Whilst playing a computer game the other day, it occurred to me that I could implement something that was working well into real life too. I was playing a survival game called Subnautica, which involves needing to collect materials to craft equipment. As I don't play every day and/or might also play something else, I was finding that sometimes I'd return to it and forget what I'd been working on. I do make notes in my Filofax, but it can be easy to forget to do this, so I decided to instead create a work in progress locker by the main entrance and also a sign on the wall with a couple of brief notes. This means that it's always clear to me now as to what materials I might be missing for something, or where I was planning to go next.
I discovered this old kitchen timer in the back of a drawer, and my large Longchamps bag will be perfect for holding any work in progress projects. I have sometimes kept a plastic tub under my bed for this purpose, but it's larger then needed and not the most convenient place as it's out of sight, out of mind. This bag can tidily fit in an unused space next to my desk, so that will remind me to work on the contents on a regular basis.
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| Brown Argyll and Longcamps Le Pliage bag |
I've also realised that I want to work on closing any open loops, so I'm going to be setting the timer for 10 or 15 minutes with the aim to look for anything that can be easily completed. For example, recently I discovered that a decorative moulding piece had fallen off my desk, so I'd normally just pop it into my intray to deal with later. However, instead I chose to do that as part of my timed session, so I remembered that I already had a couple of other pieces in a drawer, got them out, found some wood glue and finished that to completion. And a couple of added bonuses were that I could recycle the small box that had been holding the other bits, plus I was able to use up the remains of the ancient wood glue as well. The whole process took about 5 minutes and was only something trivial, but overall I felt a decent amount of satisfaction for the minimal effort involved!
Here's one of my previous work in progress lists:
I've only recently reintroduced my WIP list and done a couple of 'what can I complete' sessions, but so far they're both really helping me.
How do you track any work in progress projects?
And as always on Fridays, please feel free to discuss anything organiser related. I hope that you have a great weekend.
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