Current events:
Recently I have constructed a quality management system for a organization I am involved in. Looking back at that work, and trying to connect that with this blog, I must say that the basic philosophies are quite the same. It is all to aid in understanding what, why and how things are done. This in turn is to aid in optimizing and constantly improve things you do to get the most out of every action.
A quality management system, and a personal organized system is not just a base structure on how things are done right now. It should be a guide to a way of thinking, a way to find what is good and what is bad and to do something about it.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Why should things be organized?
Introduction
This post deals with the "why" question. Why is it good to organize things? Why would I benefit from having a structure in the way I think and how I do things?
First of all, and just to make things clear, everyone has some sort of organization system, even though it might not be very well structured. And by all means, not everyone needs a structured organizational system. What it all comes down to in the end is how complex your life is at the moment.
In the following parts I am going to go through how the brain stores, processes and reviews (works with the) information, with a slight focus on organizing things. Hopefully this will answer parts of the "why?" questions above.
The need for taking the step from merely doing things ad hoc to organizing things comes when your brain gets overly cluttered. Have you ever had that feeling that you should have done something, but simply could not remember it? Or felt that you just that moment got the greatest idea, but two hours later could not remember what it was? These two things are signs on why our brain is insufficient as a organization system. You simply have to much to handle at the same time to be able to remember everything. Another side effect from a lack of structure is stress and a feeling of not getting the grip of the bigger picture. This is the point when a documented personal management system will start to be beneficial.
The simplest kind of organization is when it is stored in your brain. It is a simple system for yourself since you have not necessarily put any conscious thought into it yet, and a technically more simple system because of its lack of capability in processing large amounts of complex information at the same time. This might not be true for some, the function of the brain is diverse and can differ a lot from person to person, but is true for a general case.
How the brain works
Our brain kind of works like this; It gathers information from our senses (got five of them, hope you remember which!? ;) ) and pushes some of this information to our short term memory. The information is then processed by our mind, and the things that we reflect upon (conscious or subconscious) have a chance on finding it's way to the long term memory. The long term memory, in turn, is some kind of constantly degrading memory bank where the information needs regular reflection to not be forgotten.
When you are working with information, the information is extracted from the long term memory (or directly from your senses) and put in the short term memory. The short term memory is roughly said to be able to hold 7 items (give or take a few) at the same time, but if more information is put into it some of the old is probably going to fall out. So, information is stored in the long term memory, but processed in the short term memory. Since we do all our thinking in the short term memory we have a limited number of things to think about at the same time without forgetting. If you are curious about the number 7, you can test for yourself how many things you can hold in your memory at the same time. This is done by for example trying to remember as many numbers as possible (without chunking them together). Have a friend say a combination of numbers, and a few seconds later you try to state them again. How many did you get?
I hope you start to see one purpose of organizing things now. Simply because our brain is not capable of processing that many things at the same time. Every new thought that enters your mind pushes another out where it came from, unless you have had time to anchor it in your long term memory. Another point of view actually on anchoring in the long term memory. I said before that the long term memory is degrading. But how do we maintain the information then? This comes from reviews, kind of like the "reflections" I mentioned in the last post about happiness. So by organizing things you actually aid this part also, since in a organized system you can review things easier, without having to first process the information in your short term memory (and by that maybe push the things you wanted to reflect upon out of the system).
Short review so far:
Everybody has a way of organizing things, even though it might not be thought upon that much. You can manage things by just storing them in your head or writing them down. Your brain is good and all, but when it gets to much to handle at the same time it will get confused and start forgetting things. By having things organized you aid your brain in processing information by not storing some of it in your short term memory, and you also aid your long term memory because reviewing things is easier (and will therefore happen more often) if you have things organized.
The reason for organizing stuff is then to get a load of your processing of memories. Focusing the work at one thing at a time without cluttering the short term memory with the bigger picture.
The bigger picture is stored in your system, and can be fallen back upon without having to actively think about it. Since the bigger picture is known without having to actively think about it you aid your long term memory in remembering things.
Organizing takes resources though, and only if the outcome from a clearer system outweighs the increase in resources spent to uphold the system should it be implemented. But generally speaking, it is very rare that a chaotic structure beats the organized one.
Conclusion:
We need to organize to aid our brain in working with information. It is a aid to help us remember things and by that simply work better. You might have a nice thought out way of organizing things inside your head, but this will only take you so far. Having the system inside your head will "take up space" in your short term memory when you want to process something. This leads to one less item to simultaneously think about when processing this something, and a higher risk of forgetting things and loosing the context (guess that sounded kind of dopey...).
This post deals with the "why" question. Why is it good to organize things? Why would I benefit from having a structure in the way I think and how I do things?
First of all, and just to make things clear, everyone has some sort of organization system, even though it might not be very well structured. And by all means, not everyone needs a structured organizational system. What it all comes down to in the end is how complex your life is at the moment.
In the following parts I am going to go through how the brain stores, processes and reviews (works with the) information, with a slight focus on organizing things. Hopefully this will answer parts of the "why?" questions above.
