Site Spotlight: Steven Pavlina

I apologize for my long disappearance. I stupidly chose to start this blog right before i underwent surgery. i had a simple wisdom tooth removal, however i reacted very badly to the stitches. Further more since they had to go into the jaw bone i was in pain for quite a few days. In addition i have been facing quite a few other health problems that i do not wish to discuss.

Any way lets get back on track.
It is late Sunday (almost Monday) and i promise i will bless you all with a wonderful post tomorrow. However i wanted to lead you all to one of my favorite blogs Personal Development for Smart People, by Steven Pavlina.
While the vast majority of his website is of excellent quality i really wanted to focus my attention on his article about how to prioritize. While there are admittedly flaws in his method i feel it generally works extremely well for larger projects. I invite you to read his article that describes a simple, multi-point scale for determining what should be completed first. It doesn't hurt that it can be put in a neat little excel spread sheet either.

As for Smaller tasks that it would be out of hand to break down into a multi faceted system i will get into a prioritization method within the next week.

Banish The Basket

Many design and organization blogs i have read as of lately, along with several magazines seem to tout the basket as the best all purpose organizational devices. While they do have there positive aspects, i feel that the negatives far out weigh the positives. So here are some of the views of both sides, along with some alternatives to the basket.

Pros

• Baskets can be great storage devices for those with little to no closet space. Since they are spacious and deep they are perfect for holding clothing that has not previously had a home.
• Designers seem to be a huge fan of baskets, and for good reason. Baskets come in infinite colors and materials and can match just about any decor.

Cons

• Help maintain a state of disorganization. Just as most kitchens have a junk drawer, most houses have a junk basket that never has its contents emptied and put into the proper location. This helps to make some one OKAY with the clutter that is in the basket and more willing to spread it into the rest of there home and life.
• Baskets also maintain the the pack rat mentality. most people use baskets for things that are a little more challenging to organize such as electronics and craft items. which usually means people have a large amount of extra space in those baskets that they feel compelled to fill.
• Baskets tend to have an unequal balance of form and function. while the look of baskets is usually very glamorous they are one size fits all storage solutions. most people's organizational needs are not so cookie cutter and need specialized solutions
  

Rather than large baskets you should focus on storage that is customized to the size and type of what you need to store. If you feel a large basket is the only sure fire way to keep your items organized i would recommend using a clear plastic bin that you sub-divide to keep the insides organized. The clear plastic will remind you to keep the contents organized, and they come in many shapes and sizes so they better fit the size of the what you are storing.