America Needs to be Restructured
The United States has a huge influence in world events because of it’s sheer size. As of February 2009, there are 309 million people in the U.S. The U.S. has become too large for one single government to efficiently and effectively manage and needs to be restructured.
Currently, the U.S. government is split into three branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The legislative branch is split into two houses, the House of Representatives and the Senate. This branch deals with creating laws. The executive branch deals mainly with the management and decision making in the government. The Judicial branch checks the legislative and executive branches for legality against the U.S. Constitution. This is how it’s suppose to work. But in this day and age, the Government goes against the Constitution without a bat of the eye. Take the recent legislation taxing the AIG bonuses 90%. That is punishing them for what they did BEFORE it was illegal: ex post facto.
The U.S. government has grown so large that it is next to impossible for anyone to grasp the size and structure. It is one huge bureaucracy, and is corrupted more than anyone knows. The Government needs to be restructured to work more efficiently, effectively, and without much corruption. The government should be refactored into a confederation.
Putting a vast majority of the responsibilities in the hands of the state instead of the national government puts a lot less at risk. It also puts the people more in control and connected with the government. Back in the Civil War times, it was important for the states to be under one roof. The South needed the technology and education the North provided. The North needed to produce and farming the south provided. But that is not the case anymore. For the most part, each state can run independently. And a majority of the issues, the state can run on it’s own.
With a majority of the responsibility in the hands of the state, the only thing the national government should be responsible for is keeping peace from foreign and local threats, providing a military, and providing a common currency. Everything else is in the hands of the state.
The current government is NOT afraid to go against the Constitution. People are getting angry with this corruption and it is likely a second Civil War could ensue unless something is done. We need to go back to how our founding fathers wanted the nation. Limited government. The government gets it’s power from the people after all.
New System
This past monday, I completed my first weekly review and got a few things done. The weekly review helped me realize that my GTD system has a plethora of holes. I have project folders, an inbox, and a ubiquitous capture device, but I have no next actions list. I also didn’t have a list of actions for my projects. I also failed to review my calendar thoroughly . What I’m going to do to fix this problem is basically install two new systems. I am going to use two moleskines: one for my calendar and planner and the other one for my task list.
The first molekine notebook will be divided into two sections: Monthly view and daily view. The monthly view is an overview of the entire month, and is where I schedule my commitments. The daily view is the holding place for all of my comitments or reminders for that day.
The second moleskine will be for my daily task list. I will just keep an on going list of tasks I need to keep. The difference between this notebook and the calendar notebook is that the second notebook is a bit more casual. Tasks are not assigned to a specific time or day. The calendar notebook is for date/time specific items.
These two notebooks should make it easier for my brain to relax knowing that my commitments are stored away in a place that I will review daily. Both of the systems outlined above are found in the blog posts referenced below.
See Also:
Projects and inbox
After deciding to go the paper route for my GTD system, I needed to buy some tools to help me organize my papers. I went to Staples and purchased a two layer inbox and a folder stand.
For my inbox I wanted to have two sections, one for all of my incoming stuff, and the second for everything that I need to read. The “to-be read” inbox is great so if I am sitting around with nothing to do, or I know I will have time to kill, I can take something out of this box and bring it with me to read. The top portion of the inbox is to collect all my lose papers and items that need to be reviewed and organized.
My folder stand is for my projects. Each project gets a folder for holding all the paper work needed for that project. This is great becuase usually I just have paper spread around my desk with no organization at all.
Now that I have this part of my system setup, the next step is to start having a weekly review which will be outlined in the next blog post.
Room Revamp
After many years of wear and tear, my room needs a face lift. The nicked up and dirty walls and the aged baseboards all need to be repaired and repainted.
What I am going to do is to repair the walls and baseboards. After than I’m going to paint the walls a dark blue-grey color. The baseboard, molding, outlets, ceiling, and the like will all be white. After the repair and painting is done, I will be purchasing a new Ikea Galant desk to match the new color scheme and give me more desk space.
I’ll be blogging about my experience as I redo my room. Now that I think about it, I should do before and after pictures. Anyway, I’m excited to give my room a much needed face lift and hopefully the new desk will help me stay more organized.
Paper or Electricity?
Paper or electricity? Which is better for organizing life? As I start to take control of my life, this is one of the decisions most of us have to make when developing a GTD system. So what is this decision for? Well, for nearly all of your GTD devices: your mobile input device, your main input, your calendar, project lists, next action list, and more.
Many people use computer software to manage their tasks and calendars using difference devices from PDAs, to cell phones, and their computer. Computer software is great because it allows you to easily reorganize and fix your lists. Once you input your tasks or events, you can edit, change, move, or delete your task at any time. This is great if you are like me and often make accidental spelling errors. However, there is a reason why I am resisting using electric devices for my input.
When you use software or any device for input, you have to actually launch the program. On your cell phone you have to start the note’s applet, or on your computer you have to launch the task organizer of your choice. I see this as a user interface barrier. My task lists and calendar are hidden behind doors. First, you have to click this, then that, then this and then(and only then) will your list show up. I see this as a impediment to working efficiently and effectively. I like things to be easily apparent and in my face. Website bookmarks that are on my toolbar are visited often. But bookmarks that are hidden behind a button or menu are rarely visited and often forgotten.
There is also the trust factor. You must have complete trust in your system. I personally have more trust in paper then the electronic counterpart.
