Posts Tagged ‘view of my office’

I am a human being. I’m flawed. I fuck up often. And recently, I decided to try more visual reminders of ways I should check myself before I, as the kids said in my youth, wreck myself. So I made this post-it note and have it on my monitor:

My daily reminder

• Read Charitably — Something I’ve talked about before, quite often.
• Be Magnanimous — A friend of mine told me a few weeks ago (to paraphrase) “Listen, you’ve just stirred up some shit. And people are going to pick apart your language. You’re going to want to be an asshole back to them. But you know what you’re going to be instead? You’re going to be cool. You’re going to be magnanimous.” He likened himself to being my boxing coach, which given we’re talking about Internet bullshit is probably not far off. That was exactly what I needed to hear, and I wrote it down.
• Know Why You’re Saying Yes — I’ve talked a lot about taking on too many projects and failing and crap like that. So when I want to say “yes” to something, it’s a reminder to know why I am.
• Party On, Wayne — Don’t take life too seriously. As the Prophet Myers spoke to the Disciple Carvey, “Party On, Garth.” And Carvey replied, “Party On, Wayne.”

Ones not yet on there:

• Fuck the Wolf — Here’s the reference. But since my post-it hangs on my day-job monitor, I won’t write that. And I haven’t found a safe-for-work version that’s as satisfying. The wolf may be a friend…if you don’t mind being friends with Tyler Durden[1].
• People On The Internet Are Human Beings, Too — Seriously, we all are. So when we’re being cockbites at each other on the Internet when we wouldn’t be in person, it’s something to think about.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who needs daily reminders to not be an Internet dumbfuck. What would be on your monitor post-it?

- Ryan

[1] Which is also what I named my cat.

This month, I’m trying a new life organization technique, inspired by a dear friend and some thoughts from Getting Things Done. I’m getting things I need to do out of my head and onto post-it notes, a calendar, and a list on my wall. I used to try solely electronic methods, but for some reason they never worked long-term for me. So, as Olivia Newton-John once said, Let’s Get Physical.

(Like I said last post, I’ll need the weekend to collect my thoughts on critiques. Until then, here’s an unrelated post.)

Click on photo to see entire wall

I have three parts to that wall (which you need to click on to see):

• My short-term To Do List, small things that need addressing
• My long-term Projects and Ongoing Tasks (like chores and reminding myself to do stuff like reading for myself).
• My calendar

The calendar is the key, here. I’m using it to track the last time I touched a project, touched a chore, and touched a vice (as I’m starting to monitor my intake of things like soda, alcohol, eating out, etc). As I move a post-it, I’ll mark where it was moved from that it was there, so I can say “Okay, I worked on Vicious Crucible four days this month, and last time was two weeks ago.” This will help me understand what projects I’m neglecting, and think about if they’re worth keeping on.

You’ll see I have a fuckton of post-its. On the long-term list, unassigned post-its haven’t been touched since I started this on the 7th (with a few I’ve back-logged this month). Most of the post-its are projects, but of varying priorities. My Master Plan Podcast is, for instance, a project post-it.

There is a reward cycle moment in moving a post-it right now, and it keeps my head from having to contain this sort of information, which David Allen talks about as a burden in Getting Things Done. (I haven’t incorporated more of the process yet.)

I’m also using the calendar to track things like my weight, finances, appointments, things like that. The top-left corner is where I have “I should be getting on these motherfuckers right now” post-its. The top-right is “I need to hear back from someone about this” — and there’s a couple from my board that I now get to move to there.

This is a new process, so I’m still figuring out how I’m going to handle it. But one thing is clear: I want to slay the fuck out of some of these post-its before I take on new ones (or even address some of them I’m intentionally back-burnering, like Gun n Fuck & Master Plan). I want to crumple post-its in my hands and throw them at my cat so he can bat them around. Hell yes, I will. I will Finish Them.

Any advice or thoughts would be appreciated.

- Ryan