No mater what I seem to not have enough motivation to get the things done that need to be done so I keep an eye out for related articles. Lately I’ve received quite a few good ones from Lifehacker and Science Daily (two RSS feeds I subscribe to, using Google Reader) and a few puzzle pieces seem to have fallen in place.

Make your to-do list doable

The above mentioned article points out that if you put items on your list that take too long, you’ll probably not get around to them. Along with this, two other key things need to be, to make the list easily accessible both for reading and making new entries. I previously tried pen and paper and various programs for mobile/not devices, notepad, paper in wallet, that are supposed to do this but none of them have so far turned out to be ideal. Either because they are only in one place or they are just too complicated. I’m not going to check my list many times a day if it’s too cumbersome (taking more than 8 seconds of effort would be my measure, and even that’s pushing it.) I’ve just started using a new system that I have high hopes for (something I’ve heard before) and that’s to use email. Benefits:
- I already know how to use it. I check email on my phone all the time already and it never takes more than a few seconds to get into.
- I can easily send new entries from any computer (though I would usually use my phone).
- Backed up like only web-based email is.
- It’s private, you can put things on it like “bury lawnmower in neighbours yard” or “Pick up ‘products’ for the wife.”
- You can forward things from your email to it, I forwarded an email about a domain renewal, it’s what gave me this idea.
- No due date, start date, priority category tedium.

I set up a separate account for my to-do list which I won’t let get any larger than 10 entries. I’ll complete at least one each day. each task should take a minimum amount of time and not be a collection of tasks that really should be broken down. Only the title and one line in the body will be used. This is so that when I check it on my phone, I don’t actually have to read the email to see all entered data. When I’m done, I delete the email. Quick, simple, something I do many times a day anyway.

It looked pretty good, that empty window. I put in one thing just to see if it worked, we’ll see if I get to it tomorrow.

I’m going to continue this post onto the brain side of things which I found pretty interesting. An article about where I’ll be going:
How You Can Boost Your Brain’s Willpower with a Simple Working Memory Exercise By Adam Dachis Aug 5, 2011 11:00 AM

I have been making a lot of notes with the open source mind-map software, Freemind for several months now.  I find that it’s a great way to organise information but I think it has much more potential.

I intend to write about what I think it’s potential could be in hopes that someone might pick it up and expand the functionality of the program and as a topic to start blogging about something for the fun of it.

Below it an example of how it might be used, where all the details of a particular activity, object or function are organised and manipulated so useful information can be extracted.  Think of it as Freemind meets Excel meets BASIC.

I will try and post at a schedule (provided I have something to say) of maybe once every 2-3 day and hopefully learn a thing or two as I go along.