Workflow Mastery - Building from the Basics€¦ · play, mastery, & meaningful work A central...

workflow mastery:

building

basics

fromthe

Kourosh Dini, MD

Praise for Workflow’s First Edition

Workflowing:

http://workflowing.net/book-review-workflow-beyond-productivity/

“… dives deep into the realm of workflow and indeed goes well beyond

productivity, compelling the reader to really spend some time thinking, fostering,

and mastering their own workflow.

“… a master class in workflow …

“… one of those rare works that will truly help you in the quest to stop doing

things and start doing the right things.”

David Sparks:

http://macsparky.com/blog/masteryinworkflow

“This book is the real deal.”

!

Ben Broeckx - Exploring the Black Box:

http://exploringtheblackbox.net/exploringtheblackbox/2013/6/12/workflow-reviewed-

part-i-thresholds-of-organization

“the Neil Stephenson of non-fiction

!“… he hits you with an idea so clear and so relevant that it blows you out of the

water and leaves you on the shore, wondering how it is possible that something so

clear and obvious never occurred to you. That, my friends, is genius.

“… If you are even slightly interested in the dynamics of process and workflow, this

is a great place to start.”

CurveWriting - Christopher Robert

http://curvewriting.com/blog/2013/6/21/review-of-kourosh-dini-workflow-beyond-

productivity-2013

"renders visible those logically flawed but long invisible assumptions that lead us

to create more work or stress for ourselves than is really necessary”

Greg W, reader

as outstanding as your first work was your second is even better. I am spellbound.

http://workflowing.net/book-review-workflow-beyond-productivity/

Dragan R

http://www.linkedin.com/mbox?

trk=&ut=3c0miqUv9OmBY1&itemID=I659248985_16&displayMBoxItem=&fromEmail

=

"I have purchased Kourosh's books on productivity and Omni Focus, "Creating Flow

With Omni Focus" and "Workflow: Beyond Productivity".

These works helped me tremendously to move forward much faster in my

productivity.

Kourosh has a wonderful writing style, his meanings always bringing even deeper

thoughts than what they first seem to want to say to the reader.

Burke, Reader

I wish to express my sincerest appreciation for your body of work into helping

others maximize productivity. Truly, sir, you have written two books that I would

sincerely encourage anyone I know, particularly our fellow mac users, to buy and

utilize to their fullest.

- table of contents -

Introduction 9

Trust & Play 19

Acknowledgement 34

Organization 51

Workflows & Intentions 88

Sessions 132

Accommodating Sessions 141

Endings Sessions 163

Session Ideals 177

Regular Sessions & Habits 185

Stations & Task Management 212

Useful Station Workflows 239

Guides & Task Management 268

Silence 289

Agency 308

From Worry To Courage 325

Mastery 366

Error, Meaning, & Decision 426

Connection 458

An Example in Creating Music 484

Appendix A: Specific Examples Of Decision 526

Appendix B: Organizational Details 538

Appendix C: On Meditation 563

Appendix D: Glossary 567

Appendix E: Odds & Ends 579

Workflow Mastery: Building from the Basics 8

an overview

There are any number of angles by which a workflow may be examined. We will

consider several proposed components and definitions. Throughout the writing, I

will define and re-define common terminology.

I encourage you to pause to try any of the principles described at any point.

Several areas are, in fact, highlighted as areas of exercise. These are not meant,

however, to exclude any other areas in which you may find benefit to pause to try

or test a technique or concept. Active reflection allows time for you to disagree,

agree, or more importantly, come up with your own thoughts related to your own

particular workflow.

Many of the concepts presented interrelate, though ideas are presented in a

building order. The most basic, but most fundamental are presented up front. The

more advanced follow:

Trust & Play describes the conditions in which we think and the natural state

of mind.

Acknowledgement describes our most fundamental skill of working with our

thoughts.

Organization presents how we might decide to arrange our environments for

work and play.

Workflows & Intentions describes how we can plan our paths of work and

play.


Sessions introduces our intentions to the resources of time, space, and

attention.

Regular Sessions & Habits describes the importance of regularity as well as

various means of handling time, deadlines, and other pressures.

Stations & Task Management describes how we can store and arrange our

work, as we can only do one thing at a time.

Useful Station Workflows presents several examples of stations that can offer

great benefit with regularity and maintenance.

From Worry to Courage begins the more advanced sections of internal work

that can lead us to mastery.

Silence describes the benefits of a practiced and matured capacity to

acknowledge.

Agency describes a major strength that our workflows can support.

