Tools for Thought

What is the opposite of a messy environment? The answer isn’t as simple as is seems, especially since there isn’t one answer. I have three in mind, which could be thought of as levels of personal organizing, in ascending order of importance: neat, organized and uncluttered. Let’s look at some subtle but crucial distinctions between these overlapping categories.

Neat

Neatness is the absence of visual disarray. It’s the first standard people strive for when trying to avoid some anticipated consequence of conspicuous mess — like a reprimand from a boss, parent or spouse. Some workplaces mandate clean-desk policies, where employees aren’t allowed to leave the office with paperwork on their desks. So at 4:55 p.m., they scoop up everything on their desk and shove it into any available drawer space, only to resurface at 8:05 a.m. This doesn’t eliminate mess; it hides it.

Some neatness is neater than others. Many desks are free of piles, above or below the surface, but the placement of materials is arbitrary. It might be more aesthetic for someone to have a not-in-use document tucked out of view. But when it comes time to retrieve it, if it takes serious mental effort to remember where to find it, there’s definitely an improvement opportunity on the horizon.

Some people take neatness a step further and consider it synonymous with minimalism. Minimal isn’t always optimal. Frequently used items tucked away for sight’s sake can create unwarranted overhead. For instance, I used to keep all of my project folders in my filing cabinet, except the one for that supported the one task I happened to be working on in that moment. That’s generally a good practice, but there are usually a few projects whose support material needs to be retrieved several times throughout the day.

It’s far less hassle to keep those frequently retrieved project folders above the desk in a separate tray, rather than pulling them out of the file cabinet, then return them to the file cabinet when their frequent use has died down. So I added a project support tray stacked directly under my intray. To make project folders in trays neater (in a good way), apply the project labels to the bottom edge of the folders as well as the tabs; then store the folders with the labeled bottom edge facing outward.

Organized

An organized environment is neat by definition, but goes a step further. Paperwork is meaningfully ordered for efficient storage and retrieval, minimizing the need to waste brainpower on the clerical work of collating and remembering. Documents that are currently not in use are filed, not piled, out of view to minimize distractions from irrelevant content. Paperwork on the go kept in the appropriate folder or personal organizer.

Piles in themselves are innocent. When all of the paperwork on someone’s desk is related to the same project, it can still be scattered all over without being distracting. It may look like a mess visually, but if it’s all related thematically, it’s still coherent in purpose. If an interruption comes in that forces the person to switch to a different project, it’s easy to scoop up all of the papers belonging to the interrupted project and put them in either a project folder or, lacking a ready-made folder, back in his in-basket — then lay out that paperwork again once the interruption has been dealt with.

A frequent problem with managing paperwork, not addressed by most personal organization tips, is dealing with papers that fall into a mental gray area: they clearly aren’t trash, but it’s equally clear that they shouldn’t be permanently archived — they’re not “records.” They might need to be accessed in a few minutes, hours, days, or . . . never. The usual coping strategy for this short-term paperwork is to shove it to the side of the desk, where it blends with other paperwork that’s either actionable or reference, creating an amorphous sense of “so much work to do.”

As long a filing is reserved for permanent storage items, the surface of the desk will become the default holding area for randomly assorted paperwork. Usually, owners of these piles are using them as reminders of what projects need to be worked on. This is nowhere near as scalable as a well-updated calendar and task list. Only so many papers are visible at any one time.

The alternative is to create an A-to-Z general reference filing system, which becomes the temporary-to-permanent holding area for every piece of paper that’s either not trash or not supporting a project being worked being handled at the moment. When all paperwork is out of view, the user has to look at his or her task list and calendar in order to know what to do next. Avoid using randomly assorted paperwork as your To Do list, and you’ll find that prioritizing work becomes much less stressful.

Uncluttered

An uncluttered environment is neat and organized, but free of physical and emotional deadwood. There’re more to eliminating clutter than personal organizing. Clutter can be deceptively well organized: obsolete files, unnecessary routines on one’s calendar, unused gadgets, oversized furniture, time-filling habits like excessive beverage drinking. It’s not uncommon for people who review their actual usage patterns to find that they only regularly use a small fraction of what’s available to them.