The need for taking the step from merely doing things ad hoc to organizing things comes when your brain gets overly cluttered. Have you ever had that feeling that you should have done something, but simply could not remember it? Or felt that you just that moment got the greatest idea, but two hours later could not remember what it was? These two things are signs on why our brain is insufficient as a organization system. You simply have to much to handle at the same time to be able to remember everything. Another side effect from a lack of structure is stress and a feeling of not getting the grip of the bigger picture. This is the point when a documented personal management system will start to be beneficial.
The simplest kind of organization is when it is stored in your brain. It is a simple system for yourself since you have not necessarily put any conscious thought into it yet, and a technically more simple system because of its lack of capability in processing large amounts of complex information at the same time. This might not be true for some, the function of the brain is diverse and can differ a lot from person to person, but is true for a general case.
How the brain works
Our brain kind of works like this; It gathers information from our senses (got five of them, hope you remember which!? ;) ) and pushes some of this information to our short term memory. The information is then processed by our mind, and the things that we reflect upon (conscious or subconscious) have a chance on finding it's way to the long term memory. The long term memory, in turn, is some kind of constantly degrading memory bank where the information needs regular reflection to not be forgotten.
When you are working with information, the information is extracted from the long term memory (or directly from your senses) and put in the short term memory. The short term memory is roughly said to be able to hold 7 items (give or take a few) at the same time, but if more information is put into it some of the old is probably going to fall out. So, information is stored in the long term memory, but processed in the short term memory. Since we do all our thinking in the short term memory we have a limited number of things to think about at the same time without forgetting. If you are curious about the number 7, you can test for yourself how many things you can hold in your memory at the same time. This is done by for example trying to remember as many numbers as possible (without chunking them together). Have a friend say a combination of numbers, and a few seconds later you try to state them again. How many did you get?
I hope you start to see one purpose of organizing things now. Simply because our brain is not capable of processing that many things at the same time. Every new thought that enters your mind pushes another out where it came from, unless you have had time to anchor it in your long term memory. Another point of view actually on anchoring in the long term memory. I said before that the long term memory is degrading. But how do we maintain the information then? This comes from reviews, kind of like the "reflections" I mentioned in the last post about happiness. So by organizing things you actually aid this part also, since in a organized system you can review things easier, without having to first process the information in your short term memory (and by that maybe push the things you wanted to reflect upon out of the system).
Short review so far:
Everybody has a way of organizing things, even though it might not be thought upon that much. You can manage things by just storing them in your head or writing them down. Your brain is good and all, but when it gets to much to handle at the same time it will get confused and start forgetting things. By having things organized you aid your brain in processing information by not storing some of it in your short term memory, and you also aid your long term memory because reviewing things is easier (and will therefore happen more often) if you have things organized.
The reason for organizing stuff is then to get a load of your processing of memories. Focusing the work at one thing at a time without cluttering the short term memory with the bigger picture.
The bigger picture is stored in your system, and can be fallen back upon without having to actively think about it. Since the bigger picture is known without having to actively think about it you aid your long term memory in remembering things.
Organizing takes resources though, and only if the outcome from a clearer system outweighs the increase in resources spent to uphold the system should it be implemented. But generally speaking, it is very rare that a chaotic structure beats the organized one.
Conclusion:
We need to organize to aid our brain in working with information. It is a aid to help us remember things and by that simply work better. You might have a nice thought out way of organizing things inside your head, but this will only take you so far. Having the system inside your head will "take up space" in your short term memory when you want to process something. This leads to one less item to simultaneously think about when processing this something, and a higher risk of forgetting things and loosing the context (guess that sounded kind of dopey...).
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Happiness
Happiness is a feeling. A feeling can only be felt at present. You can not remember a event in the past and remember how you felt a certain feeling without feeling that feeling again.
That said, reflecting on positive things in the past will bring back that positive feeling. It is only a "reflective feeling" though, and has no further future value. "reflecting on a event when one reflected on a event will not bring the same happy reflective feeling as when reflecting on a event directly." (going to far for ya? ;) )
When you are sitting there and discussing things with your buddies, the happiest moments you are going to find are the ones where you did things together. If your relationship with those specific buddies fade, your happy memories might fade as well. The reflective feelings will be gone and the event will loose some of it's value. One clear example for this is in relationships between couples. When one relationship ends the nice feelings you shared will fade, and if you enter another relationship the past events with the other person might be negative to even speak about.
Even if things are likely to end bad in a relationship, the things you have done together should count for something. You might not be able to be reflectively happy about them any longer, but hopefully they have thought you something valuable. This is in my point of view a nice definition of experiences.
These experiences are what helps you in your pursue for a better, and more happy future life. One can see it as an effort made in the past which will improve the success of finding happiness in in future.
Summary: Happiness is real only when shared. Happy memories can be reflected on and bring those happy feelings back. If a relationship ends the happy feelings will fade and the events will turn to mere experiences. These experiences are what guides you in your pursue for a happier future life.
