Mind matters

Another tip to increase your productivity around your computer, or to meet your need for order, is to create a file archive. I’ve done this by creating a folder called ‘File archive’ and in that I’ve created the following folders:

A-B-C-D
E-F-G-H
I-J-K-L
M-N-O-P
Q-R-S-T
U-V-W-Y
X-Å-Ä-Ö

In these folders I’ve created subfolders, when necessary, or just placed the files according to their filenames right in the folder. The flatter the structure, the better. I try to avoid to add a third layer if possible.

Apart from the obvious advantage of easily finding my files, I also make sure that all the files I work with are collected in one place, which makes taking backup of them a piece of cake! I don’t have to worry about taking backup of everything on my computer everytime, I just backup the information I cannot re-create easily.

This tip is “stolen” from Getting Things Done, as many of my other productivity tips

Technorati Tags: Getting Things Done, File archive

Time to share some of the things I’ve implemented in my daily life to make it run more smoothly!

There’s this book by David Allen that’s called Getting Things Done, which introduces a system that takes care of reminding and storing all your todo and projects. It’s awesome, and I’ve only managed to implement some pieces of the system, since I’m pretty lazy

But here is a thing I’ve used for a couple of years now:

Create a @Waiting_For mailbox in your mail reader! Whenever you send an email to someone to which you want a reply, store a copy of that mail in this folder, that way you have a placeholder that will remind you that you’re waiting for a reply from someone. I store only project related things here, not private mail that is used only for connecting with others.

It works wonders for me! I go through the mailbox at irregular intervals and see what it is I’m still waiting for, and if sufficient time has elapsed, I send a reminder. It’s also a way to keep a placeholder for a project I’m currently doing, to remind me there are things to be done on it.

Currently my waiting-for contains 12 emails on such variety of projects as ‘DVD-burner to the dojo computer’, ‘Creating a link on the main page of the budo club for the party committe’ and ‘Having another person get ahold of a word document with Aikido’s beginners book’.

It took a couple of months before I realised how useful the mailbox was, and now I can’t live without it. I recommend to try it out, if you don’t have a similar system already, and report back how it works for you!

Technorati Tags: Getting Things Done, Productivity, Email