I just got rid of a scanner that I’ve only used half a dozen times in as many months, but took up space and attention. In the future I’ll just go to a copy store when needed. Once the need to prop up the scanner was removed, I began thinking about how much I dislike my computer desk, and desks with shelves in general. So now I’m looking for a desk that’s less cumbersome. Pruning one unneeded possession usually increases sensitivity other more unneeded ones. Instead of creating a sterile environment, decluttering creates a more lively space by leaving only the things you genuinely use and care about.

Trash is obviously clutter, but clutter goes beyond trash. Most types of clutter are much harder to get rid of than trash, because they usually have an emotional connection to the owner. A book whose’s information was useful at one point in life but no longer is becomes hard to categorize as clutter, even if the owner knows deep down that she now has no conscious intention of reading it again — it has some intrinsic value, so it’s kept around “just in case,” neatly placed on a bookshelf where it remains harmlessly inert. The more “stuff” like this that’s kept around just in case, the more anchored to our past we become.

The first step to eliminating clutter is defining it in terms of what you want to accomplish at this point in your life, clarifying it as one or more goals or themes. Then survey your possessions to ask yourself if each one helps to support that new theme rather than an older one. If the answer is yes, keep it; otherwise it’s clutter. It may have value, but not relevance in light of your current life. Make it a habit to reduce the things in your life to the vital, and you’ll increase your vitality.

(Photo credit: mizocrazy)

Technorati Tags: Decluttering

Something snapped. Somewhere around early November, I’d been on a Low Information Diet for nearly a month. The first thing I did was dump all of my RSS feeds. Then I prohibited myself from reading books or visiting blogs, forums, podcasts or other infostractions. After weeks of being unplugged, the sense of time recovered was so profound, that every time I decided to add some of my previous feeds back into Google Reader, a little voice inside my head would push back and ask “Why?”.

But I gradually added some back in anyway. Then, one day while reading yet another “Top N” post, that little voice amplified: “Is this really the best use of your time?”

I like information. And that’s the problem — I can consume it indefinitely. It’s not a case of information overload, but of information porn: gratuitous reading used to alleviate boredom or anxiety rather than enable positive change or solve a problem. In his recent Lifehack article on information overload, Dustin Wax astutely observes:

I’ve come to believe that when people talk about “information overload” they’re not really talking about identifying information they can act on, but something entirely different. They’re talking about recreational information – information as entertainment.

Instead of just categorically renouncing information. I decided a few weeks ago that I needed to modify my Low Info Diet.

Sunday reading

The new rule: No discretionary nonfiction reading during the week. Instead of reading a book for an hour or two each day during the week, I would read the entire book on Sunday, from start to finish, in one sitting. I would read and comment on blogs finishing the book. Instead of toggling to news sites between Monday and Saturday, trying to stay in the loop, I’d buy a copy of one weekly news magazine, The Economist, and read it in one fell swoop (minus the articles deemed unimportant), opting to catch up rather than keep up (I ordinarily would’ve spent dozens of hours following the Gaza incursion alone). If something occurred to me during the week that would be interesting to read up on, I’d look it up and bookmark it for Sunday.

That’s a lot of reading for one day, a least without some serious triage. Last Sunday I dumped more than half of the reading I accumulated during the week. Aside from the obvious benefit of eliminating task switching, having all of the reading visible in one block — rather than distributed throughout the week (10 minutes here, 15 minutes there) — makes your reading commitments extremely conscious.

Reading is no longer an involuntary response to casual stimulation. When you know how much reading you have to look forward to consuming, each item’s relevance gets evaluated much more deliberately. An interesting article you collect on Tuesday may not seem so interesting on Sunday, after it’s passed through a cooling period.

Exceptions:

• Fiction, which is consciously recreational
• Information needed to currently resolve an impasse on an active project (e.g. “What’s Error Code A73909?”)
• Two-minute reads
• Email and other messaging

Feel free to customize your own batching to suit your needs. For many people, email is their info porn. I’m an Inbox Zero kind of guy, so email isn’t a problem for me. But if you find yourself reflexively checking email, consider batching your email sessions. You don’t necessarily have to batch your entire week’s reading into one day — but I had to. After I made it a rule to stop myself every time I felt the urge to read to fill time, I became conscious of how much of my time was unconscious.

