Traumwind - David Ness on the un-benefit of being organized

I read this essay some time ago, and it rang true with me in many points... What good is 'being organized' if it takes out the flexibility to do the thingds that need doing now, un-planned wise?

My take on 'being organized' would be this:
(please keep in mind that I'm far from achieving my own ghoals here ;) )

Have a list of tasks that need doing.
at any given point in your day check that list for things that could be done in that moment
if you have a match, do it
if there are more than one things that you could possibly do, try and decide which one is most urgent, or which one would fill the given time span best

Point is, we often have times, where we could do one thing, but not the other. (Like reading on a train, when there's no way of doing anything that needs a net connection). The examples might seem obious, but how often did you hinder yourself in doing some fun tasks, just because that one big thing needed to be done? And you couldn't do A because B wasn't ready yet, but you also didn't do C, because you needed urgentöy to do A, even if you couldn't sensibly do it? And thereby didn't do C, D, AND E, even if you could have filled your time very comfortably with them while waiting for B?

I call it flexible time-planning. And it does work, if I get my lazy ass to go by that rule ;)

by-the-way: there is an essay on A List Apart: Time Management - The Pickle Jar Theory that I seem to have read some time ago and discovered again just after I typed those thoughts down here. Seems my model was somewhat inspired by that one...

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Big things to come (TM) 30th Dez 2002

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