Posts Tagged ‘productivity’

On Clutter, Digital and Otherwise: Part 1

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I sometimes wish so hard to be one of those minimalists that have, like, five perfectly chosen books, 25 pieces of beautifully curated clothes and one exquisite piece of jewelry. I have lived with a few minimalists and marveled at their self-possession and self-sufficiency; I’ve envied their elegant asceticism, taking it as a sign of higher consciousness or something. But I am not this kind of a person myself. I attract piles. I fight clutter constantly.

I’m not a hoarder, and my approach to matters of adornment, decoration and ownership is simple and straightforward, actually — but simplicity and minimalism are not the same thing. So I still have my little bete noires when it comes to Stuffness, as I like to call it. For some reason, I like to hang onto clothing hang tags. I like to read, so I have piles of magazines and books sprouting in my bedroom like newly emerged archipelagos. Being my mother’s daughter, I clip coupons and forget to use them (unlike my mother). My Salvation Army pile tends to hang out in my closet until I can’t ignore it anymore, and then I must schlep it to S.A. to get rid of it. There’s a hoard of mini-fragrance vials, perfume pens and samples in one of my medicine cabinets. Perhaps I’d be more clutterific if I hadn’t moved so much and been forced to pare down possessions relentlessly. That might be my only saving grace, actually, because at this point in my life, my physical clutter and I are at peace, at a pleasant detente. It builds up and then I “manage” it, but it’s not onerous at all to deal with — maybe 5-10 minutes a day keeps it okay.

Alas, though, there’s another level of clutter altogether to deal with: digital clutter. Digital clutter is my true enemy.

You Know What I Mean By Digital Clutter

Bookmarks, e-mail, Delicious links, RSS feeds, contacts, old texts, Twitter favorites, Tumblr favorites, Facebook messages. There is so much electronic information to manage now. I feel guilty because I know I contribute to the mess in my way, but I’ll save that for another post. In this one, we’ll just talk about the effluvia, flotsam and jetsam I find from others. You don’t even realize you’re collecting it because it is virtual — there’s no mass or weight to it in the physical world. But it takes up so much space in your mental world.

My lightbulb moment about digital clutter came one day after scrolling up and down my browser’s Bookmarks bar looking for a link. Stupid link, I thought to myself, where did I put stupid link to something minute yet somehow so consequential to my thought process that I cannot proceed with the outline of my next novel without it! I finally realized I had spirited it away in some obscure folder within a folder. After 15 minutes. 15 MINUTES OF LOOKING FOR A STUPID LINK. How many seconds did I waste scrolling down my Bookmarks? How did that add up, day after day? It was too depressing to contemplate. Did I really want to spend more time wading through digital clutter? No: I had to deal with it like I had my real-life stuff.

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Posted in Soul + Wisdom on Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013 | 8 Comments »

Halfway Through a Year (Plus My Secret Hippie Productivity Tool)

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Can you believe we are a little over halfway through a year already? I can’t. I’m in the mid-July haze when things are hot and slow, I’m soaking in sun with half-closed eyes, feeling all loose-hipped and rubbery. Maybe I’ve got some energy for a bike ride in the streets on the nights when the temps have gone down, but mostly I’m kicking back with a margarita on some porch or patio somewhere.

Despite my mental and physical lollygagging and laziness, realizing WE’RE HALFWAY THROUGH 2012 is kind of a big kick in the pants. When I put it that way, it’s enough of a milestone for me to get my contemplation on: am I wasting this year? Am I on track to create and achieve what I set out for myself? I am enough of a type-A human to have those question running in the background of my mind a lot more than I care to admit, and I apologize if I’m harshing on anyone’s summertime groove here!