Mastery presents our fundamental components in arrangements conducive to

developing mastery and meaningful work.

Error, Meaning, & Decision describes guiding factors for agency.

Connection describes communicating with an audience.

An Example in Creating in Music presents many of the ideas presented in this

text in a grand scheme.

Finally, the Appendices list specific examples of decision, details about

organization, thoughts on meditation, a glossary, and other odds & ends.

I do hope that Workflow Mastery provides a strong foundation for you to develop

whatever you decide to be mastery and meaningful work.


!

!

!

Man is most nearly himself when

he achieves the seriousness of a

child at play.

- Heraclitus (535–475 BC)


play, mastery, & meaningful work

A central theory upon which this text rests is:

Mastery and meaningful work develop from guided play.

Play and work would seem to be at odds. Somehow, much of our culture has

considered the concepts as existing in mutual exclusion. We raise our geniuses and

champions upon our shoulders, touting their strength in work, without ever truly

acknowledging their practice of harnessing and even delighting in play.

“Working hard” is not a furrowed brow. An entertaining Seinfeld sketch shows a

character pretending to work with precisely this technique. He deliberately

scrunches his face and grunts, though he has nothing about which to complain.

Others think he is working hard and leave him alone, thereby fulfilling his plan of

avoidance. While his co-workers mill about in awe of his “work ethic”, the character

himself does nothing of use.

The sketch is quite funny while also speaking directly to the issue as humor so

often does. His work is disconnected from his playful self. His play is hidden or

otherwise spent in creating the mask that pretends utility. He shows the world

what he thinks it wants to see in exchange for money and perhaps a few empty

looks of admiration from his peers.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd9ma2uvlhm

The cost is extreme. His mask functions as would any wall. He is trapped within, not

engaging in meaningful conversations or truly creating meaningful work. While he

may have earned sustenance to feed and clothe himself and a brief entertainment

for his friends, the minutes of his life continue their steady march while he remains

within a self-constructed cage.

What is lost in such broad-stroked attempts of prescribing a work ethic is that

success may well be found in a fusion of play and work. In other words, success

may, instead, be a continuously shifting flow where our play offers something to

the world, which in turn supports us in our paths of maturing play.

Masters of a field regularly dedicate time and attention to a path of practice, study,

creation, and organization. And yet, whenever we see a master at his or her craft, a

quiet smile, appearing in the midst of otherwise tremendous feats, displays a clear

beauty of play flowing through work. If there is a commonality to those who

achieve productivity and mastery in work, it must be this ability.

Concepts of work and organization are often laden with a sense that they would

stifle play rather than enhance it. Those who deride habit, routine, and careful

arrangements of environment often do so from a sense that play could well be

damaged or killed in these perceived iron maidens. It is in that they see the

organization of others and believe it would not work for themselves that they are,

of course, right.

Organization must take the individual and his or her unique sense of play into

account. We seek a simultaneous earning of a living and the support of the self in

play so we may develop that play into mastery and meaningful work.


!

!

!

!

Organization

introducing organization

Easing What We Do

From our experiences come our intentions. If I see in the

refrigerator that there is no milk, I may decide to get milk. If

I have various ideas about workflows, I may decide to write

a book.

Intentions are what we want to do. Meanwhile, what we

want to do is not always so readily done. We then organize

in hopes of easing and supporting these paths.

We can near-reflexively organize our environments, almost allowing them to

happen, hoping we’ll “just figure it out”. However, it is by deliberately designing our

surroundings that we can actually, powerfully, and even elegantly arrive at the

places we wish to be and do the things we wish to do.

Organizing supports and clears the path for some flow or development. We create

and sustain a motion of work or play, develop some intention, move towards a

goal, or enhance some continued flow by organizing:

Organization is a process of clearing or supporting a path for a flow or development.


clear & supported

paths

Organizing For Intentions

A flow we wish to develop may be that of an intention . In such cases, we can use 7

the following definition:

Organization is a process of supporting and clearing a path for an intention’s development.

Organizing is both an act of self-reflection as well as a process of identifying homes

for items and placing items into those homes. As we organize, we discover new

ideas and items, new objects, new skills, etc. The clarity of our ideas informs and

directs organization, while the act of organizing also helps provide a path to that

clarity. It is for these reasons that organizing cannot be readily delegated.

Organizing aids the crafting of our settings of work and play and is, at times, the

work itself. In organizing, we add catalysts and lower thresholds towards doing

consciously intended work, and raise barriers to that which would otherwise lead

us astray. It is in the support and clearing of paths by which we attempt to improve

conditions for the work we favor to develop.

