NotRocketSurgery: Tag 43folders

The (more or less) paperless life

ryan — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 00:10:15 -0500

I know, I’ve been nerding out writing for 43folders a lot lately and promise to write a cranky post here at NRS soon. In the mean time, though, here is my latest how-to over at the folders.

It seems that many of us otherwise computer-oriented geeks have a surprising and earth-unfriendly confession to make: we love paper. Notwithstanding the entirely digital nature of my own trade, for example, I’ll freely admit that there is really nothing quite like the smooth glide of a mechanical pencil over a big sheet of crisp, white office paper to facilitate good writing and thinking.

I can’t plan out a new piece of software—or write an essay for that matter—without first messily scribbling my ideas out as mind-maps or rough user-interface sketches onto paper. My brainstorms are too messy and flow too quickly for the computer to be able to accommodate my chaos, yet that early disorder is essential to crafting the order and structure that will follow.

And yet I used to have serious reservations about this tendency to spoodge my thought process onto tree carcasses. It wasn’t until I finally learned how to get rid of paper, that I was able properly to embrace its use in my work.

Read on.

new 43folders post

ryan — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 04:12:36 -0400

Check out my latest blog post over at 43folders. Nothing big, just an intriguing (and totally nerdy) serendipitous discovery about the history of GTD.

Part 2 of my 43folders article: the practice of outsourcing

ryan — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 14:11:38 -0400

As Merlin puts it:

Ryan Norbauer returns with the hotly-anticipated conclusion to his series on the psychology and practice of outsourcing your life. If you haven’t read it yet, be sure to start with part 1.

my 43folders article: Enlightened outsourcing

ryan — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 13:18:00 -0400

Celebrated productivity stud-bunny Merlin Mann recently asked me to expand on my outsourcing post here at NRS for his readers over at the venerable 43folders.

Here’s a teaser:

In a matter of a few months, I’ve gone from being an obsessively micro-managing perfectionist entrepreneur who reserved even the most miniscule tasks for himself, to someone who gets assistance on an almost daily basis from no fewer than fourteen outside sources, from New Delhi to New York. And a wonderful thing has happened. I find myself robbed of all those enticing excuses to avoid doing what I ought to do, and I’m actually spending time on things that matter instead. I can honestly report that nothing I’ve ever tried, including GTD, has so radically transformed my ability to bring the big plans I have for my little universe actually to bear upon reality.

And the full monty.