I’m currently living a paradox: there are less “things” to do per se, (i.e. “things” - what would be high level tasks on my now gone PDA, more on that later) but I’m more busy. There is not as much running around to do, but I manage to find myself short on time to check out reddit.com or digg.com. Naturally, my blogging time also suffers; I haven’t posted in a week! I find myself appreciating the little time-saving things that add up. These are the things I try to do, which may or may not be the best way of going around things but maybe those little tips may help somebody less organized than me =) (probably not many of you!) Warning: this is more of some random ramblings of mine rather than a neat and concise essay, so be kind.

Information retrieval

Thank god for RSS readers, I can still keep up with people. What blogging software do you use? I personally use BlogBridge, a free, open source RSS reader implemented with Java Swing (and it doesn’t suck!). Pro-blogsumers will almost certainly know this, but this deserves a mention; It contains features, (way more than I actually use) including smart feeds which can collect articles from del.icio.us, flickr, technorati, amazon and so on. So, if you’re interested in say nail clippings, you can be updated anytime somebody utters the word.

Be lazy

Automate anything you can. That’s the basis behind the saying “Good programmers are lazy and dumb“. If you’re lazy enough, you will spend some rightly spent effort doing something that will ultimately save your MUCH more effort otherwise. In actuality its a matter of foresight. Planning ahead and doing sometimes immediately more annoying things will save in annoyance in the long run. What I say is pretty vague, kind of a Rich dad/Poor dad kinda “nonsense“, but it is easy to see the benefits of what I’m staying. Concrete example: Instead of waiting in line when going to the restaurant, take the time to book a table in advance. This might seem trivial for some, but for the majority of people out there, it simply isn’t.

In the kitchen

Whenever I’m cooking, I try to use as little dishes and utensils as possible. The reason for this is two-folds; my mother is a very eco-friendly person, especially when it comes to the waste of water. It might not seem like much when you’re in a country like Canada with an abundance of natural resources, but in Mauritius, an Island with no rolling forests or melting polar caps, water is in tight supply. Although the hydro bill is much less there than in this part of the globe, less people are actually concerned about the consequence of wastage.

The second reason and more immediately relevant to my long-winded point is that you’ll simply have less to wash! Doing dishes is the bane of my existance, but I found out that doing them as soon as I’m done eating makes this so much easier to deal with.

When the dishes have been sitting in the sink for a week or two, not only did the fat congeal, but when you did that pasta and drain the boiling water in your sink full of dishes, this grease then melts and spreads in microscopic holes everywhere, making it much harder to clean. Being regular with your washing also has the added bonus of eliminating that ‘dead rat’ smell when people pass by your kitchen. =)

Excuses, Focus and Goal Management

This is one area I find the hardest to respect. Its not in so much as to setting goals, but it’s to actually bring them into completion. But its not only that! It’s also to choose the right tasks, prioritize them and to execute them in order.
This is rendered hard due to the hectic nature of life. Things always pop up, and there are always good excuses for any setbacks. The thing is, some people succeed despite incredible setbacks… How do they do it? The answer: inner locus of control, vision and drive. You need to think your success rests mostly on your shoulders to succeed. The motivation will help you keep on the right path, saving you the trouble of not sticking to your plans (or handling setbacks as well), which will in turn help you save time (proper planning -> better execution -> savings in time). My “problem” is I don’t always choose the “critical path“, but life wouldn’t be as interesting if I did! (although the choices I make, e.g. playing games, are totally not justified! ^_^)

Epilogue

At the end of the day, its not the goal that gives the most satisfaction, but rather the process. Incredible but true (at least to me), now that I’m doing everything I can to do less, I enjoy doing the little things more. This is the real paradox.