We see an overlap between creativity and organization. To compare:

Creativity is a guidance of play in resolving a vision.


In fact, the definition for organization in the first edition of Workflow: Beyond Productivity was: 7

“Organization is a process of clearing and supporting paths for an intention’s development. “

However, using the concept of some flow or development, frees the term from our own intentions

to work better for the relationship between parts of a system, for example.

Organization is a process of supporting and clearing a path for an intention’s development.

One is river; the other is riverbed.

Brief Examples Of Organization

Examples of everyday organization include:

!• Adjusting something on our desk to make reaching for it just a

bit easier.

• Budgeting our finances to allow for a major purchase.

• Arranging the television, couch, speakers, and end tables to enhance a sense of immersion in the entertainment experience.

• Practicing the piano to pave paths for its mastery.

!While some of these may not appear to be what we would conventionally consider

acts of organization, each is an attempt at clearing and supporting some desired

path.

They are each, therefore, types of organization.


A Primary Process

The primary process of organizing spans various media be that of attention, time,

or space, whether of digital or physical nature, and occurs at all scales, large or

small. It is the primary process of organization which will now be our focus.

As our text progresses, we will also examine the unique nature that organization

takes for the various components of the workflow, including intentions, stations,

sessions, and mastery.

We can organize our intentions themselves. For example, we can consider what we

envision, where we are now, and how we might break down the workflow into

individual components. If I have a large report to write, I can think about a useful

next clear and doable action.

Stations store our intentions. For example, while studying, I may come across two

ideas nearly simultaneously. I would like to focus on one and return to the other

later. To handle the situation, I can write a task in the margin where I know I will see

it later.

Sessions organize how we bring attention to our work. We attempt to find a flow of

attention and resources for a dedicated time of work or play. For example, during a

course of study, I would like to have my study materials nearby with quick access to

relevant websites or programs at the ready. I would also like to let others know that

I do not wish to be interrupted for a period of time.

Finally, mastery is about organizing the paths of play to flow into and through a

craft so that it may become skills and knowledge. Either skills or knowledge are

forms of storage or utility, honed and channeled types of objects and flow,

developed in the medium of mind. The ideas presented in the section of mastery

rest upon those developed throughout the other sections that come before it. As

an example, while playing at the piano, I may wish to dedicate a time for daily

sessions at the keys, and perhaps design a course of exercises, as well as plot paths

for future study and exploration.


acknowledgement & organization

Seed Of Organization

Organization is best nourished by acknowledgement.

The inspiration to organize is a response to some frustration or desire. Something

we want to do is blocked or slowed. We discover something to be “out of place” or

otherwise in our way, or we want things to go better than they are.

Acknowledging that frustration or desire may be all we need to do. Even if it seems

we do nothing differently, acknowledgement is still fundamental to the work.


Benefits

Why we are frustrated or why we may want to do something are not often

apparent at first glance. More often, we are greeted by some nameless, perhaps

barely perceptible desire or irritation. And because of this, we may be tempted to

dive in without thought or avoid the feeling by looking away.

Perhaps I am anxious, and I would just like to continue my work. Or perhaps I have

a sudden impulse to check a social networking site.

While in one scenario, I continue work and, in the other, I do something else; doing

either without thought is the mistake, not the action chosen.

We can only know what that sensation is about via conscious attention.

Acknowledgement may then crystallize either frustration or desire into useful next

actions, including those of a better organizational system.

In other words, pausing to acknowledge the experience, allowing thoughts to

settle, provides us with the moments necessary to discover where flow may be

blocked or supported, and then how it may be unblocked or supported, should we

wish to do either.

First, we acknowledge frustration or desire, then we look to organize.


An Example Of Acknowledgement

At its simplest, we can see the role of acknowledgement in organization when we

decide to do nothing.

As an example, I am writing. Surrounding me, I see various odds and ends

unrelated to my present work sitting nearby: a charging cable presently charging

nothing, a stray book from a research project finished last week, and an orange I

have no interest in eating at the moment.

I pause and acknowledge their presence. I acknowledge the irritation of not having

a perfectly clear workspace.

I decide to clear the workspace after I write. I continue writing.


Exercise 1 - Acknowledgement In Organization

Consider a flow to improve.

Perhaps choose a point along its path — a workstation could be an example.

Another example would be a craft you wish to master, and the place where you

might decide to do that work.

Do not begin to organize yet. Simply acknowledge it as an area you wish to

organize more effectively.