Notice that one of the exceptions is just-in-time information needed to unstick a current project. Just-in-case information doesn’t count — batch it. Compiling information to motivate action is a crap shoot at best, and is just as likely to provide new rabbit trails instead of closing current ones. Research, as Charlie Gilkey points out, is:

. . . a prop, folks. Yes, part of the creative process requires that we research whatever we’re thinking about, but if you find yourself nodding your head at what I’m saying, you know that there’s a point in which you have enough information to do something and there’s a point in which you’re using “research” as a way to get around creating. No amount of information or inspiration is going to solve the problem – for the problem has nothing to do with information.

I once attended an interview with screenwriter Mark Fergus (Children of Men, Iron Man) who claimed that he used to watch a dozen or so films as “research” before starting his screenplays. Suspecting that he was procrastinating, he decided to put off watching the reference films until after he completed a first draft. He pointed out that after getting first draft done, he usually had all of the information he needed in the draft to continue without the screenings.

From consuming to producing

Resisting the urge to consume information can be unsettling, especially when there’s no substitute activity to fill the void. In times like these, your task list is your friend. Don’t sit around wondering what you could be doing in the absence of a crutch activity. Either do something productive, do something genuinely recreational, or review what needs to get done. Trust me, there’s never a shortage of more worthwhile activities. The trick is to keep them conscious.

(Photo credit: jwyg)

Technorati Tags: Lifestyle Design, Productivity

How would you like to act on a daily basis? What habits or behaviors would you like to install or uninstall? New Year’s resolutions are helpful for defining those behaviors, but not sufficient for following through with them consistently. Create a visual aid to remind you of habits you want to maintain and those you want to eliminate can do wonders for keeping those habits conscious.

Mind map your areas of focus

Instead of creating a list of behaviors, we’re going to create a mind map, digitally or by hand. This gives us the advantage of being able to link specific behaviors with the life themes they manifest. “Stop smoking” falls under the focus area of “Health,” or an equivalent in your own words. Linking the behavior with the focus area helps infuse the desired behavior with meaning. You don’t stop smoking to stop smoking, but for a larger purpose — in this case, health and vitality. Without explicitly mapping the relationship between what you don’t want and what you want, the restriction slowly becomes a demotivating “should” instead of a means to a positive end.

Ideally, you would start with all of your areas of focus first, then branch out to behaviors, projects and next actions, but any order is fine. The goal isn’t to fully replicate your project and action lists, but primarily to identify what drives them. Your map should go where your attention flows. The sample I’ve drafted here in a few minutes is a fraction of the size of my actual model, which would be unreadably dense for a screenshot.

One of the reasons for using a map instead of a list is that it gives you a chance to “refactor” what you write down — to rearrange your contents’ relationships for more accurate meaning. For instance, I put down “Scuba lessons” first, which triggered the focus area of “Fun and Adventure,” which reminded me of a hike coming up this weekend, and then some upcoming films.

A specific behavior or action might kick start the process, but ultimately, completing your inventory of focus areas is what seeds deeper thinking about how you want to act in the world. A focus area is just a category in your life that needs attention. If “Focus Areas” sound to clinical, put down “Roles” or something more user friendly. Examples focus areas would be:

• Family
• Finances
• Travel
• Spirituality
• Career
• Community
• Education

Avoid the temptation to list generic categories that you think you “should” have, unless they’re important to you. “Spirituality” or “Travel” might not be on your list, nor should they be if they don’t have your attention. If collecting stamps is a recurring behavior that has your attention, put “Stamp Collecting” down as a focus area.

What would that look like?

Areas of focus are necessarily abstract. A mind map gives you the chance to make them concrete. What does “Education” look like: taking an extension course, going for a degree, or reading a book? You can drill down each focus area into as much detail as you need. Or you can leave some level of detail unfinished if it’s something that’s inactionable under the current circumstances (like waiting for a raise to start prepaying your mortgage). Maps like these can mark placeholders for future thinking, either as additional branches or as separate mind maps.

