Organize the brain

[olivermoss]

I've just been too unfocused and distracted recently. I really need to get organized.

First, I am organizing info my GW2 builds on my iPad so I can just look at it and see 'oh, if we have more than 2 condis on the team switch these traits... the unmodified build is X if I want to reset...' rather than keeping in my head because... I can't. I run with people who can keep info on multiple builds and variations for each of the 9 classes. I absolutely cannot. If I switch things I get worried I'll forget what to switch back later and lose my build synergy. I've been trying to organize things via the game's UI, but by brain doesn't work that way.

Also, the game just dropped 9 new elite specs and some new stats, etc. It all feels overly chaotic in my mind. But, it looks like I can organize the info in Notes pretty easily and even have tabs on the left to flip through my Necro's builds, my Engi's builds, etc. On Necro I run Power Reaper, Condi Scourge, Farm Reaper, Condi Harbi and Full Healer Scourge. Yeah, it's past time to offload this from brain.


Second, habit tracking and symptom tracking. This is likely... years past due. I saw an ad for a tracking app and it has good reviews! But it's got a subscription and Apple hasn't been able to verify any of my payment methods for 6 years. It's a problem on their end. I tried again, no dice. I think it's the same problem I have a few places. I was an early adopter of a lot of online stuff and made accounts on early versions of their systems. I've had a lot of weird problems with my accounts simply due to being old. Since Apple customer support outside of genius bars is complete shit, I've never managed to get it even looked at.

Most of the ones I saw online were... weird spirals? So I am currently doing a hand drawn habit tracker for walking, photography, yoga, etc and then also fatigue, dizziness, tinnitus, etc.

I am also tracking fruit and veggie intake. This is a weird one for me because I like veggies. If you give me a plate of plain steamed broccoli I am happy. But since the pandemic started I've bought a lot of frozen peas and broccoli only to get them home and have them be freezer burned mush. I bought bell peppers as a treat recently. Sliced into one, and it was already moldy inside. The lettuce at the store is both expensive and already browning. Also, I can't just buy an apple and eat it because most stores coat apples in soy wax to extend shelf life. If I want a soy-free cucumber it's like 3 bucks. Wait, the cukes I can eat were 3 bucks before the pandemic and all the supply problems. Not even sure what they are now.

Because I've bought so much fruit and veg only to have to toss it the next day, I've really been put off buying any. I've gone a few weeks without any outside of salsa. So, I am tracking fresh or frozen fruit and veg. Frozen peas count, the few strips of carrot in the pad thai I sometimes get doesn't. Nothing more processed than frozen peas count.

I have been tracking some things like yoga and walking in my planner, but not all. Having an actual grid and having the ability to track lots of things will be nice. Also doing too much symptom tracking there doesn't vibe with that I've doing with my current planner. I did more in my old Rhodia one. But now that I've switched to a book-like planner I am doing something a bit different with it.

Third, I need to consolidate my sketchbooks. I need less spiral bound thingies in my space. I did a big reduction a while ago, but I need to do it again. I also need to consolidate ideas and projects even if I can't work on them right now. Again, it just reduces my mental load. I also need to consolidate my composition books, but that involves a lot of typing what I want to keep onto my computer so I am taking it a chunk at a time.

Fourth, my writing notes are actually in good order. I have a Scriviner file where the chapters are how to write dialogue, how to plot, ect. All the things I try to keep track of, the advice I think is good, etc. When I feel lost writing I have my own guide there. So, one thing is set! I still have story fragments spread out in notebooks that likely need to be tossed, though. Starting from scratch is better than trying to wrangle some of those messes.

Honestly, I really need to do things like that. I just have a deep distrust of any digital information storage due to being burned a few times long, long ago. I need to be less resistant to using tools. Back things up, don't let a product no longer being supported be a devastating thing, but also use tools! It's like, I was a super early adopter of smart phones but I hiss at the idea of actually using most apps... the ones I can even access at least. I think the only organizer app or program I use is one from Copic that tells me which markers I own so I don't accidentally buy the same green again.

Also, even if programs go away tomorrow, sometimes the act of organizing things reduces mental load. Just setting up all my notes on playing my Necro in GW2 seemed to make it seem like a neat little pile rather than

Most of my organizing will be pen and paper, but things like the GW2 build needs to be digital.

One way or another, life is going to change soon. Either the pandemic is over, we are just going to live with it... or, well let's ignore the other options. I need to get my shit in order. I've just been mostly in this same room for two years now and I need to do a major re-org of everything.

Comments

[rekishi]

I've used LoopHabit (on Android, no clue if there's an iOS version) last year, but confirmed that habit tracking isn't a thing that works for me for various reasons. I did like how no frills and easy (and free) it was.

ETA: while there does not seem to be an iOS version, this seems to be an iOS clone

[olivermoss]

That looks pretty good. I might try it, but right now I am using a grid-book to see how it works. Something I can tweak as I go might be better in the long run, though.

[rekishi]

yeah, totally!

as I said, habit tracking isn't for me, which I knew but I thought I'd give it a go (my inertia is bigger than my need to tick boxes....and I forget to tick them until the next day anyway). but I admire the people it works for!

[olivermoss]

Habit tracking can make me feel bad. In the past, some tracking has made me avoid even wanting to look at it. That's why I want to keep a lot of tracking separate from my planner.