Exercise 2 - Acknowledgement In Organization

For our second exercise, acknowledge some errant object nearby, perhaps within

the flow that you chose for the last exercise. Again, do not begin to organize yet.

Just note that its location could be better than where it is now.


pillars & states of organization

Changing States & Relationships

Organization is an action. We do something to make things more organized. We

move some thing or things from one place or state to another.

Objects may be digital, physical, or mental in nature.Locations are changed,

characteristics are altered, objects are aligned, grouped, sorted, maintained, etc.

Regardless of medium, we change the state of something from one to another to

make it somehow “more” organized.

When we move things, though, it is not that they are just in some other spot. They

are in another spot in relationship to something else. As we are looking to clear or

support a developing flow, organizing is about changing the relationships

between objects and flows . 8


More generally, organization describes a relationship between two bounded experiences. 8

However, by using the words object and flow, we highlight that one moves, in whatever way that

might be unique to its nature and medium, relative to the other.

We could even consider two flows as they relate to each other, object and flow becoming relative

terms. More truly we are organizing experiences, refined and redefined in regular

acknowledgement.

Examples Of Organizing

As an example, an unrelated pile of papers is in my way when I decide to sit down

to write. I move the pile of papers to get the work done. The papers were moved

out of the way of the work to be done. The relationship between the papers and

flow of work was changed.

As another example, there are files that would be useful or even required for my

work. I decide to move them closer so I can reach them more easily. By moving the

files, I again have in mind the relationship between my work and the files.

Reasons For Organizing

The inspiration to organize appears most often in the context of an active

workflow. A stymied search for a book suggests a new arrangement; a stumbled

flourish of piano keys reveals an opportunity for practice; a jumbled set of ideas

beckon to find new meanings in order. By recognizing an unclear path, we often

realize the possibility for better settings, better practice, and better learning.

There are essentially three conditions that can suggest a better state of

organization:

!1. When we would like something useful for whatever it is that we are doing

2. When we try to get to or use something in a better way than we are now

3. When something is in our way.

!


Each scenario can occur independently or simultaneously.

These experiences indicate some area of the workflow that can be cleared or

supported. They ask for a better state of organization, and they may even provide

clues as to how a better state of organization may be achieved.

Organizational State

These experiences are the three pillars which form the organizational state of an

object . 9

An object’s Organizational State is the degree to which:

!1. We are Aware of it and its relevance to our workflows 10

2. It is Accessible when supportive to our workflows

3. It is Avoidable when it would otherwise impede our workflows

!The degree to which these criteria are met for some object is the degree to which

that object is organized.


An object may be physical, digital, or mental.9

Please note, the term “awareness” in this edition of Workflow: Beyond Productivity stands in for 10

“available” from the first edition. The meaning is essentially the same. In other words, either term

refers to knowing that something useful exists to what we are doing. However, the term awareness

better accommodates the converse of realizing that something is in our way.

These characteristics:

!• Function to guide projects of learning, space arrangements, or

creation

• Allow for a central focus of understanding and a means to plan a workflow

• Provide a rapid means of assessment of an already organized system or workflow

!Additionally, it is useful to note that the enhancement of any single pillar often

enhances the others.


The First Pillar & Awareness

The first pillar, Awareness, refers to knowing something relevant:

!1. We are Aware of an object and its relevance to our workflows.

!Considering “awareness”:

!

Awareness is knowledge appearing at a threshold of consideration. 11

!When we are aware of something, we know it exists. In terms of organization, we

have an idea of something useful, or conversely, that something is in our way. We

understand that it relates to our workflow.

I would like to catch the bus. I would like to know the bus schedule. I do not know

that there is an application that lists bus schedules. I am, therefore, unaware of the

application. It is, in this sense, not organized.

Awareness is essentially a true-false, on-off type of characteristic. It either exists, or

it does not. We either remember something, or we do not. While we may just barely

remember it, have it almost crest into consciousness, if it is not enough, if it does

not meet some threshold, whatever that threshold might look like, we are not

aware.


We can further define “knowledge” - I will simply refer to it as a mental object and let the curious 11

take it from there.

The role of acknowledgement is clear. We consider an experience and allow

associations to come to mind. The more fully we allow the process, the greater our

awareness of what may be relevant. It is in a pause, as brief as it may be, where I

may come up with the idea that a useful application may exist for which I can now

search. I could, alternatively, consider asking a friend for her knowledge of the

schedule.

While learning the bus schedule is a simple example, the same process can be

found with large and complex examples. The parts of the workflow that I

recognized to write this book developed from a series of regular and carefully

considered pauses.

