i was hoping it to be. oh, and look there, i see i've gone over my alloted one hour of internet use already. time to shut up.

tomos:
[well over my internet hour at this stage - I'll start tomorrow :-\ :P ]
i hope there others that stayed committed - hopefully they will reveal themselves.-nudone
--- End quote ---
I'm still committed. How successful I am is another story!

hunt me down and kill me for saying this but i do doubt the whole 'self-improvement' gurus and what they preach. i like to think that simple 'time management' can be achieved but when it's just another version of 'how to change your life in 7 days' or whatever the latest life-style book is then it's garbage.-nudone
--- End quote ---
good point nudone!
That's one of the things I like about Mark Forster:
that he acknowledges how difficult it is/can be to change your habits etc.

That is something a lot of the " 'self-improvement' gurus" seem to forget - or maybe they just didn't/don't experience things the same way as us mortals    :D

i just want to raise the point that there is a difference between getting a grip on wasting time reading email and wanting to change your life. i think it might be easy to expect a bit too much from these advice systems and a bit easy to be confused about what you want out of it.-nudone
--- End quote ---
funny I find I'm coming at it from the other direction a bit:
I mean I wasn't expecting to change my life, but do find that looking at the way i work/dont work has me ending up looking at the way I think/live/am, my expectations/etc. etc. (which I'm happy about - even if I still dont end up "organised"  :) )

Anyways, as you say, I guess sometime soon we will (hopefully) talk about our experiences in more depth

brownstudy:
re nudone's "if anything, i've learned that self-control is way more taxing and complex than i was hoping it to be."

As a member of the loyal opposition, I'd suggest that if a time-management system is based on self-control, it's probably not going to be effective. My take on these systems is that they should be seen as toolsets; I have built my own little task management systems (I prefer that term over "time management") based on Forster, Allen, and others over the years. Ideally, once you've put the thought into a system that works with your brain and not against it, then the issue of self-control disappears.

Forster mentions in his books that we always take the path of least resistance. The trick is to setting up your environment so that you go for the easy choice, and that easy choice supports your long term goals and choices and relationships. Getting your environment to that point is painful, probably, but once it's working, it becomes a habit that you don't think about at all.

I'd say Forster's second book on making dreams come true is a more big-picture look at life, and even there, he doesn't prescribe stuff, but provides another set of tools for thinking about your life. I'd say Covey's book might be another good one if you want to look at big-L Life issues; the task management books are just there to help you clear away the administrivia of life so you can go after the big-L stuff.

Or at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it  :)

My fast will be to not bookmark anything for the rest of the year. I have a ton of bookmarks that just lie there and I access maybe 10 of them. It's like buying a roomful of books but not reading them.

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