Coping with context-switching madness

Re:Coping with context-switching madness by Tiksi on Thursday July 16, 2015 @04:38AM (#9896012)

I do something similar, and I'm very chaotic, not at all structured. When Im doing something I have my notebook open, if an idea pops into my head I write it down, maybe make a few notes about it, then go back to what I was doing before. Whatever I'm currently working on has a star next to it in the notebook. And once I finish I cross it out (usually). Its not organized like a list, basically just a brain dump. ( Examples of old pages: http://paste.click/VvnUdA http://paste.click/RZyWLG http://paste.click/CsVaoa ) Doing it in a text editor would be just one more thing to get distracted by, and it doesn't really work for the brain-dump/brain-map style, since spatial relations between what I write has significance. This way instead of going off on a tangent I can finish what I'm actually trying to get done, but still keep track of the unrelated ideas/thoughts.

Obviously it won't work for everyone, but it's boosted my productivity massively, and I'm the furthest thing from structured and awful at context switching (Well I'm great at switching, its the switching back that I'm bad at :) )

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Re:Coping with context-switching madness by Starwatcher2001 on Thursday July 16, 2015 @12:10PM (#9898083)

I used to write stuff down, but in my case on sheets of paper that got filed with the project. But I kept thinking "Dammit, I know I've met this problem before, what was the solution?". Doing the same note-taking thing, but using the PC instead of paper, makes it searchable. You're right about the mind-map diagrams though.

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Re:Coping with context-switching madness by Tiksi on Thursday July 16, 2015 @10:35PM (#9901049)

Yeah I have plenty of pages filled with the project. Not having them searchable is a pain, but every time I've tried to use vim for it, it ends up being a bigger distraction than the ideas themselves.

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Re:Coping with context-switching madness by dharma1 on Thursday July 16, 2015 @12:38PM (#9898278)

When do you get to research your unrelated ideas? Do you have a set time of the week for it? Or do you just go through your list one by one as and when you finish the current item?

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Re:Coping with context-switching madness by Tiksi on Thursday July 16, 2015 @10:34PM (#9901043)

I usually go one by one. They end up in a chain of ideas so I just follow that chain down.

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