Conclusion: First of all: Do stuff and invite your friends to it! Secondly: Reflect about them together, and remember the experiences still if your friendship ends.
That said, reflecting on positive things in the past will bring back that positive feeling. It is only a "reflective feeling" though, and has no further future value. "reflecting on a event when one reflected on a event will not bring the same happy reflective feeling as when reflecting on a event directly." (going to far for ya? ;) )
When you are sitting there and discussing things with your buddies, the happiest moments you are going to find are the ones where you did things together. If your relationship with those specific buddies fade, your happy memories might fade as well. The reflective feelings will be gone and the event will loose some of it's value. One clear example for this is in relationships between couples. When one relationship ends the nice feelings you shared will fade, and if you enter another relationship the past events with the other person might be negative to even speak about.
Even if things are likely to end bad in a relationship, the things you have done together should count for something. You might not be able to be reflectively happy about them any longer, but hopefully they have thought you something valuable. This is in my point of view a nice definition of experiences.
These experiences are what helps you in your pursue for a better, and more happy future life. One can see it as an effort made in the past which will improve the success of finding happiness in in future.
Summary: Happiness is real only when shared. Happy memories can be reflected on and bring those happy feelings back. If a relationship ends the happy feelings will fade and the events will turn to mere experiences. These experiences are what guides you in your pursue for a happier future life.
Conclusion: First of all: Do stuff and invite your friends to it! Secondly: Reflect about them together, and remember the experiences still if your friendship ends.
Monday, April 28, 2008
a quote
The greatest manageable disorder should be strived after, since that minimizes the amount of energy needed to get things into the preferred system. All in accordance with the law of entropy ;)
This does not go well with the organization philosophy... or does it?
I would say that it works as some kind of boundary condition. To be able to maintain the system of organization, the system has to be as simple as possible, else it will probably get to much resistance.
This does not go well with the organization philosophy... or does it?
I would say that it works as some kind of boundary condition. To be able to maintain the system of organization, the system has to be as simple as possible, else it will probably get to much resistance.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Keeping it all together
Why should one organize?
The following text is the basic structure of my view on organizing.
First of all, organizing should not be limited to one project at a time. I'm talking big here. Work, School, home - all is the same. Organizing means organizing your life. And this is most certainly not an easy task. The first step into organizing is to look at what specifically is being done.
Most people have very diverse lives. There are lots of activities happening all the time. It can be very confusing to keep these things separated. If there is a lack of a clear management system this can lead to a lot of stress in peoples life.
The first step in organizing is to find out what is being done. The next logical thing to do is to ask why it is being done. This leads to finding the purpose of the action. This purpose is in my point of view one of the key points in a good management and organization system.
The purpose for each activity may lay on different levels of abstraction. To be able to organize these purposes the highest level of abstraction need to be found. This level should correspond to a persons core values. If it does not, the activity is not worth doing.
After the core values are found one can start sorting all the activities. (One should try to strive after activities that has few jumps in abstraction between the purpose of the activity and the core values, or at least rank them according to this.)
The sorting could be illustrated by a folder structure. This is not a definite system though, since activities can fall into many categories at the same time.
The following text is the basic structure of my view on organizing.
First of all, organizing should not be limited to one project at a time. I'm talking big here. Work, School, home - all is the same. Organizing means organizing your life. And this is most certainly not an easy task. The first step into organizing is to look at what specifically is being done.
Most people have very diverse lives. There are lots of activities happening all the time. It can be very confusing to keep these things separated. If there is a lack of a clear management system this can lead to a lot of stress in peoples life.
The first step in organizing is to find out what is being done. The next logical thing to do is to ask why it is being done. This leads to finding the purpose of the action. This purpose is in my point of view one of the key points in a good management and organization system.
The purpose for each activity may lay on different levels of abstraction. To be able to organize these purposes the highest level of abstraction need to be found. This level should correspond to a persons core values. If it does not, the activity is not worth doing.
After the core values are found one can start sorting all the activities. (One should try to strive after activities that has few jumps in abstraction between the purpose of the activity and the core values, or at least rank them according to this.)
The sorting could be illustrated by a folder structure. This is not a definite system though, since activities can fall into many categories at the same time.
Gorganize
For the last couple of days, if not weeks, I've been trying to organize my stuff. Organize everything falling into my life basically.
On my journey for the "ultimate experience in sorting" I've encountered various tools. Computer software, organising philosophies (created some of my own ;) ), hardware tools to help etc.
To be honest I'm quite far away from a solution to the problem yet, but some ideas have come to my liking and I'm here to share them! (and to remember for myself of course!)
Stay tuned ;)
On my journey for the "ultimate experience in sorting" I've encountered various tools. Computer software, organising philosophies (created some of my own ;) ), hardware tools to help etc.
To be honest I'm quite far away from a solution to the problem yet, but some ideas have come to my liking and I'm here to share them! (and to remember for myself of course!)
Stay tuned ;)
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