One of the advantages that I have noticed with starting to undertake the 'Getting Things Done' method to managing my life is that it has freed up more time to properly reflect. This is not about creating more time, but more about using time better and being able to focus far more. This blog, of course, is a part of that, but I am also keeping a much smaller, and more personal, daily journal. This journal is about 'Getting Things Down'. Whilst I can imagine that would be beneficial and could be ...

As someone relatively new to Standard Notes I've started to think about how best to set up my note-taking from what is essentially a blank slate. In my previous note-taking I had: Too many 'notebooks' An exercise journal A music practice journal A 'thoughts' journal for general and more daily output Into each of these I had integrated: Detailed time tracking for my main tasks split by: 'types' of task, (e.g. Music Theory, Fingering Exercise, Practicing Repertoire, Improvising, Aural E...

So, why blog? These past days have been different to the norm. Dad passed away recently, and this has unleashed periods of incredible calm and reflection. This period has also been a catalyst for me to get stuff down in more permanent form, and saved for posterity. Songs (well lyrics at this stage, with recordings to come) A very rough and ready attempt at a memoir (taking inspiration from my Gran, who, when I was very young, wrote a short history of her life for me before she passed) A fe...

I'm already an advocate of keeping a dedicated journal for piano practice, but I wanted today to take my writing a step further and start a brain dump. This is because my brain needs to have its cache emptied. Rather than another 'journal' (my music one is very structured), I want a ‘dump’ ... something messy, unfocussed, and unedited. Today sees that first dump. Here are the few rules I'm setting myself: There is no set time or place for the dump There is no set frequency or regularity for ...