Thanks, M! I love the Big Don’t Forget This Stuff Box idea, too.

Another way to speed up your clothes picking experience is to find one or two styles of pants that fit well and are comfortable. Then get one or two styles of shirts. Once you found a good fit/style combination for both items (or as many items as you wear), just get the same stuff in a few different colors and have it so every pair of pants will match with every shirt and so forth. This makes dressing for work a snap. Pick two random hangars. Done

You know what I’ve realised reading this? My goal in life is not to be productive. The whole idea that I might be effective and efficient as a goal in life fills me with depression. I don’t want to be a good employee. I don’t want to wade through a mountain of tasks. I want to relax and enjoy my life.

I think I’m gonna spend a few extra minutes in the morning disarranging my closet and trying to look good. Then I might go outside and look at the trees. Maybe I’ll waste some time wandering around the shops looking for the perfect cookie ingredient for Christmas cookies. Hang out with my husband and watch Alias. You know. Inefficiently.

I’ve finished some big projects in my life, but they aren’t the soul and substance of my life. And sure you have to be disciplined to do some of the things that really matter - if you are committed to developing green energy sources, for example, it’s going to take some sustained effort. I just wonder if there isn’t a mania about organisation for organisation’s sake, just part of the pressure our employers put us under to help them achieve their reduced-cost employee bill.

Hope you guys are using the extra time you get from being organised to be disorganised.

evie

That is a great comment, Evie, and it’s one reason I’ve come to dislike the word “productivity.” It implies an urgency to create more widgets faster, and I think that’s an unfortunate way to look at one’s life (and certainly not one I try to encourage here, FWIW).

To me GTD in particular is useful not because it increases output or makes you a more useful corporate drone but because it reduces stress and decreases wasted motion. More hours hugging kids and kissing the spouse beats the crap out of trying to remember appointments and waking up every night in a cold sweat. That’s real stuff, and it’s harsh to live with if it’s ever been visited upon you.

So, yeah, I agree with you 100 per. Regardless of the label on the tin, I think we’re talking about the same can of soup here.