---
date: 2021-01-29T12:00
tags:
  - timeline
  - practices
  - productivity
---

# how i stay (somewhat) organized

Right now this is just a draft outline, ideally I will circle back on this some
time this year to fill in some more details.

- Tools
  - Notebook
    - Right now this is actually just half-letter-page (5.5 inches × 8.5
      inches) sheets on a similarly sized clipboard + pen.
    - Pre-printed [time
      block](https://www.calnewport.com/blog/2013/12/21/deep-habits-the-importance-of-planning-every-minute-of-your-work-day/)
      pages: four columns (for amending schedule) +
      twenty-two 30min rows.
    - Blank pages for logging daily notes, observations, and ideas.
      - I use some elements of [bullet journaling](https://bulletjournal.com/)
        for this:
        - I love the bullet syntax, so I use that often (and a homegrown
          shorthand).
        - I migrate tasks from page to page, but don’t follow any of the
          weekly/monthly/yearly migrations.
        - The second or third time a task is migrated, I move this task over to
          my digital planner app (more below).
        - Reflection happens ideally once a day, but more like 2 or 3 times a
          week.
    - Periodically I clear out the clipboard to archive older sheets that I
      won’t need to update - these get scanned and put into a per-annum PDF
      document that is [synced](https://syncthing.net/) to my phone and
      computer.
  - Calendar
    - I check my digital calendar multiple times a day: I use this to
      communicate shared calendar events with team members, as well as personal
      events, deadlines, etc.
  - Home-grown [todoist](https://todoist.com/) clone
    - Repo: git://pingo.thermokar.st/planner
    - Live: https://planner.thermokar.st (access restricted)
    - Structure
      - This planner is modeled after GTD practices and features an inbox, and
        the ability to categorize tasks into one or more “plans” (plans can be
        a project, a specific day/week/events todo list, an issue tracker,
        etc).
- Routines
  - Daily
    - I triage notifications first thing in the morning (no more than 30 mins).
      - Note, I might move away from this: I would prefer to handle that kind
        of stuff midday if possible.
    - Timeblock the day’s schedule (see: [[9db45ab6]]),
      incorporating prior engagements, any urgent ad hoc tasks, and the week’s
      goals (more below).
      - If I fall behind or something unexpected comes up, I update the
        timeblock schedule when I get a chance.
  - Weekly
    - Before each week starts I try to identify a few high-level goals for the
      week, and figure out (broadly) how they might fit into my schedule, but I
      don’t worry too much about specific scheduling at this point, just
      something like "Wednesday would be a good day to carve out time for
      this…"
  - Long-term
    - My calendar handles big things like major work milestones, deadlines,
      appointments, meetings, etc.
    - Tasks go into my planner app, I review these 3-5 times a month on average
      to see how they might fit into what is coming up next, etc. Really
      long-term tasks get filed into an @someday plan.