I’ve tracked the previous two steps as I’m loosely following David Allen’s plan for being more productive: first I collected my clutter, then I processed it. After that, it was time for what I confess is my favourite part: organising. Organising is what it sounds like: setting up a system of ‘buckets’ into which everything Read More…
Author: Jennifer
Living within Limits
Last week I came down with the flu. For the first couple of days it was kind of fun to have an excuse to stay home and watch TV and sleep. But on the third day of fever I began to get bored and actually wished I could do some work or clean the house Read More…
Getting Things Done: Processing the Clutter
I wrote last week about the first step in redoing my system for getting stuff done, which was collecting. We ended up with a big ‘inbox’ of papers and other stuff that either wasn’t where it belonged or needed action taken. Sometimes I didn’t even know what to do with the stuff when I put Read More…
Advice from My Mother
It’s Mother’s Day weekend here in the UK, so in honour of my mother and in keeping with my theme of reflection, I wanted to share some of the good advice I’ve received from my mom over the last couple of years. We’ve kept up an email correspondence ever since I moved overseas, but when Read More…
Getting Things Done: Collecting the Clutter
As I mentioned in my previous post about how to get things done, I’m embarking on a project to sort out my personal and work life. Having moved to a new place it seems like the right time. What’s interesting along the way is to think about what the problems in my system of organisation Read More…
Relinquishing the ‘Friends First’ Relationship
I remember, when I was a teenager, the kindly encouragement from older mentor figures to remember that being ‘friends first’ with a guy was a good idea. I see now that it’s good advice to give a teenager, who might be prone to leaping head-first into an intense relationship totally inappropriate to her maturity level. Read More…
Why Do We Feel Unnecessary Guilt?
In a recent post about trying to live without unnecessary guilt, I explained how my attitude about even small decisions can make me feel guilty and inadequate no matter what choice I actually make – that’s if I can actually bring myself to make a decision, which sometimes I really struggle to do. Around New Read More…
Getting Things Done without Anxiety and Failure
As part of my settling in to a new place and new routine, I’ve been rethinking my habits of organisation and work. It turns out that, in the first few weeks of my marriage, despite feeling happy and optimistic I wasn’t getting much done on my thesis, and my failure to accomplish the work I’d Read More…
Reflections on Singleness
When I graduated without the ‘ring by spring’ so much coveted in my little subculture, I set myself up with a job and a nice apartment and was prepared for adventure. I’m afraid my impression of what that phase would be like came from a combination of my parents’ experience and old movies. I expected to be Read More…
2012: A Year without Guilt
My resolution for 2012 was to ‘do what I want’. But I should explain what I mean. Over that Christmas, I spent a lot of time talking to my mom about why I felt so guilty and frustrated about every decision I made. I felt crushed under too much obligation, and a continual sense of failure, Read More…