Paper is another method people use to keep track of their “stuff.” They have paper calendars, notebooks, blank sheets of paper, back of envelopes, etc. to keep track of their stuff and write down anything that comes into their mind. Unlike the electronic method, paper is harder to reorganize. You can’t just drag and drop a task from one location on the page to another.
The reason why I like paper is that it is very simple to use. You can easily access your lists by simply opening the front cover. No scrolling, no typing, no clicking. Just open and your “stuff” is immediately apparent. Not only is it easier to access your lists, but it is also easier to input. Pick up a pen and start writing. No cramped phone keyboards, no having to be in front of the computer. Just start writing. I find these two benefits a must-have for input systems.
I have tried to get into electronic task organizers, and even tried to write my own. Right now, paper seems to be the best way for me to organize my thoughts. Electronic organization has too much of a user interface barrier for me to be relaxed and trust the system.
Inbox Zero
Another step I took to help reduce my stress and to relax was to zero out my email inbox. Instead of keeping every email, I went through and handled each email; deleting it when I was done. A large majority of them was nothing but trash. I printed out the emails with CD keys. Emails that had important addresses or information, I put in to the appropriate place(address book, password saver, etc.).
Having my email inbox at zero helps me relax by having one less thing hanging over my head. Instead of having to worry the stuff in my inbox, it is now all been handled. Fortunately I only receive a few emails a day, so it is easy for me to handle them as they come in. This way I am always on top of my email and never have to worry about it.
Another strategy you could use is setting aside an hour or two for only handling emails. If you easily get distracted from your work, close your email program. Then later, set aside time where you ONLY read, respond, and handle emails. This way you are able to get through a lot more emails, and you are also able to focus on your work.
Zeroing out your email inbox is a great way to help you relax and have less to worry about.
Brain Dump
So I began my GTD adventure today with a brain dump. The brain dump is where you write down everything on your mind. The brain is not the best at remembering information. When do you remember you need to buy a light bulb? Not at the store, but when your light doesn’t turn on.
So the best way to help with stress, to free up your mind, and to get a birds-eye-view of everything. A brain dump is done by writing EVERYTHING down on paper. Like most people, I have a lot of things going on. I have school, I have several different projects, some books that I want to read, etc. Instead of storing all of that in my brain…I wrote it all down.
The brain can’t manage memory very well. As you fill up your “RAM”, you begin to lose control of the mess. You have to remember that you have homework to do, you have to remember the changed assignment the teacher made, you have to remember the books you want to read, you have to remember the idea for the iPhone game you have, you have to remember the details about a project you are working, and much more. Sheesh, makes me tired just listing it here.
The important part about dumping your brain is that it has to be EVERYTHING. No matter how big or how small, you have to write down everything. The one little item that you leave off the page and in your brain, ruins the whole system. Leaving one item off the page makes you lose trust in your system. If you put all your scheduled events on your calendar, you can trust your calendar to remind you of your schedule. If you only put a few of the events on your calendar, then you probably won’t use your calendar very often. You must write down everything.
The brain dump is an important step to gaining control of the mess inside of your brain. Remember to write down EVERYTHING. Don’t worry, plenty of people have hundreds of things on this list. As long as you write everything down. The next step will be to decide what to do with the items you listen.
See Also
Bleh
Previously, I stated that I would try to be more active on my blog. Well, that didn’t go as planned. The problem is that I am disorganized. I am using my time in the least efficient way possible by messing around on Twitter when I should be working, and I am working when I should be doing homework. Like right now. I’m writing this blog post instead of working on my essay that is due tomorrow.
So what I am going to do is start reading Getting Things Done again(after I finish working on my essay, that is), and try to implement his strategies in my daily life. I’ll be sure to blog about my experiences as I move through the book; about what worked and what didn’t work.
The invisible EOL
Out of sight, out of mind.
So I was working on my clan website project and I decided to implement country flags, but I ran into a bit of a snare loading the countries from the text file.
The flag icons I found at FamFamFam were perfect(FamFamFam has excellent icons BTW) for this. What made these icons even better is that they are named in appliance to the ISO 3166-alpha 2 country codes. At that link, I was able to find a text file list of all the country names and their codes, which made my job a whole lot easier. I had to write a little script to make it a bit more readable; this is what the text file looked like:
Afghanistan;AF
Aland Islands;AX
Albania;AL
Algeria;DZ
American Samoa;AS
Andorra;AD
Angola;AO
Anguilla;AI
…etc
All 246 countries are listed along with their ISO country codes. I display the flags next to the user’s username. There are many flags that people may not recognize, so what I wanted to do was make it so when I hover the mouse over the flag, it displays which country it is.
What I did was load the text file into an array with the codes as the keys and the names as the values. Everything was fine and dandy up until this point. But when I tried to access the country name based on the country code from the array, it said the index didn’t exist. So I went and printed out the contents of the array, and to my dismay, the array was populated with the correct information.
I was on the verge of pulling my hair out, and chucking my computer across the room. Then, it hit me. When I printed out the array information, the lines would get returned to the next line right after the country code. I didn’t think anything of it before now. So what I did was before the data was inserted into the array, I trim()‘d the country code to remove the new line character. Now it works beautifully.
I thought I’d share my, most likely stupid, mistake in hopes this will help someone who gets stuck in this situation.
