Time Management: The Use of Systems

You may have noticed this before from my often-irregular posting schedule, but just in case you haven’t I thought I’d just come out and say it.

I am a very busy person.

Now, this is in no way an attempt at being conceited, I am merely saying that I, like many others, happen to be very busy. And at the very core of it, I believe that it is the fault of myself and myself alone. These past two weeks or so have been the best examples of this defect of mine, as you shall soon understand…

Two weeks. That's all. Two weeks and my whole summer, which was already packed with plans, went from an “I can do this, even if just barely” to an “Oh dear god what have I done to myself”. Now I won’t get into those things just yet, (I would like to save them for another post) but they were mentioned to propose a possible solution to this mess.

That solution is the use of a system that helps to keep me afloat. My Japanese teacher phrased it this way: “an individual cannot manage multiple projects. Instead, people set up and maintain systems that manage their projects for them.”

He does seem to have a rather significant argument there. The more I thought about it, the more I began to realize that those adept at being timely with their matters all seem to utilize organizational systems. And what is a system really except for a ritualized process?

After coming home, inspired, from my Japanese lesson, I began the creation of such a system. I’ve started organizing my blogging drafts and programming files into a more structured set of folders and files.

Here are some of the results:



Here’s the folder that houses my blog drafts, information about blogging, and my work with MOUSE. Once opened, the folder looks like this:



There are three more folders for posts that fall into these categories: completed, in progress, and plans and outlines for new unwritten ones.

I have a similar scheme for my programming files. Four folders that will hopefully take care of any of the major sets of data that I will need to work with. Anyways, the nice thing about all of this is that it allows for adjustments to be made quickly, without distraction. I’ll check with you guys in two or so weeks to discuss whether or not this arrangement works. (heres to keep my fingers cross...)

Quick shout-out to my friend Ben for editing this post. He really did a great job. Thanks a lot man.