It’s nothing less than ironic that I can spend hours perusing Web sites aimed at increasing organization and productivity. I’ve spent entire afternoons reading about how to stop procrastinating, and wasted prime weekend days feasting my eyes on photos of immaculately organized closets and workspaces — instead of actually tackling my own.
Still, there’s no question that since I discovered this corner of the blogosphere, I’ve begun life-hacking.
Life-hackers are never content; they are constantly looking for newer, better ways to make their lives simpler. Life-hackers — many of whom compulsively share their tips and techniques through the Internet — realize that organization begets rewards beyond neatness, such as increased efficiency, serenity, and frugality. Three cheers for Web-surfing — when we’re encouraged to revamp our home offices, clean our kitchens, or create new storage systems, we’re taking steps toward better output at work or school, more on-time bill payment, and less time spent looking for misplaced objects and papers.
With that — and our New Year’s resolutions — in mind, we’ve scoured the Internet for great places to acquire organizational acumen, appropriate for both the messy newbie and the compulsive labeler.
There are obvious places to start, such as MARTHASTEWART.COM (check out her “Good Things” tips, which are addictively readable and inspire irresponsible amounts of homemaking confidence), or REALSIMPLE.COM. ORGANIZEDHOME.COM provides motivational clutter-busting and money-saving tips.
If those options seem too girly/suburban-housewife-y for you, try UNCLUTTERER.COM (there’s a great entry on how to take control of a degenerating laundry situation); LIFEHACKER.COM, where productivity junkies exchange tech-heavy info about everything from social networking to computer programs to how to get a better night’s sleep; or the absorbing, straightforward LIFEHACK.ORG.
If you want to try a whole-life makeover — rather than merely collecting hints here and there — explore the GETTING THINGS DONE system (better known simply as “GTD”), which teaches its devotees (and believe me, they are devoted) “the art of stress-free productivity.” The system stems from the eponymous book by David Allen (Penguin, 2002), which instructs people to collect and prioritize their commitments in a methodical way. It has spawned a world of eager followers, many of whom use the blogosphere to detail their own adaptations and adoptions of the GTD lifestyle — check out Merlin Mann’s 43FOLDERS.COM for one popular example.
Some of these espouse technological GTD assists –software that helps keep track of ideas and projects — and these applications are an entity in themselves. Try JOESGOALS.COM for a user-friendly daily tracker of project goals (you can see a graphical representation of your progress at any time), or the Firefox browser add-on GTDINBOX to turn your Gmail into a GTD assistant (one of the primary prongs of the GTD system is keeping tight control over your e-mail inbox). The options are endless — from simple To Do list generators to complete computer systems that seemingly facilitate coordination between all imaginable facets of the user’s life.
Productivity experts might disagree with me (or would they fear decreasing site traffic?), but I’ve found that the more time I spend absorbing such visions of tidy minds and manors, the more likely I am to implement changes accordingly. However, it’s worth remembering that online representations of mental and physical organization don’t eliminate real-life chaos. For that, I have to log off and tune in to reality.
Deirdre Fulton is somewhere underneath this pile of papers, and can be reached at dfulton@phx.com.
