Structuring My Time, Busting that Routine

In order to be more awesome and to spend more of my time doing awesome things, I chose to stop sticking to a routine. In thinking about how to bust my routine and not have one, I came up with a really good idea as I was going to bed the other night. I realized that one of my current problems with being productive and doing everything I want to do is that my time has lost structure. My days felt chaotic and out of control.

I lost this structure when I switched to my inferno of productivity game, when I put all my tasks on the point system. When I made this switch, I took away any sense of doing work at certain times, taking breaks at other times etc. My time was disorganized, so I wasn't maximizing my time or using it efficiently at all. To be more awesome while managing not to have a routine, I think structuring my time would be the best thing to do.

What Structuring Your Time Even Means

Structuring your time, in my opinion, is not the same as a routine. A routine is defined as, "a sequence of actions regularly followed; a fixed program." Structuring and organizing your time isn't the regimented, as there isn't a sequence of actions or a fixed program. It's merely arranging it so that time is set aside to do work, to take a break, to play poker etc. It's not necessarily doing the same things each day, or doing certain things at certain times. It's making sure that you make the time to do what you need to do as well as what you want to do. This ensures that you don't waste time and that you don't let your time fly by without you.

How I'm Accomplishing This

One of the things I lost when I started my inferno of productivity was my planner. Since I moved my task list from the planner to the point cards, I stopped looking at my planner and I stopped using it organize my day in any way. I exacerbated this problem when I purchased a set of Day of the Week binder clips. This allowed me to create point cards for the next week, instead of just the next few days like I started. Doing so much in advanced actually made organizing my time harder, since I needed to have more in my head and I didn't have all that on paper. I've had those binder clips for several weeks now, and I think that's when things began to fall apart.

I'm fixing all this by bringing the planner back in, using it to create this structure while also using my point cards to keep track of what needs to be done. With the planner, I can also get a sense of the events and meetings coming out, and gauge how much time out of my day each of these events will take up. This prevents me from trying to cram too much and from stressing out because I didn't get as much done as I hoped.

I started this process today, and so far, I think it's working well. This organization gives me a good idea of what needs to done, as well as what's possible to get done during the day. It also puts me into a more productive, motivated, and coordinated mindset. I understand that it is a bit early to call things, so with just about every other thing I've tried, I'm going to give this several weeks and see if things improve.

Why I'm Going to be Using Evernote A Lot More

If you don't know, Evernote is a popular web app that allows you to remember things by keeping a "note" of them. Clip everything from photos and urls to full articles and web pages for future reference, and create your very own searchable, vastly unlimited archive. I joined it way back in April 2012 and used it for a few weeks, only to find that I didn't have much need for it. I really didn't need Evernote for making lists, since I already had another app for that, and I didn't have much need to keep urls, articles, and web pages for future reference. Besides, I have a Kindle Fire, which cannot take photos, so that part is useless. I also still don't have a smartphone, so I don't use my current cell phone to access the Internet at all. Although I couldn't find uses for it when I joined, the app still comes highly recommended, and is typically popular among most users.

All that is Changing

With this new blog as well as some instructions from my business coach, I think I will be using this app a lot more. I will be needing help keeping track of resources to reference, and I do have business and personal goals for the year that I will need all the support I can get in achieving. Revisiting my account after nine months dug up a few nuggets, such as an outdated list of contact information for Congress, my list of 2012 goals for my business (I did not reach most of them, but that's because I didn't have a plan), and several content marketing articles that I need to read over the next few days. I've cleared out the outdated notes, and have organized relevant notes by learning how to create new notebooks and label them. Now, I need to find a whole bunch of things to remember and to reference.

My Whole Life Needs Serious Organization

The biggest way it needs organization is that I need furniture for my home office. Right now, I have two itty-bitty computer desks put together in an L-shape, my files and belongings in plastic bags on the floor, additional books and belongings in piles on other parts of the floor, and papers and even more books scattered across the little desk space I do have. I don't have the room to write or to set things aside that I am going to attend to later. I don't have the room to eat and to watch something on my laptop. I don't like the clutter as it makes it extra difficult for me to be productive and to find things when I need them. Plus, my home office doesn't look all that professional right now. Not to mention, my two desks aren't connected, so I have a gap between them that is really annoying. The desk that I primarily work on is also wobbly. It's all just oodles of fun.

Couldn't We All Use a Little More Organization?

Yeah, probably, which explains why creative organizational techniques are so popular are Pinterest (someone collect them all and start a interior organization company. Or, I'll do it. I don't mind being an entrepreneur and making money). I've come across a couple of good ones on Pinterest, like using shower caddies to organize fruit in your kitchen. I need to do this because, right now, fruit sits in the pantry where I forget that I have it.

Tomorrow's Friday!

Oh, did you really think I was gonna get to the organizing now? Although I really can't do much about the fruit or the home office now, I'm actually doing to spend more time getting work done, or maybe finally getting to those topics that I've been needing to do for a week now.