03/10
Photo by Mrs Magic. Licensed under the Creative Commons.
It’s amazing how easy it is to procrastinate, even with a life that includes a full-time job, part-time job, girlfriend, writing, training, and so on. Fighting the procrastination has been part of my New Year’s Resolutions for 2007 and 2008. (The resolution was/is “be more awesome.”)
A few years ago, I was on the GTD (Getting Things Done) bandwagon. The thing is, GTD requires a complete overhaul of habits and it demands them all at once. It’s very disheartening, and while it has some great ideas, it’s difficult to maintain. (If someone would make a GTD program for an iPod Touch, I’d give that a shot again, natch.) However, expensive electronic toys aren’t the best thing to be investing in, and I’ve been monkeying around with a system for keeping my life moving.
I had all these index cards lying around from my days with the Hipster PDA, and I had a weird list-based system that seemed to be working pretty well for me, so I just formalized a process (mentally) to keep everything straight. You don’t need to keep “50,000-foot view” cards or any of that nonsense. You don’t need to carry a big bundle of index cards, and some funky write-upside-down-in-zero-gravity-while-being-shot-at-by-aliens pen. All you need is a writing implement and an index card. That’s it.
The thing is the GTD system is big on “keeping life simplified”, and having some larger view as to why you’re doing it. The thing is, the process of getting things done is its own reward — especially when you’re a chronic procrastinator that’s trying to change. You know why you’re doing things and you don’t need to carry context cards around to remind you of that. You’re a smart cookie, you know what your long-term goals are.
On the index card, you make a list of all the shit you need to do — from short-term to long-term. And whenever you have a moment where you realize you’re wasting time or you’re watching too many Mythbusters re-runs, you bust out the card, look down the list, select an item, and do it. No whining, no sighing, no eye rolling. Get up off your lazy ass and do something on that list.
If it’s a one-time deal, cross it off the list. If it’s something that needs to be done on a semi-recurring basis (a couple times per week, or whatever), you leave it unmarked, and go about your business. When you need to add things, you add them. When the card is full/mauled, you transcribe the unfinished items to a new card and throw the old one out. It’s literally that simple.
The other thing that’ll make shit easy? Keep a file cabinet with hanging file folders (neatly marked by subject) and actually friggin’ use it. But learn when to toss shit out (through the shredder, of course).
Pretty simple and straightforward, yes? Life on a Card (LOAC) — it’s a f*(king to-do list. Shut up and go along with it.
Dan Bailey