Thinking Rock

What I like about Thinking Rock so far is the way I can list all my projects (Things I'm thinking about, or working on right now) and then list my actions (what I need to do) and give them a context in which to do them. My contexts include things like "preparation", "research", "with leaders", "at church" etc.

So, on Monday I had a church leaders meeting and I pulled all my "with leaders" actions. It was great! Now, if I use the system properly, I can enter actions onto my list and forget about them until they come due.

I guess the baseline simplicity of this is that I now have a place to capture all the thoughts I have over the course of a day or a week or a month about a meeting or event, or anything. I no longer have to try and retain all that data in my head, which was my fundamental problem with organising myself.

I know this isn't rocket science, and I don't expect to suddenly become the best organised person in the world, but I'm actually excited about having some structure, and for those who know me, that's a really strange thing for me to say!

The other side effect so far is that my study is now almost completely clear of stray piles of paper that don't have a home.

For quite some time I've tried to work with one notebook in which I capture ideas, 'phone calls, meeting notes etc, ready to transfer to more appropriate storage (appropriate to the data that is), and TR will help give a place to the "to do" list stuff that never really made to a list because I could never manage to write down everything on one list using paper.

If you've got any helpful suggestions about how you corral paperwork, let me know. I'm starting on my filing system which has to said is more a place to hide stuff than find it!