I mentioned in a previous post something about a skinny book. What is it? I got the idea from Sally Jean; she calls it a “book-book.” I took a workshop with her and bought her book where she mentions it. Quite frankly, the term “book-book” seems a bit juvenile for me; but I liked the idea of it. So its the same concept, and I take no credit for “inventing” it. I just call mine a skinny-book.

First, what is it? Go to your local Kinkos and purchase 50 pages of plain white paper and have them cut in half length-wise. Have them cut a nice bright colored piece of thick card stock in half as well for the cover, and then ask them to bind the entire thing for you. Personally, I prefer the black spiral binder as it allows the book’s pages to fold easily back onto themselves and you can lie the book down flat on the table. Now you have a hundred-page 4.25 by ll-inch spiral bound book, ready for you to write your ideas and thoughts.

Now, keep the book with you and write your notes, ideas and epiphanies in, whenever and wherever they come. Like Sally Jean suggests, date the cover of your book from when you start writing in it to when you stop. Its also nice to leave a couple of pages blank in the front so when you’re done, you can write a “table of contents” of all the content inside once the book is filled. Keep the books around as you’ll be amazed as to how often you refer back to them. The cost of the book is between $8-$10, depending on how many pages they put in (sometimes I put more) and the quality of paper used. I don’t like it to be too thin or cheap as I like to write with the permanent thin markers and they tend to bleed through.

It’s also a good idea to change the color of the covers, if possible, whenever you create a new one. I am a very visual person and will remember writing something in the yellow skinny-book as to opposed to the one three months ago.

Why do I like the size of the skinny book? I mean why not just buy a notebook and write in it?

• The thinness of the book fits very neatly in my purse.
• On pages that are too wide (like a regular piece of paper) my writing tends to slant and get very messy
• There is something nice about writing on such a narrow piece of paper. I don’t get lost in my thoughts and I can more easily FIND the stuff I’ve written before. I mean think about it. Magazines and newspapers are written in thin columns. It is much easier on the eyes not to have to move so far from left to right when you read (and write!)
• I have a tendency towards ADD (or at least getting very distracted with “shiny things”); somehow the narrower width of the page helps overcome this.

So far, so good. I’ve actually decided to keep track of all my major projects right now instead of just three. “Three” didn’t make sense. So I have written out a “snapshot” list for each deliverable or project, working backwards in time. Then took each of those steps (at least the first 2-3 snapshots in that list) and written a to do list. It’s going okay. I’m trying to time myself so I don’t get lost and spend too much time on one thing. Hopefully, I can keep this up.

I tend to focus on too many things at once so the first thing I need to do with my plan, my rules so to speak, is pare the list down to about three projects. The projects can’t be so big or so vague that they encompass everything. I know that sounds simple and nothing earth-shattering, but it IS a problem I tend to have – losing my focus, being impatient (so trying to take on too many things), then getting overwhelmed and not knowing what to do next.

So the projects need to be able to be imagined in a single snapshot, so to speak. What will it look like when I accomplish that goal? So if the snapshot of that goal’s fruition is an image of me riding a bike while on a sailboat, sailing around the world 30 lbs. lighter with a Caldecot Medal in one hand and a bag of money in the other, then I’m probably focusing on too many things. If I can’t SEE the image in the snapshot from lack of details or its out of focus, the goal is probably too vague.

So what are my three projects right now?

I have been wasting a lot of time lately, still. I seem to wander through my day getting distracted a lot. I don’t think I’m very good at self-direction, especially when there are absolutely no outside forces directing me. I like assignments and deadlines. I like working with other people and bouncing ideas off of other people. So I need to figure out a way to get more organized.

Ideally, some sort of time-keeper software would be very useful. But I need one that is more aggressive and pokes it’s head through every now and again to ask if I’m really doing what I originally set out to do; or, have I somehow gotten so hopelessly distracted that I’m looking at lawn mowers on Amazon.com — true story and trust me, I don’t mow the lawn. I’ll start researching the options and see what’s “out there.”

Also, even though I hate them, I’m going to try and figure out some sort of “to do” list system that works for me. Over the years of looking, I’ve never found anything that I like and I’ve tried a few of them.

So this is a work in progress…but I’m going to try and come up with a way to organize myself by creating and working on a small set of goals (as opposed to 100 and getting overwhelmed). The trick will be to devise a way for me to follow through with this list on a daily basis because unfortunately in the past, I’ve either lost the list, forgotten to look at it or get tired of creating it every day.

I think I have issues with time. Seriously. It falls into a big black hole and I lose most of it every day.

Several people throughout my life have commented on how hyper-focused I can be. One past office-mate used to wonder if I were a real person – it freaked her out that I could sit and work intensely at my computer for 6+ hours without even looking up.

My boyfriend described it as me “going down the rabbit hole.” I completely lose all sense of time and space. When I come out and look up, an entire day can be gone.

So that’s a good thing, right? Creatives are used to having that happen. We NEED to have that happen  – right-brain stuff, yada yada yada. But what if we are left to our own devices?? What if there is no “assignment” or project or deadline that has been put upon us by some outside force?

Left to my own devices, I don’t know if its amazement or embarrassment at how much time I can waste and get nothing done. I suppose I should try and videotape myself to see if aliens come and kidnap me or something. Because I can have really good intentions to get things done…sit down at my computer to get said list done…look up and its 5-8 hours later….and nothing on the list is done.

I’ve tried multiple organizational systems from paper to computerized but none of them help. Not certain if its about lack of organization or just a lack of the concept of TIME or………

I think that it is I am perpetually distracted – and all things being equal – what I am distracted by is just as important, if not more so than the thing on my list. What list?? Ewwww…shiny!!