Saturday, May 23, 2009

STRUCTURALIZED

This post will contain a mix of my thoughts on my "workflow" & future blogging, how to get things done and "make a great living doing what I love"... [Editor's note: I have paraphrased a part of a book title by Jonathan Fields.]


Books: Making It All Work, Career Renegade, The 4-Hour Work Week.


Workflow

I recently attended a three-part course in personal productivity by David Stiernholm.


Image source: Stiernholm Consulting.

I have ordered one tickler file system and a set of 100 "control of the situation" / to-do list cards.


My old reference file system box.

I will start to post some tidbits from my weekly reviews, mind-sweep and brainstorming sessions during the weekends.


Calendar with storage folder.

Reading material: The 4 Hour Workday by Scott Young. [Via Did I Get Things Done.]

I will install MeeTimer on my Firefox browser.


Blogging

My comment on my post, ANNUAL BLOG REPORT VII.

Anita,

Thanks for your comment and kind words! :)

Here is my comment on Darren Rowse's post, Be Consistent and Useful - Thoughts on How Often to Publish on Your Blog.

Darren,

I have been blogging for seven years now. Here is an excerpt from my post, Annual Blog Report VII, of May 7:

“I have now been blogging for seven years. My long-range goal is to become a “problogger” so I could develop my blogging from an amateur hobby level into a real part-time job. The first step toward this goal is to read the ProBlogger book that I got from Cindy King and then discuss with her what I learned from the book and how you could continue this journey. [Editor's note: I became a pro-blogger already during my first year of blogging! ;)]”

I have been struggling to write posts on a regular basis and I have promised myself to try to write at least a couple of posts every week. I must admit that sometimes I have had to break this “rule” and take a break for some time, but at minimum I have been writing a new post every week or so. I will try to get up to speed again and find a new way of having posts in pipeline so it will be easier to publish on timely basis. My next post that will be published this weekend will cover this issue. I will focus my future blogging on three areas: rational ideas on how to use your time by productive tools and methods so you could “get things done”, writing about “good things” in life through my “lifestream” (Twitter, FriendFeed, Facebook, etc.) and reviews of services and online products, and discussions on how conduct personal branding and interact with relationship marketing, thought leadership and social media.

I have outlined a schedule on how to cover Monday - Sunday with daily posts, but I will never feel a duty or that I must post something every day.

Monday: Open thread post.
Tuesday: Tuesday Tech.
Wednesday: Midweek wrap blogrolling.
Thursday: Venting with Thor’s hammer.
Friday: T.G.I.F. good life post.
Saturday: Carnival blogging.
Sunday: Future podcasts. Workflow review.


Reading material: Contrarian Blogging: Is Small the New Big? by Jonathan Fields.

I will check out the blog post planner and calendar at Productive Flourishing and see if these tools could be useful for my future blogging.


Getting Things Done

I have to become more organized. I am in the process of "setting up the right buckets."


Inbox full with stuff...

I can relate very much to Michael Deutch's post, Focusing on My Horizons with MindManager & GTD:

In January, I wrote about how I used David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) process to gain control of my life. The benefits were and still are tangible: an empty inbox, everything in a trusted system, a clean desk and clear mind. Today, I’ll share my tumultuous journey on how I gained greater perspective and improved both my work and personal life.

For over a year, I avoided the second half of the GTD process, which involved completing a map David calls the “Horizons of Focus.” These horizons are the different perspectives of your work and personal life. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? (March 19, 2009, The MindJet Blog.)


I admit that I have a long way to go before I have implemented the GTD methodology into every area of my work-life. You will be able to follow my struggle and development on a regular basis in the future. I look forward to your comments, feedback, suggestions, tips and tools, etc.


Email inbox: >16,000 email messages...

Reading material: Getting Things Done with MindJet by Andrew Mason.

I will start using GTDInbox and Gtdagenda and write about these tools.


Work-life

Read Oh, Those Flashes of Money-Making Inspiration by Mark Anderson and then try to figure out this "rebus"...



Image source: Cartoons by Andertoons.


Morris the cat is moving along...


Chile pepper in a bag and Dorset Naga. I will continue to add spice to my life...



Pluck the Day!

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:42 PM

    What a great visual path you offer in your transition towards constraints that bring you freedom. It seems like you are taking great care in planning this next chapter of the adventure you want for your life now - with some helpful books.

    Also your approach is so vividly illustrated it can help others see themselves doing something similar... you've given me the nudge to "structuralize."

    You might look up a group that meets here in the S.F Bay are with a thoughtful blog on the Quantified Self.

    As you might imagine Tim Ferriss is one of our most active & illuminating members. I look forward to learning from your path here.

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  2. Kare,

    Thank you very much for your comment! How do I find the Quantified Self blog and meeting group in S.F.? Do you have the URL handy?

    What is "Sausalito Loves You"? The link to the Ning group on your profile page on Typepad is not working.

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  3. Anonymous1:08 PM

    Thanks for the mention! There are quite a few posts about GTD and mind maps on the Mindjet blog. Feel free to ping me if you have any questions.

    Btw, did you find out the URL for the Quantified Self? I'd like to check that out too!

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  4. Michael Deutch,

    Thanks for your comment! I will continue to read your blog and learn more about your MindJet program. I am thinking of starting out with a program called GoalEnforcer. Have you heard about it?

    Where in San Fracisco are you located? I saw that you have written a tweet message to Kare Anderson. I am waiting for an answer from Kare Anderson.

    ReplyDelete