A completed behavioral model allows you to look across all of your categories and their details in a single snapshot. You can see how focus areas interrelate, and see specifics of what do no next to facilitate each of those areas. Just as importantly, you can see which areas you’re ignoring as you view the whole map. You might decide that these need further attention, you might decide they’re being handled appropriately and don’t require addition action at the moment.

When to review the model

I like to look at mine daily, first thing in the morning, but experiment with different review frequencies for your ideal. One reason I pull it out daily is that I make local updates on it frequently, often twice a week. I originally thought it would be a weekly review item, but I found that this forest-and-trees view sensitizes me to my action lists, which makes working off of them less mechanical. But it’s less cumbersome than scanning a nested project list with next actions. A behavioral model is more personal than a project list, can be reviewed in seconds, and makes it convenient  to view at any level of detail you find relevant in the moment.

(Photo credit: kentbye)

Technorati Tags: GTD, Lifestyle Design

Sometimes “almost” isn’t good enough. A restaurant that’s almost clean isn’t much different than one that’s totally filthy, since both discourage dining. Unfinished thinking has similar consequences for taking action.

A To Do list with very broadly defined tasks, like “Write article,” will create unconscious resistance to following through on them if they contain implicit dependencies that need to be surfaced. For instance, if the article needs a fact that hasn’t yet been researched, the writer will probably hold off on starting the draft in hopes of summoning the missing motivation sooner or later. But nothing stifles motivation like ambiguity.

What’s missing isn’t motivation, but information. “Look up Menken quote on presidential qualifications,” a two-minute action that would supply the missing piece necessary to assemble the article, can make the difference between starting and procrastinating. The effort required to take the action is minimal, but identifying the specific action required to kick start the project can take some discipline. Next actions are obvious in hindsight, but can be elusive on the front end without focused awareness.

The most insidious form of multitasking

Thinking about what action to take next while trying to take it creates stress. Thinking and doing simultaneously is multitasking. The thinking process needs to be separated and alternated with action to be effective.

A broad action like “Test Outlook” is an abstraction, so instead of being able to execute it immediately, the mind has to imagine what testing Outlook looks like. In order for anything to happen when clicking Send/Receive, the email account has to be configured. The first physical, visible step would probably be “Enter POP address into Account Setup.” If that were on the list instead of “Test Outlook” (and “Test Outlook” was redefined as a project and placed on the project list to hold the outcome), initiating the whole process would become much more fluid.

Save yourself the overhead of doing project thinking while trying to take action. Get the thinking ahead of time, so that your actions become largely mechanical — not in the sense of lacking vitality, but self-consciousness.

Take breaks to regroup, not rest

We can minimize the amount of thinking required while performing a task, but not eliminate it. Things zig when they should zag, and we need to correct course. If we’re lucky, the next course of action is self-evident, but sometimes that’s not the case, and we end up spinning our wheels. Circular thinking produces no forward motion.

When thinking long and hard doesn’t work, take a break. Some breaks are designed to recover from fatigue, but the point here isn’t to relax, but to suspend doing while thinking about what to do next — to stop multitasking. If I get stuck in mid-sentence while writing a post, and more than a couple of minutes elapse while I’m staring at the screen, I’ll get up from the laptop and ask myself what specific thought I’m trying to express. Once I’ve clarified what I was trying to say, I can focus on how to say it, but when I try to do both at the same time, my eyes glaze over.

This sort of strategic disruption is why “sleeping on” a problem, taking a walk, or taking a shower can dislodge solutions more effectively than trying to concentrate your way through a problem in the midst of it. But once the principle of not doing while thinking is understood, it’s not necessary to resort to elaborate rituals. I don’t need to take a walk or a nap. I really don’t even need to get up from my desk and pace around. I just need to break my visual association from my writing activity, which is why many writers (and other artists and scientists) frequently stare into empty space.

Give yourself permission to momentarily take your nose off the grindstone and get perspective. It’s hard to see a project while in it. If the right path is unclear, the first think to do is stop walking. Create a clearing for thinking instead of reacting.

(Photo credit: gutter)

Technorati Tags: GTD, Productivity