The same concept also works for either the mundane or the creative. For example,

a common saying in artistic creation is that much of our work is to get out of our

own way. I do agree with the statement. However, how we are standing in our own

way is often not apparent and only found through experience. In the time of

practice, we become aware of how we had inadvertently obscured the experiences

we had once attempted to frame. We then use that knowledge to better frame the

next experiences we encounter and wish to present.


The First Pillar - Relevance

Considering “relevance”:

Relevance is an object’s connection or relationship to an intention in meaning, space, and time.

Recognizing relevance refers to the recognition of how an object is connected to

an experience. Is it useful? Is it not? How is it useful or in the way? It is an

understanding of a relationship.

Relevance is the association or connection of an object to a flow in both time and

space. It is therefore a characteristic in flux for any particular item or idea.

As an example, an umbrella is relevant when I wish to go outside while it is raining.

It is otherwise irrelevant to my intentions.

As another example, in organizing a task management system, I attempt to

recognize and respect the flow of attention. Attention’s stream can be threatened

by turbulence introduced from mislaid tasks. If I am writing, I do not wish to see my

list of phone calls. The presentation of tasks are optimized by timing, among other

criteria, as we only wish for a task to appear when relevant. When completing one

task and considering a next step, a well-designed system will present a selection of

next relevant tasks based on present input, addressing my momentary state of

indecision.


The Second Pillar - Accessibility

Our second pillar refers to accessibility:

Accessibility is the existence and clarity of a path between an object and a relevant intention.

When something is accessible, we can get to and use it when it would be useful to

do so. This may be knowledge, a tool, a reference item, a written task, etc.

Accessibility is measured in degrees. Something can be more or less reachable or

useful than at other times. In other words, we can improve accessibility by degrees.

Sometimes we do so over time, such as when we develop a skill with regular

practice.


The Third Pillar - Avoidability

Our third pillar refers to avoidability:

Avoidability is the absence of an object or a path to an object irrelevant to an intention.

Avoidability refers to how well something can be out of our way when we do not

want it to be there. Again, similar to accessibility, avoidability can measured and

developed in degrees.

It should be noted that an object’s avoidability when irrelevant enhances the

accessibility of other objects more relevant to our present work. There should be

nothing in the way when wanting something useful. Whether reaching for a mug

of coffee sitting nearby, opening a computer file, or walking down a hallway, there

should be no objects strewn across the path.

The development of accessibility, avoidability, and the inevitable compromises

between are not insignificant. While “knowing is half the battle," we still have half

the battle to go. Its details are presented in the appendix. Suffice it to say here that

we may consider:

!• Storage

• Ease of Use & Clarity

• Grouping, Sorting, and Labeling

• Ease of Maintenance


An Example Of An Umbrella

It is raining outside, and I wish to have my umbrella. The umbrella, however, is

buried under various shoes, jackets, and other odds and ends behind a closet door.

Restated again, we organize something by enhancing:

!• Our awareness of its existence when relevant

• Its accessibility when relevant

• Its avoidability when not relevant

!I am secure knowing I am aware of the umbrella’s existence and utility when it

rains.

I recognize that the flow to which the umbrella is most relevant is when I am

walking out of the door and it is raining. I would, therefore, like the umbrella closer

to the door.

However, it is also relevant to the flow of foot traffic. I would, therefore, also like to

keep it out of the way of foot traffic. I decide that a good place would be by the

door.

It will not stand up on its own. I also realize another flow—that I would like to

easily put it back when I return home. It will drip onto the floor if I just place it next

to the door.

My solution is to place a stable bin by the door. I believe it will hold the umbrella

upright and catch the water dripping from it.

I then move the umbrella to the bin.


While the closet itself remains in disarray, the umbrella now rests in a greater state

of organization by more readily supporting the intention of keeping dry during a

rain.

Exercise - Organize From Object

For the object acknowledged in the earlier exercise:

!1. Ask 3 questions to determine its relevant flows:

!• Where is this presently useful?

• Where is this in the way?

• Where might this be useful?

!2. Then, ask 3 questions per flow to improve relationships:

!• How is this presently useful?

• Where could this be easier to get to and use?

• Where could this be more out of the way?

!3. Write the tasks that would help to bring the object to a higher organizational

state by addressing your answers to the previous questions.

!


Exercise - Organize By Flow

For the flow acknowledged in the earlier exercise:

!1. Ask 3 questions to determine its relevant objects,

!• What is presently useful?

• What is in the way?

