If only we had servants and staff to handle all this trivia so we can free our minds to contemplate the important stuff, the fun stuff, instead of this urgent stuff.Well, modern times also bring unique opportunities for freeing ourselves if we use it strategically (or burying ourselves deeper in distractions if we don't.) I've been pretty successful with the former, and here's the approach I've used for several years to keep my head as empty as possible. Instead of servants, I have something better... agents.
1. Google Calendar. Anything that has to happen a certain date, I put on the calendar and forget about it. It's synced with my email client (Thunderbird) using Lightening (a calendar add-on.) When I check my mail in the morning I can see the whole week or month of places I have to be at a certain time and date. I share it with my mate, since we only have one car, we can both make entries and know whether we'll have transportation or whether we'll need to bike, bus or walk. It's synced with my phone and if I'm particularly paranoid about missing an important engagement, I can setup alerts or sms notifications. Very low maintenance, a few seconds to enter something, a few seconds in the morning to get a snapshot.
2. Journal. Here's where I put all the stuff that needs done but doesn't involve a specific date. I have a section for projects, active and queued to capture notes, a section for 'this week' and one for 'today.' After reading the mail and checking the calendar, I start with a blank slate for the day, I check the day before, to see if I want to carry anything forward, or refile it in projects and just write the stuff I actually plan to accomplish today. At the end of the week I review my active projects and any backlog and plan for the week to come. The Journal makes sure that, even if I don't do much any given day, I haven't lost sight of anything important. It's also a place I post to myself about whatever I'm thinking, much more productive than doing the same on social media or blogs.
3. Mind map. I do this once a quarter, it's basically a big map of what I want to do, explore, accomplish from a big picture perspective. It may tag projects from my journal but it's a holistic, 10000 foot view of all areas of my life, from fitness, to learning, enrichment, etc. Whenever I want to get my bearings, I look at the map.
4. Anki. I learn a lot of stuff everyday. Most of it I forget. The stuff I actually want to remember I just slap into Anki as an index card. Anki optimizes the review of information, with the minimum fuss possible, to retain a memory. It's designed so I spend the least amount of time reviewing in order to ensure I remember what I want. Anki takes only a few minutes a day and only reviews the stuff it knows you are about to forget.
5. Whiteboard for shopping. As I run out of stuff or think of things I'd like to eat, or stuff I have to pickup, I jot it down on a whiteboard with headings for places like Costco, Target, Supermarket, etc. When I'm ready to make a shopping run, I take a snapshot of the board with my phone and I've got my shopping list.
These 5 little assistants require very little ongoing maintenance, they are all basically just a place I can put something once, get it out of my head, and then go about my day with the assurance that nothing is going to fall through the cracks. I don't need to be reviewing stuff with wasted brain cycles all the time worried that I'm not keeping pace with the demands of living in a complex world.
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