But I figure it’s a good time to check in. I’ve always been a big goal-setter: I generally like to spend some time in December evaluating my year and figuring out my plan for the next. This year I tried to be a little more relaxed about it, but in the end, I like rituals and systems and strategies. Still, systems and strategies? It sounds like such a drag, doesn’t it? I used to keep a crazy, multi-paged Excel spreadsheet that had complex color coding to write down and plan out my goals for the year, but I stopped doing it because, despite all the colors, it was kind of a killjoy. I associate Excel with temping and other horrible office things, so just opening up that program was soul-dampening.

But I’ve hit upon a way more fun way to plan out my goals these past few years. One of my secret goal-setting weapons has been Leonie Dawson’s Creating Your Year workbook and calendar. (It’s kind of amazing how many of my secret weapons are from my secret hippie side. Anyway, that’s a rare affiliate link there…I don’t often recommend stuff, but this workbook and planning calendar is something I’ve used a lot, and I’d big-up it for any go-getter with a secret hippie side. And: it’s not crazy expensive at all!)

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Leonie’s PDF workbook is a 100+ page colorful, sparkly extravaganza that takes the type-A out of planning. I’m not really a granola, Goddess-type of human, but I loved the happy energy of Leonie’s work, which she combines with a very clear-headed, get-down-to-business earthiness. What I love about it is that it combines both hippie-dippie head-in-the-clouds big-picture dreaming with the nitty-gritty of plans, tactics, and strategies — and it’s so happily, joyfully colorful, making it a real pleasure to fill out.

I first did one in mid-year 2011; feeling a burst of renewed energy, I wanted to get going again on my year’s momentum. A friend of mine told me she did Leonie’s planner. At first I thought it was too late, but she assured me there was enough big-sky dreaming in it to make it worthwhile, and she was right. It helped focus my energy for the rest of 2011 and laid out solid plans for what I wanted to accomplish, and most of it got done because I took the time to write it out, think it through and give myself a structure to mark my progress and adjust my course. I was really impressed with the blend of woo-woo with brass-knuckles practicality, and so I signed up for the 2012 one when it was released.

So far, the one I filled out at the beginning of 2012 has been really a key tool for me to keeping on track with my goals. I took the 2012 printout and cut and paste it into a lovely fun notebook, and used the extra pages to create plans, timelines, lists, etc. I check in with it every month to plan out the next stage, essentially keeping in touch with my dreams and hopes and projects on a regular basis. I make my monthly check-in as fun as I can: I order a giant chai latte, play great music, go to my favorite cafe, and maybe drink a glass of wine afterwards — so I always look forward to the occasion.

And I really do get a jolt of happiness every month when I do my check-in because of the super-vibrant illustrations and colors of the workbook. (It’s taken me forever to reconcile this about myself, but I am just not an elegant, restrained Moleskine notebook girl. I like colors! Cute Sanrio characters! Whimsical colorful decorations!)

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Anyway, I cruised over my DIY planner recently with the half-year milestone in mind and realized that I’m really actually on track for a lot of things I’ve wanted to make happen: more short stories, running and riding goals, fabulous romantic interludes, taking classes I’ve been meaning to take, launching and re-launching sites, career strategy and philanthropic stuff, more meditating and playing my guitar, the whole kit and caboodle of life. I’ve still got a ways to go, but it’s nice to realize this year has gotten such a lovely lift so far.

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But in reevaluating, I’m also realizing some things that perhaps weren’t really priorities to begin with and are shedding them from my list. (Okay, so I won’t exactly run a 10K this year or work on my jumping at the stable, but it’s been fun to explore other things in the meanwhile! And yes, I will belt out another novel by year’s end, and really make headway in the whole “getting published” thing.) So I’ll be crossing some things out and rewriting, but it’s nice to have the evolution of it all in one happy, lovely place.

And knowing I’ve got slightly less than six months left, what are the most important things I want to do in 2012? All good questions to mull over — while lazing at the side of the pool with a margarita, of course!