• What else might be useful?

!2. Then ask 3 questions per object to consider how those relationships may be

improved:

!• How is this presently useful?

• Where could this be easier to get to and use?

• Where could this remain/be more out of the way?

!3. Finally, write the tasks that address your answers.

!


goals & ideals of organization

Ideal Of Organization

The degree to which the criteria of these pillars are met is the degree to which an

object is organized. Enhancing these pillars improves any workflow.

Ideally, we seek for objects supporting a flow to immediately come to mind when

useful, be effortless to reach and use when useful, and otherwise be invisible. We

seek:

!• A Trusted Return (Ideal awareness of relevance)

• Effortless Immediacy (Ideal accessibility)

• Invisibility (Ideal avoidability)

!


Awareness & Thresholds Of Organization

Some intentions are much more likely to actualize by virtue of their support in

organization. The awareness of some ideas, thoughts, tools, or other objects can

appear when a threshold of organization has been met.

Examples of thresholds in organization appear in many different media:

!• When able to reach for a pen, paper, stamp, and envelope with

minimal effort, we are much more inclined to write a letter than otherwise.

• Knowledge and learning of some central principle in a craft may only occur when a threshold of details are memorized and therefore directly available to attention.

• The skill of playing a piano piece does not appear until the individual notes and sections have been learned and worked through.

• Certain uses of a program or application do not come to mind as possibilities until reaching a deftness with the program’s associated commands.

!In fact, there are times when work cannot be developed at all until certain

organizational conditions are met. For example, I cannot use a particular program

on the computer until I have actually installed it. I could consider the program’s

installation as the organizational work required to do the work of writing.


The general concept of thresholds may be stated as:

The awareness and accessibility of some objects may not appear until a threshold of organization is reached for one or several other objects.

This same principle may be reframed as a component of mastery:

Much of mastery is a mastery of the basics.

!


Invisibility & A Trusted Return

Invisibility is not necessarily an object’s absence from sight, so much as it is

absence from mind. Objects resting in the periphery, unaddressed and often

unacknowledged, create turbulence, consciously and unconsciously. Invisibility

enhances the power or strength inherent to an object as it appears when relevant

and to the degree that it is relevant.

Considering an object’s invisibility is profoundly different from ignoring it. We

deliberately acknowledge those aspects of the environment or things on our mind

that are occupying, interrupting, or otherwise adversely affecting attention. We

often find that those things that were once believed as only subtly affecting us,

were not so subtle after all.

An object may be avoidable, but our ability to develop other workflows is

enhanced further when it can be rendered invisible. While we can “tune out” that

which is not relevant to present attention, there is still an effort involved that may

better be utilized by the moment. Witness the strain that suddenly becomes

apparent when a fan is turned off in a lecture room, even when the words could be

heard with the fan on.

As noted earlier, when we can fully and honestly trust that something will be

where we want it, when we want it, it can better remain off of the mind. Trust is

therefore the foundation upon which we can build a system that allows for

invisibility.

Further, with genuine trust, our ability to use those items grow exponentially. This

is true whether we are considering items external to us, such as reference items

and tools, or internal to us, such as our own skills and knowledge.

If I know that I can perform a piece of music well, I can readily, and even

confidently, schedule a performance. If I know that I can use a program well, I can

readily use it to develop projects I may not otherwise consider.


In addition, a strong trust allows us to further remove objects from sight and,

therefore, make them more avoidable. If I believe that I can depend on my daily

habit to look at my calendar, I can schedule things and not look or even think

about them when away from the calendar.

Answering the question of trust is a reflection of not only an object’s reliability, but

also our own. It is a consideration of our present habits, good or bad, and how they

may be relied upon when placing objects about ourselves. The development of

habit will be explored later in this text.

Again, trust is not something we have because we want it. It is developed by

consistent experience:

Trust is a belief, developed over time, that something will continue behaving as it has in the past, such that it may be relied upon.

Useful questions to consider when organizing are:

How will this be off of my mind when irrelevant?

or

How may I place this object so I may trust it will return to my attention when relevant?

Invisibility, as a practice of honesty with oneself, becomes one of the most mature

aspects of organization. Dishonesty with the self in its myriad forms, by ignoring,


by setting false due dates, and otherwise, is the root of decay in many

organizational systems and structures.

Invisibility can also refer to a low or negligible degree of maintenance for any

organizational structure or system, often enhanced by simplicity. 12


A caution to consider with invisibility is that it may remove important considerations of a system 12

from view. If invisibility impairs our access to a system’s workings, we risk not only losing an item,

but of removing the iterative nature needed to maintain the working system. In such cases,

however, we may realize that the system and its objects are not truly invisible, at least in this sense:

they may have been removed from sight, but not from mind.

