Ask HN: How can I get over problems with being organized? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How can I get over problems with being organized?

6 pointsKillah9115 comments

I'm at the brink of quitting my day job & working full time on my startup, which was on the side but has met with some success recently, thanks in large part to my assistant. But it's starting to get unmanageable for me and I'm wondering if I shouldn't just keep it on the side...

I can do great work, but unfortunately not on my own. Someone has to do all the little stuff, dot the i's cross the t's... Not that I'm incapable of doing it, but I just can't rely on myself enough to know that I'll do it when it's my own business. I've read Neil Fiore's "The Now Habit" and a couple of other books including Tim Ferris' 4-hour workweek (hence the assistant). But nothing seems to quite work for me... Anybody have any good advice? Have you faced something similar? I've spoken with counselors regarding this, and it seems they just don't get it, they end up making me even more anxious...

Give it more context - do you mean paying the bills before deadline or overlooking SQL injection in your site or not forgetting the 1/7 case for a switch statement?

They all involve dotting the i but with massively different consequences. They require different kind of effort to be put it.

For me, it has helped to turn to do lists into a religion. I use fog bugs for everything. I have super detailed, nested tasks. It takes time to get everything in the system, but then you can just start going down the list and checking things off.

Thank, I've tried trello, and it's actually pretty nice. But then I got over-ambitious and the list got ridiculously wrong. Tried dividing it up into four quadrants like the 7-habits book said, and well, there are stuff on that list from 6 months ago. Only time that list seemed to help was when I had my assistant checking on it and nagging me to get things done...

The four quadrant thing, for me, is one of those things that's a great idea in concept, but just doesn't work in reality. I find it better just to make a 'wish list' todo list, and I just throw everything that's 'not important not urgent' in there, then I can pick and choose as I like.

The nagging part - I haven't found any way around that other than nagging myself. This does mean that I often get lazy and unproductive. I'm working on a todo web site that will nag you - with emails, text messages and even phone calls.

You should be able to rely on yourself. Keep practicing and you will get better at it. Grind through it until it's a habit. Reading books about it won't do much for you.

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