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Posted in Pieces of Life on Wednesday, July 11th, 2012 | 5 Comments »

Birthday Letters: 36 Things I Learned Last Year

Tomorrow is my birthday, which I feel so many things about. Happy, because I like celebrations and commemorations. And excited, because my birthday means cake and ice cream, and fireworks are coming soon! But also introspective, because I’m older and supposedly wiser, but sometimes I wonder exactly how. And maybe even a little weighed down upon, because, you know: the march of time and the press of mortality. The endgame approaches.

I like the idea of years building upon each other, like pieces of puzzles revealing just a bit more of a bigger picture — and at the end you see what a beautiful portrait you’ve lived with your time on earth. I like themes, lessons, the sense that I’m progressing. Maybe these are illusions wrought by the ability of human beings to occupy different existential time zones at once: to be in the past, present and future, often in the same moment. If these are illusions, then I appreciate how beautiful and comforting they are.

Here I am in another year: sitting on a cloudy day at my favorite coffeeshop, typing away on the small, tiny netbook I favor now over my more robust laptop. I am drinking an iced chai as usual, and I’m feeling hungry, craving fresh fruit and cheese. The coffeeshop, the beverage, the writing and thinking and even the hunger: I do this a lot, and I anticipate I’ll be doing this more in the future, which makes the moment seem not so special.

But there’s the way the light streams through the window, the magic hour making everything seem enchanted, even a weird symphonic version of “Scarsborough Fair” on the stereo. The conversations surrounding me: what books people are reading, a Tarot card consultation, a Bible study group, a family planning a wedding. There’s the smell of orange blossom white tea floating in their air and the sound of quiet love songs played on harps in my ears. There’s something lovely in every moment, and today I like to pretend they are all gifts for me.

These are the things I’ve learned in the past year. One for each year I was. I did a teeny version of this last year; this year felt like such a huge growing and learning and loving kind of year, I felt the urge to get epic.

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Posted in Soul + Wisdom on Tuesday, June 26th, 2012 | 10 Comments »

Lights out

Last night I was settling in to get some work stuff done on my computer when I decided to watch some TV to distract myself from the unpleasantness of the task. No sooner than I began flipping channels when I heard a big BANG! and suddenly the lights went out.

I peeked outside and saw the entire neighborhood’s lights were down. It was pitch black night out. No one’s lights were on, the street lights were out. In the background I could hear sirens rising, but strangely in the darkness, they felt farther away than they were.

Oddly, I felt in a strange way that I’d somehow brought this on — I’d been driving home from the gym at sunset, enjoying the golden early evening light, which contrasted beautifully with the snap of cold autumn air. This would be the time of day people would be coming in from the fields, I had thought, remembering that farmers would be harvesting food for the winter at this time of the year. I then remembered the job stuff I had to do when I came home. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way people had to stop working when the sun went down? I said to myself, in between thoughts of what the crazy cultish leader in my novel was after with my hero and wondering if the Clarisonic facial cleaner really worked. So when the lights out, my second thought (after “Oh shit!”) was, “Wow, someone’s really listening out there!”

Of course, I am a hardworking girl, and so figured I’d work till my battery drained. Of course, then I realized I couldn’t — the router on our Internet wasn’t working. I tried to work on my novel in the dark, but I still couldn’t figure out what the crazy cult leader wanted. And then my laptop battery started to die, and I ran around the house holding it up like some fucked-up lantern trying to find some flashlights or a candle. Outside people were wandering, lighting up the way in front of them with the light of their cell phones, trying to figure out what happened. Friendly neighbors: I couldn’t ask for better people to be surrounded by in the event of the Rapture or other such apocalyptic event.

I sat there in the dark with every Bath and Body Works and semi-fancy candle in the house lit, random smells filling in the air. What am I going to do? I wondered. I’d been so used to squeezing every last bit of productivity out of the dregs of the day that it was kind of hard just to sit there. I did some plank poses. I tweeted and then stopped when I realized that I couldn’t charge my phone. I texted my sisters and my best friend. I read the Canterbury Tales on my iPod Touch.