Cleanliness

Cleanliness is about freeing and supporting agency, our ability to choose non-

reactively.

By maintaining a clutter-free environment, we keep extraneous and unplanned

triggers of thought away from attention. We actively consider how we want our

environments to effect us, and then doing something about it. The degree to

which we do this is the degree to which we practice cleanliness:

Cleanliness is the degree to which we arrange the environment to allow and promote agency.

There are an infinite number of objects in our environment. Each may be

considered to have some effect upon our attention and bring to mind thoughts,

both subtly and not so subtly. The color of the walls, the decorations on a desk, the

contours of a walkway, and every aspect of our environments may be reflected

consciously or unconsciously in our momentary experience. Even if their influence

composes only a faint hue, it is still there, having an influence.

Some feel they rely on a certain “disorganization” to do well, or that there is an

artistic inspiration to be found in an environment that only the individual finds

organized and others would term “messy”. This may well be true. However, we must

be wary that what appears as messy is not simply a result of lacking attention.

Also, clean does not necessarily mean “free of dirt," positioned in patterns of simple

geometry, or the like. These characteristics may relate and support the concept at 13

times, though.


That something is free of bacteria, for instance, does relate in that it removes the loss of agency 13

posed by illness or even the fear of illness as may manifest by the emotion of disgust.

For example, if grime triggers a feeling of disgust, the experience of disgust is

impacting us and might otherwise have been avoided.

Cleanliness, more accurately, refers to the degree to which we can readily reach any

aspect of our work, with minimal adversity posed by the environment, when we

believe it would be meaningful and useful to do so, and to remain out of our way

otherwise. In this sense, cleanliness is about designing our most favorable

workspaces and playgrounds. It is the continual work of freeing and supporting

agency, and therefore also about supporting our ability to design our

environments to promote the development of play, mastery, and meaningful work.

An Example Of Impulsive Email Checking

I have a tendency to check email more often than I might like. Instant accessibility

of the program would be detrimental. However, instant accessibility at two specific

times of the day and avoidability at other times is useful.

In other words, I measure accessibility and avoidability to my experience of how I

check email, not necessarily getting to the email itself.

In this case, I design a program snippet to block my access to email. However, I can

turn this snippet on or off.

This may seem redundant. If I can turn it off, what is the difference?

The difference is the reminder of agency where it was not before. Now, when I

make an unthinking attempt to open the email client, a sign appears noting that it

is presently turned off. The sign introduces a pause during which I have a moment

to think, “Do I want to check email?”

!


A Practice

Organization is a practice.

An aspect of organization is hoping we will be aware of something useful when it

would be useful. I’d like to have a reminder to buy something while I’m at the store,

for example. I’d like to remember something I mean to say to a friend when we

next meet.

Meanwhile, the past is memory distorted by fallibility and bias, the present is

subject to oddities of perception, and the future is simply unknown. To know when

something will be in demand is a prediction, a best guess. It is not possible to

know the “perfect” positioning of an item or idea. We can only know how an object

or task is useful now and use that information to build a system that approximates

our future needs and wants.

Yet it is in our approximations where we begin to organize, plan, and live our lives.

We iterate, building systems, organizing in the present moment to support our

workflows as they develop and as we predict they may develop. Play becomes

meaningful work, not as a perfection, but as an iteration. Blemishes upon work are

an aspect of beauty reminding and better connecting us with reality.

Accessibility and avoidability are a balance reflected by meaning and relevance.

Achieving this balance can be a matter of practice, a regular dedication of time and

attention.

Organization is a continual clearing of a path or a “cleaning as we go” with an intent

to bring and maintain focus upon present experience. It is in an iteration of work

where optimal organizational frameworks form. Carrying tasks forward while

considering their present and future optimization is an unending act of living.

Every intention can incorporate some level of improvement for the future. Even

towards a project’s end, we may yet discover a process that would have

significantly benefited the entire endeavor had it been known in the beginning.


There is no complete state of being “organized”. For an individual project, the

pursuit of organizing does not end, though it may taper off, often alongside the

project’s end itself. In other cases, upon reaching some threshold state of

organization, the work becomes a flow which itself more strongly dictates paths

towards optimizing its environment. After starting to clean a room, new ideas for

the placement of furniture become apparent, and we may begin to plan a new

setting.


An Ideal

Organization is an ideal.

