Tools for keeping your life organized January 15, 2007
Life gets busy for all of us sometimes. Here are the tools I use to manage my life.
Palm handheld
The most valuable tool for me is my Palm handheld. I can relax more because I know it will remind me of appointments and anniversaries when needed. It also allows me to unload things from my head to a safe place for later continuation. This way I can develop many projects and ideas without worrying that my short term memory overflows. My palm also keeps track of all the passwords and logins I have.
Many of the tools I use are standard on all Palm devices, like Date Book calendar for appointments, anniversaries and “important” TV show reminders; Memo Pad for writing short text notes; Address book for keeping real world and net address, phone, login, password, pin, … information in one place (just remember to take care of security if you store private data on handheld, I encrypt/decrypt all passwords etc. in my mind using algorithm that only I know.)
Life Balance
Life Balance by Llamagraphics is a Palm software for managing projects and life goals. Projects can be anything, like a project to complete a marathon, remember your friends, manage business or design product X at work. Life goals are any high level goals you want to achieve in your life, like maintain regular exercise, be sociable or support your family. Life balance helps in prioritizing different task by allowing you to set priorities for different goals, projects and tasks. It shows dynamic to do lists based on priority, location (like at home, work, shopping ,…) and other factors.
Handy Shopper
Handy Shopper by Christopher Antos is Palm software for managing shopping lists. It’s simply excellent, I have never forgotten anything on my shopping trips if I have used it. (It’s also free.)
Getting Things Done, by David Allen
Getting Things Done is a book and method for managing your life efficiently. I don’t use the method all the time, but I know that I can always have more control in my life by adhering more to the method (I use it regularly for processing my emails. My Co-workers have wondered how I always manage to have empty inbox…)
Amazon.com: Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
Learning to use computers efficiently
We all know how to use our computers at some level, but knowing some power features can save you a lot of time. Here are some: In Windows Explorer you can find correct folder and files faster by typing the first letter of the name you are searching (just click on any folder or file name and start typing). This takes you to files/folders starting with that letter. You can type more than one letter quickly to get even closer match. Another tip is to setup shortcut keys for opening your mostly used programs and files (I use Ctrl + Alt + X for excel and Ctrl + Alt + W for Word). Using File-Open dialog can also be made more productive by typing first couple of letters of the name you are looking for on the File Name box followed by “*” and hitting enter. This will filter the list to show only matching names. Net is full of good tips for making your computer time more efficient!
Using computers efficiently in itself doesn’t keep your life organized, but it lets you spend more time in more important thoughts. Using shortcut keys will also keep your mind focused on what you are thinking currently (old fashioned point and click tactics to hunt for a menu item will interrupt your thinking). This happens because pressing shortcut is much simpler operation for your brain and it soon gets downloaded to subconscious.