for anyone writing an essay

RefWorks is genius. It helps you collate all those searches in databases for journal articles and papers and puts them into a bibliography that you can download!!! Why have I just found out about this!!!

my bag & what’s missing (update)

I haven’t posted my bag for a while. I’ve got several new things since the last time…

New bag, new laptop, new notebooks, new phone BUT I’ve lost my favourite pen!!!

I had a Parker Urban and I lost it, then found it again last week and now I’ve lost it again! Anyway, I’m sure it will turn up (probably on my desk when I move something).

UPDATE: Found it!!!  It was in my suit pocket… no wonder I couldn’t find it!

So, what’s in your bag?

Headphonaught

I just had a great coffee (he had tea) and chat with Thomas aka headphonaught.  I’ve been reading Thomas’ blog for a while and we almost hooked up for coffee awhile back but it never quite happened.

Well, today was the day.  He’s got some great ideas and it was good to chat with someone who’s looking beyond the here and now.  I think there is much mileage in what we talked about and hope it can become a reality.  Watch this space.

Oh, and I smacked my head off a concrete beam.  It hurt.  A lot.  And it bled.  A bit.

In other news… I got a new bag.  My messenger bag is hurting my shoulder.

notebooks dreams

I’ve got a notebook for work.  It’s an A5 hardback plain paper book (from W H Smith as it happens… Moleskine next time) and I have set it out with tabs.  It was/is a key part of my plan to Get Things Done.  It works for work.  I write stuff I have to do from meetings in it, draw little boxes next to ‘to do’ items and tick them off when I do them.  All good.

I also have sections for ‘Someday’, ‘Blog’, ‘Projects’ and ‘Training’.  I don’t seem to write much in these.  I’ve written 2 things in the ‘blog’ bit, 1 page of stunning ideas in the ‘training’ bit and nothing in the ’someday’ section.

Is this normal?  Should I have dreams and visions that I record in my nice notebook?  Just wondering…

Being organised

I’m still being pretty organised.  For those of you who missed the ‘clearing out and starting over’ kind of posts a few weeks ago, I’m having a go at being tidy and organised.

So far it’s not too bad, although I have a small pile of things that need either sticking back in my bag or in a file but that’s a job for work time.

The one thing I have added to my arsenal of tools is ‘Micro$oft OneNote’.  I’m liking it for some of my projects as it lets me collate different types of files and info on one page.  Handy for planning classes, training and stuff like that but also for bringing together large amounts of web stuff and PDFs gathered while researching.  Worth a look if you haven’t seen it and you can download it as a free trial.

I still haven’t quite got to grips with my paper notebook.  I’m a little scared to write in it I think!  I’ve divided it into sections and put tabs in and it looks great but I’m on page 2!  Maybe that’s the trick, only writing down what you really need to!

the problem with productivity

As you may be aware I’m trying very hard to be ‘organised’ and ‘productive’.  Today I encountered my first snag.  It seems that just when you think you are sailing along on the river of Getting Things Done your Nokia N73 ’smart’ phone decides that it doesn’t want to talk to your laptop anymore.

I spent HOURS reinstalling the software, removing and updating drivers and even rolling back to an earlier restore point.  I gave up, went for dinner and when I came back I plugged my phone in and it synchronised.  AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

So, tomorrow I have a longer Task List because today was interrupted my technology.  I’m using paper!!!

day 2 of being organised

I don’t want ot speak too soon, after all I’m only on day 2 and these things should be taken a day at a time, but I seem to have a clear desk, things have been done and other things have been put in their rightful place.  I’ve ticked things off my To Do List and added more things.

I’m still a little unsure about how to use my notebook.  I like my iPAQ but it’s not great for writing notes on in meetings.  It’s brilliant for carrying papers and minutes and all that stuff but I need to use paper for taking notes.  I think I’ll split my notebook into sections for notes, projects, blogs ideas, dreams and ideas and an index at the back.

I have to admit this being organised thing feels kind of nice.

day 1 of being organised

Well… so far so good.  I now have a task list as long as my arm which is all synchronised with my phone and iPAQ (I think they will become significant tools in this battle!), a 3 tray file system, my stuff in files with labels and an almost clear desk.  I’ve been very productive this morning and seem to actually be ‘Getting Things Done’!

Next on the list is setting up my notebook (paper) so the stuff that goes in it is in some kind of format that allows me to update my Outlook easily.

Avril doubts my commitment to this new regime… we’ll see!  I’m liking it so far!

why does being organised take so much effort?

I’ve spent large amounts of the last two days just throwing stuff away.  I seem to just collect stuff.  I don’t file, I don’t throw it out and most of it never gets looked at!  So now there are 3 black bags full of random stuff waiting to go out to the bin.  The whole process is quite cathartic but I’m getting fed up now and just want to get on with being organised and productive!!!  Yeah, I know… we’ll see.

Getting Organised

Today is GO day!  From this evening I will be Organised!  Honest!

I’ve bought everything I need for my new system.  All I need is an actual system!  Oh, and a Sharpie pen (forgot to get that!).

I bought a new notebook (not a moleskine - I want to see if I can make this work before making that kind of investment in a notebook), page markers, a nice new pen, a new bookcase to allow me some more room for my books and files, cleaned out my Outlook Inbox…

So, a system?  I’ve been looking at lots of GTD (Getting Things Done) stuff and most of the notebook systems seem quite complicated, or is it just me?  I need a system that will:

1. Help me to write down important stuff at meetings and create a ‘to do list’ that will get done
2. Give me some space to write down thoughts for sermons, training sessions and blog posts
3. Manage my projects

So, is that how it works?  I just split my notebook into those three/four sections?  It needs to to work alongside my digital system so I can transfer stuff to and from my outlook and from there to my phone & PDA (that already sounds like too many places to have information!)  You see my dilemma!!!  Any advice would be most welcome!