We may see that flows do not always readily accommodate each other and

decisions of compromise are often necessary. New ideas might come to mind as

we organize or do our work.

I might try to think about how I could have my umbrella both quickly available and

easily avoidable at the same time, but find that doing so conflicts with my coat

rack’s organized state.

Or, I might see my worktable with many items from various projects on it. I

wouldn’t name off every object before I started to work on it. Instead, I might

acknowledge the sense that there are many, and then start with what was on top,

processing each in turn. Or I might realize that I simply do not have time to

organize it now.

We may not consider trusted return, effortlessness, and invisibility with every

experience. Even further, we can often realize that what we once considered an

object is not well delineated. In other words, what we once considered “right” really

wasn’t.

As always, we measure and decide by acknowledgement.

In many cases, the formalization of any of these processes is unnecessary, but

having some idea of how we may choose to organize helps the decision as to

whether to do so. Even without the ability to reach an ideal, we can practice the

pillars so that, like a practice of the myriad musical theories, they coalesce into an

intrinsic memory to support our unique voice of the moment.


!!!!!!!!!

A poem should not mean

But be

!Archibald MacLeish (1892-1982) 14


Ars Poetica - http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/ars-poetica-2/14

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/ars-poetica-2/

Aesthetics

Beauty may directly result from the development of the organizational pillars. Such

aesthetics may not always be pretty in some conventional sense, but often reflect a

beauty related to a meaning unique to the individual and the system. Organizing

brings forms to the functions of meaning, with an aesthetic projecting an inner

visage, a system’s grace and elegance appearing from a strength of meaning

manifest in its contours.

As an example, the visual beauty inherent in the shape of a musical instrument

presents the years of thought and work poured into its design, a design evolved to

make as accessible as possible a musician’s ability to present play in sound. In other

words, a beauty of the instrument is even perceived in a medium for which it was

not originally designed.

The inner workings of an analog watch, the settings of a dinner table, or the

simplicity of a well designed tool all present some form of beauty. The aesthetic

considerations of an organizational structure can range from minimal, such as an

alphabetic arrangement of books on a shelf, to quite intricate, such as an

arrangement of notes in a musical work.

Beauty may also be a hallmark of a matured organizational system. This may seem

to be a paradox ,as invisibility has been noted as a hallmark. However, recall that

invisibility is an enhancement of an object’s presence and power by its appearing

only when relevant.

Fine aesthetics inspire us to find new play in work. A pleasing and attractive

environment, more than simply nice to see, can welcome the relaxing conditions

often useful for creative endeavors.

We must be wary that a simple alignment by color, size, or other concrete

characteristic, unless enhancing access to items when relevant, may do little

beyond create an aesthetic without utility. Without the development of the details


and pillars grounded in experience, an aesthetic becomes hollow, a forced

development, a fruit grown large but without taste.

However, by considering the actual use of the materials and the experiences they

present, we discover more than better blueprints for designing a solidly supportive

system. We also find a potential to enhance beauty.

Two questions that can be helpful in working to improve the beauty of an

environment or piece of work may be:

If it is ugly, what makes it ugly?

If it is beautiful, what makes it beautiful?

I find that either question tends to make things more beautiful.


Elegance

Organization is an attempt to clear and support paths for an intention’s

development.

In this way, organization can become a riverbed, an evolving system tracing the

contours of creativity. When organizing well, a system may even form a beauty and

strength that directly reflects creativity’s inherent beauty and strength.

Together, beauty and strength comprise elegance …


!!!!!!

Elegance is beauty and strength, Often simple in nature,

Highlighted in a relief of invisibility.

Elegance marks organizational maturity.


Learn More

Available at:

!MasteryInWorkflow.com

UsingOmniFocus.com

!Workflow Mastery is a deep dive into what it takes to develop mastery and

meaningful work. It describes, at both practical and psychological depth, how

vision develops, how we can organize meaningfully, and

ultimately how we can create the conditions for our work

and play. The material is structured so you can decide

where and how to improve your individual workflow to

whatever degree you may wish.

Build from the very basics up through the advanced.

Learn how to:

• Find a deep focus.

• Make clear decisions with calm.

• Organize meaningfully.

• Guide technology, rather than be controlled by it.

• Understand motivation.

• Do what you feel is important without procrastination.

• Master the universals of workflows to build your own unique system.

• Avoid bouncing from one task to the next without getting anything done.

• Build the foundations to develop mastery and meaningful work.

http://MasteryInWorkflow.com

http://UsingOmniFocus.com

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