Improving efficiency. Reducing clutter. Getting things done. These are all important things for any adult. But there are people who take it to the extreme, these are the people who all ready visit the places I’m about to link to and have read the books I’m about to mention. You may know these people, their desks are organized, their inboxes are under control, they carry around a Moleskine notebook and they think Merlin Mann is well, the man.
I’m not exactly a card-carrying member of the Lifehacker/Getting Things Done crowd but I do find some of it extremely helpful. I keep a Moleskine and I do write to do lists in it but my desk is a mess and I far too often focus on the pedantic, daily grind as opposed to long-term goal setting. I’ll introduce you to the sites and when applicable give you a featured link. The body of work so large on these sites that just casting you off to their website without any direction is a bit much. Without further ado, the links!
+ 43 Folders is Merlin Mann’s now semi-defunct blog about finding the time and attention to do your best creative work. Mann is quite often hilarious and takes time to poke fun at the more ridiculous side of the Getting Things Done ethos. There is a lot of value in browsing through the archives and picking his brain. I’d recommend the How To Use 43 Folders section of his site. [43 Folders] Another recommended page to visit from 43 Folders – Getting Started With Getting Things Done
+ I would be remiss if I didn’t include Lifehacker in this post. The super popular Gawker property is one of the most linked to sites on the internet for good reason. They produce a daily stream of quality how-tos, diy projects, software downloads, websites to visit, tutorials, shortcuts and tips for a huge audience. I really like this bit of copy from their site, “Think of Lifehacker as self-help for power users.” [Lifehacker] Recommended page to visit from Lifehacker – Their Featured Workspace feature is a big favourite of mine.
+ Lifehack.org is another popular site in the same vein. It doesn’t get as much love as the previous two but it is still a solid contributor to the canon. [Lifehack.org] Recommended page to visit from Lifehack.org – 10 Tools for the Non-Handy Person’s Toolbox
+ Getting Things Done was the title of the book that started it all. Written by management consultant David Allen you can find it any major bookstore or if that’s not your thing there this place called, Amazon. I won’t send you to his website because it is terrible and it is all sell, sell, sell but Wikipedia has a great entry summarizing the book [Getting Things Done]
And finally to paraphrase Merlin Mann, please do not use these lifehacking sites as an excuse to procrastinate. That would be so ironically unwholesome as to stagger the mind.
Postscript – After posting this, it was mentioned by the wonderful editor of Unlimited, Craille Maguire Gillies, that we’ve linked to Merlin Mann’s 43 Folders and Lifehacker before with this Hipster PDA post. Yes, he’s the hipster so nice, we linked to him twice.
Tags: 43 Folders, efficiency, LifeHacker, Lifehacking, Merlin Mann
