Some day soon I will get round to writing a proper post, but for now I’m busy becoming organised. Specifically, I’m getting hold of a suite of software which will, inevitably, make me more efficient and productive.
The cynics among you might suspect an exercise in procrastination. Certainly, I’ve been guilty in the past of sentiments along the lines of, “Just as soon as I get hold of the perfect guitar / notebook / bike, I’ll record my album / write my novel / get fit.” But this is different, this time I cannot fail to turn over a new leaf.
First off, I’ve stuck Things on my iPhone to make my to-do lists suddenly smart, hierarchical, and portable. That should help.
Second, I’m replacing the pile of scribbled-on paper on my desk, loosely arranged into different themes, projects, and so on, with a shiny new electronic system: Notebook. This promises to allow me to organise all kinds of information, from brief notes to graphs and figures to entire papers, based on the different projects I’m working on. Can’t see how that can fail to make writing papers a doddle.
Finally, I’ve purchased self-discipline. Freedom frees me from the buzz of the internet, turning off my computer’s connection to the outside world for anything up to 8 hours, with only a complete reboot overriding this. Somehow, this seems so much more effective than simply unplugging my ethernet cable. And it really seems to work, giving me at least a couple of hours a day to get down to some proper work.
Who knows, I might even manage some more insightful blog posts as a result. I’ve scheduled some time to write them, and have gathered together my ideas in my Notebook. But for now -
I’m going offline. I may be some time.