And then I started really getting into not having any electricity. I took a shower by candlelight. I took a walk in the neighborhood and marveled at how utterly dark the night can be. I lay on the floor and stared at the candles burning. I noticed all the things that stopped working or were dependent on electricity to function: the water dispenser in the fridge, the water heater, nearly everything in the house. I looked at my laptop and prioritized what I would work on with my one remaining hour, and knew quickly was important and what wasn’t. I thought about who I’d call if I only had four hours of power left on my phone. Strangely, in the dark, I was forced into the process of slowing down and figuring out what was truly important and what could wait.

It was nice; it needs to happen more often.

I need to treat the evenings more like electricity’s run out and I have only so many resources left, I said to myself. I took a deep breath, and then I took a nap, because it’s so soothing to live by candlelight.

Only a nap, of course, because in a few hours the electricity came back on, every appliance blared and glared into light, and I woke up. I sighed, because I knew I had to get this job stuff done or else the next day would be shitsville. Still, it was a nice experiment for the night.

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Posted in Pieces of Life on Wednesday, October 5th, 2011 | No Comments »

Sparks: Jennifer Egan, Pomodoro Technique, Roseanne Barr

Just a few things that have been inspiring and sparking me lately, giving me a bit of lift as I work through the last bit of novel for this major revision. (Aiming for this Thursday! I am so close with this pass! I can feel it!) Some of it is writerly inspiration, some of it is productivity geeking-out, and some is just good old-fashioned feminist inspiration and funny ferocity. Happy mid-May, lovelies!

JENNIFER EGAN

I freaking love Jennifer Egan — what a smart, elegant writer! I love her ambition, flinty intelligence, her willingness to try all kinds of things in her work. I also love that she wrote about my hometown once. This interview was great in giving a little window into what motivated her to become a writer, and the journey she took to do it. There’s all kinds of beautifully mundane detail — apartments she wrote in, what she ate while she was struggling, all kinds of things that color memory. It’s strangely comforting to always remember that everyone starts somewhere, even a Pulitzer Prize winner!

THE POMODORO TECHNIQUE

I’m a bit of a productivity geek; my Virgo rising really takes to personal organizers, time management and other beautifully nerdy pursuits. It’s partly necessity, of course, because I juggle a lot of stuff, but it’s partly a weird love of life experiments. I like seeing how little adjustments can make big impacts. (Or not, as often the case may be!) I was never a super-fan of the Getting Things Done system that everyone on the Internet seems to love; I’ve realized that making extensive lists just makes me feel absolutely anxious. (Let me qualify; I do make them in a project sense, but not in an everyday To-Do list. In fact, I stopped keeping a daily To-Do list because it was only freaking me out so much.) Recently I discovered the “Pomodoro technique” to doing stuff. It’s kind of weird to explain; it’s when you do tasks in 25-minute windows, or “pomodoros,” which is the Italian word for tomato. (So cute!) After each pomodoro, you take a 5-minute break. After three or four pomodoros, you take a more substantive 15-20 minute break. There’s all kinds of rationale and reasoning for this, but it’s really that simple. And for some reason, it works! There’s something about the 25-minute segment that really works for me. I think it’s because it helps you break up your day’s work in chunks (I found myself giving myself mini-goals for each pomodoro, like, “Work on the massacre scene for this pomodoro”) and it builds in breaks instead of letting you plow through till you’re tired. It’s great! I really recommend doing it. I feel like my writing time is so much for effective now because of the little pomodoros! Plus, you get to think “pomodoro” all the time, which is just beyond cute.

THIS AWESOME ESSAY BY ROSEANNE BARR

Before Tina Fey, there was Roseanne Barr! For anyone who’s ever loved ferocious, funny women, this essay is for you. She’s a handful, of course, but I admire her balls and her fiery spirit. It takes a lot of guts to go up against the TV industry, studio executives and the whole power structure of Hollywood, so kudos to her for doing it.

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Posted in Inspiration + Muses on Tuesday, May 17th, 2011 | 2 Comments »