[mistressofmuses]

Finding ways to offload organizational stuff from my brain is one of the most helpful things, I find. And sometimes that kind of reorganization is enough to just help make everything else feel better/more manageable/less overwhelming. I hope all of it helps!

[olivermoss]

Yeah, just putting things in order helps a lot. I really need to offload things. The best way forward is taking time to get this all sorted, even if it takes some time.

[mistressofmuses]

Checklists and schedules and notes are catnip for my ADHD brain, but also genuinely help. *Especially* with offloading things like the game stuff. (Mostly I play a silly sim game, but having a note open on my computer with the dates I need to do things keeps the game fun and not stressful.)
And getting stuff physically organized helps, too. It's kinda like the planner stuff you talked about before, where making the planner into your own space helps in a broader mental way. Organizing physically can help in broader ways, too.

[olivermoss]

Yeah, keeping the desk and living space tidy helps so much. It's dumb how much it helps.

Because of my fatigue issues, trackers sometimes make me feel bad. That's why I don't do grid trackers or track certain things in my main planner. Hopefully, I'm in a place where I can deal with one better.

But yeah, the game stuff needs to be offloaded.

I am doing a two week tracker on one side, and to-do list on the other in a small-ish Rhodia. Hopefully a 'floating' to-do list that refreshes every 2 weeks will work out well for me.

[mistressofmuses]

It's one of those things that sounds like it should be fake, but it is wild to me how much better I feel when my physical space is cleaned up. Does that make me better at getting it organized? No, but it's a process, lol.

I can definitely understand that. The tracker I have is the third or fourth version. Early ones left me feeling guilty or like I should have done better, so I had to change them. I also had to make sure I gave myself stuff that is basically guaranteed to get checked off, so I never have a day where it looks like I did "nothing."

The idea of the floating to-do list is a good one! Also a good amount of time to get things done on said list. (Lists help me a LOT. I fall into "out of sight/out of mind" very easily, so having it written somewhere I'll look at it helps a lot with that.)

[olivermoss]

Yeah, that is part of why I want to reduce my sketch books down. I need less things and less loose ends.

Hopefully this tracker works, I've put a very nice sticker on the cover.

I like a floating to-do list because I can drop items from it rather than have bad vibes over something that just isn't that important.

[mistressofmuses]

Notebooks/sketchbooks are one of the things I struggle with getting rid of! At least I finally started to *use* the partial notebooks that I had rather than just... letting them sit there, forever with ten pages used.

I hope it does! (A nice sticker is a serious commitment!)

Yes, that's a definite plus! Any tool that's meant to help but winds up giving bad vibes or guilty feelings is not doing a good job helping, imo. Tools that prevent the unhelpful feelings are way better.

[olivermoss]

Notebooks are a lot of work to consolidate, and I don't want to waste things. My current sketchbook is pretty dead and I need to move on, but I bought a fancy Illo for my next sketchbook and don't want to muck it up with basic practice sketches.

[mistressofmuses]

It's definitely that feeling/worry over wasting things that makes it hard to let go of notebooks. And I also very much know the "don't want to mess it up!" feeling when I have a *nice* notebook.

[olivermoss]

Every YT video I watch involving sketchbooks just makes it worse because they fill each page with actual drawings. I don't even think of sketchbooks in those terms. It's practice, idea dumping and seeing if I can make thing work space for me.

[mistressofmuses]

Hard same. Every time I see an artist share their sketchbooks it's full of amazing complete or near-complete works. Looks great, for sure... but that's never how I used a sketchbook, even when I did use one! I mean, I'd have *some* completed drawings in there... in between five or ten pages of layout attempts that didn't work, or figures with proportions that didn't look right, etc.

[olivermoss]

Yeah, it's so weird because to me a sketchbook is practice space, not 100% fully finished art pieces. And doing sketches before committing to an idea or pose is still a thing, right?

I bought the Illo book because using really bottom-rung paper has likely been holding me back some. I should start doing something with it

[mistressofmuses]

Right? I guess I did most of my finished stuff in sketchbooks, too, but... the vast majority was just stuff that didn't work out, or me trying to figure out what *would* work. Why wouldn't you do sketches to figure out the right layout or perspective or pose?

Congrats on the nice paper upgrade!

[olivermoss]

I got a render sketchbook in a sketchbox and suddenly all the shading and other techniques I'd tried and failed to use suddenly worked on that paper. I really need to stop using my older sketchbooks for most things or maybe toss them all-together.

[mistressofmuses]

...if I ever go back to drawing, maybe I need some better paper, haha. I've generally had pretty bottom-tier sketchpads - the kind that are just a few bucks at a craft store, or even a grocery store. It's only recently that I've really even been aware that paper quality can have a pretty big effect on what you're doing.

[olivermoss]

The little Rendr notepad helped so much that I was mad at it. But I feel like a poser using better paper, like it's wasted on me. I should get rid of my last low quality sketchbooks and force myself onto better paper.

[mistressofmuses]

An eternal struggle - "I shouldn't waste the "nice" supplies until my work is better" and "but my work is better when I use better quality supplies". Two wolves meme, etc.

I understand the feeling, but also know you should ABSOLUTELY use better quality materials!