Any Good Organizing Magazines out there

[mramm]

I was wondering if there are any good magazines out there for Productivity/Organization/Time Management, etc.

If they have websites, please include them.

My wife gets Real Simple and there is some good tips throughout the magazine, but overall it is not what I am looking for.

Thanks,
Michael

 

[Day Owl]

You can go nuts subscribing to magazines and drifting from one website to another. Have you made a serious attempt to implement GTD? This website and the books give an abundance of information. Once you have GTD in place, then you might think of looking elsewhere to supplement your GTD core.

 

[CKH]

I agree; you can go nuts trying to subscribe to magazines that might have an organizing COLUMN each. I have a nice selection of books on organizing and decluttering, but they're not precisely supportive of GTD; they complement it, but they don't have the GTD orientation.

If you're interested in such books, I can give you titles and authors, but please let me know your specific interests. (As a prof. organizer, I have books to help people w/many different kinds of challenges; no one person could need all of them.)

Welcome to the boards.

Cynthia

 

[mramm]

You can go nuts subscribing to magazines and drifting from one website to another. Have you made a serious attempt to implement GTD? This website and the books give an abundance of information. Once you have GTD in place, then you might think of looking elsewhere to supplement your GTD core.

I am serious about implementation, but I am about to move into a new house this weekend so I am planning on using that to set up my office and Mind Dump as I set it up.

I am not interested in GTD-specific stuff. I know where to get that. I am wondering about more general stuff.

Are there "organizing principles" that exist to follow? I am an IT professional (in Support) so most if not all of my day is spend REACTING to problems. I am trying to organize my life with wife and 3 year old a little better. My memory is horrible, hence my need for GTD. I like it a lot and am slowing getting things in place for full blown implementation in the next couple of weeks.

Michael Ramm

 

[ActionGirl]

Since you're moving, it might be a good time to check out organizedhome.com.

It has an active message board that sometimes has GTD discussions and there's also a section devoted to books, so if you really want a physical magazine, posters there might be able to recommend some.

 

[TesTeq]

When to start GTD implementation?

I am serious about implementation, but I am about to move into a new house this weekend so I am planning on using that to set up my office and Mind Dump as I set it up.

There is a real danger of starting the GTD implementation while you are overwhelmed by current projects or you are starting the new huge project like moving into a new house. Changing your work philosophy during this time may negatively affect the results of both the GTD implementation and the project itself. But of course it can help too.

 

[BrianK]

There is a real danger of starting the GTD implementation while you are overwhelmed by current projects or you are starting the new huge project like moving into a new house. Changing your work philosophy during this time may negatively affect the results of both the GTD implementation and the project itself. But of course it can help too.

Actually, I think it might be a great time to start. One has essentially a clean slate to deal with. Unpacking can become one giant processing session in which you look at everything you have and ask whether it's reference, equipment, or actionable, and if actionable, what's the outcome and what's the next action. For people who have a hard time dedicating an uninterrupted day or days to the initial recommended starting process, the time that one sets aside to unpack just might allow for learning the process.

 

[ActionGirl]

Actually, I think it might be a great time to start. One has essentially a clean slate to deal with. Unpacking can become one giant processing session in which you look at everything you have and ask whether it's reference, equipment, or actionable, and if actionable, what's the outcome and what's the next action. For people who have a hard time dedicating an uninterrupted day or days to the initial recommended starting process, the time that one sets aside to unpack just might allow for learning the process.

I agree! Of course most people are under time constraints when they move, so don't get bogged down in trying to implement GTD or even process everything perfectly "out of the box." But as you get settled it would be very handy to at least have captured all the actions and projects you can. It's not as if you are doing a complete mind dump, but as you look at all your stuff, you are bound to get all kinds of ideas, so capture them all.
Collect, collect, collect; you can process and develop your system later.

I think I'd make only one division:
--anything that absolutely has to get done in the next week goes on one list,
--everything else goes in another pile (one idea per piece of scrap paper/index card)

Then you can process it all as you have time. Isn't moving grand?!

 

[mramm]

That is how I am approaching it...one big clean slate!!!

It is not the moving that is killing me, it is the building of the house that is killing me. I am trying to get a final inspection done on my house, and there is no AC unit, even though my builder was told two days ago, it was ON THE TRUCK!!

:evil: Maybe if everyone in the world was on GTD...stuff like this would not happen.

Michael Ramm

 

[Jamie Elis]

using books etc.

Keep in mind that there is no perfect solution to any organizational problem, all will require mental and physical work to getting it set up and maintenance. It is very important to think about what you are aiming for (define the outcome of our project). The house will be tidy is not exactly an outcome description but the toys that are appropriate for baby's current developmental stage will be visable in the play but easy to put away is getting closer.

I have found most of what is in Real Simple and other "Women's Magazines" proposes solutions and do not really help people identiy their own needs. One article suggested that you keep you spices in round little tins in a box and when you need them you take the whole box out. Well, I have over 75 spices and I have them a to z and then one area for mixtures. I need to grtab as I cook since I cook by taste and smell, not recipes. My dear smart father has about the same number and they are grouped by taste on separate lazy susans-sweet, herbal, hot, salty. He, like my favorite hardware storekeeper thinks it is more efficient to "know where to look" rather than have an exact spot. However, if you use emergency medications you will want an exact spot for them so you don't need to hunt. My mother-in-law keeps anything that is not used daily in the basement (even the grapefruit spoons) and it works for her!

So I would look for algorithyms or principals. Organizing from the Inside Out has one with the acronym SPACE. I think it goes sort, portion (how much you need to keep), analyze (who will use this where and when), containerize (how will you will store it-drawer, hooks, boxes), equalize (if something goes in, does something go out?).

If you do read about a method, really ask yourself what you like about it and how you would use it. And, don't buy anything until you know that it will suit your needs.