So. I keep telling myself I'm ready to be accountable as only a proper blog can make me, and yet it has been months since that initial conversation with myself and I have yet to post a proper segment of my ramblings.
Because I am a rambler, and I imagine the beginning bout of posts will be more conversational than a decent read. My friends are crossing their fingers writing a blog will lead me to finish my thoughts, and make their task commenting on writing I send them to edit a little bit easier.
What am I waiting for? Not sure, exactly. But I think, with everything else now past me (finally graduated [B.S. Product Design], finally went back home for an extended visit [Berlin stayed cool, thank goodness], finally finished [a few] of my personal side projects), it is time I take this seriously. Mostly because I know myself well enough to realize if I'm to dive into the job search (more on that in the next post), I need something along the way to keep me on my toes.
With that, I thought I'd present my personal management plan, just to get things going. Here's to honing skills. Cheers!
currently, most of my communications arrives to me in my email account. I've become pretty convinced of the GTD (see poster at bottom of this post) method. Tasks, notes and articles I forward to other management tools. communication I try to answer right away, or immediately boomerang it to pop back up later in the day for me to process.
Asana has been a great task management system for me; I've used it both as a groups management tool as well as my personal organizer. I won't go into all the product details here, but suffice it to say I can just dump my mind of all my lists. I still jot things down on good old paper, but I then filter them when I move them to Asana.
Evernote has been a good tool to compliment my GTD implementation with Asana. Evernote is where I store the photos my parents send me, the articles I find interesting to reference later, and the notes I write myself on my objectives, motivations, and other miscellaneous discoveries of the day to day.
GetPocket has been my most recent addition to my routine: I tried other read-later apps and sites and in the past none of them stuck, but the integration of multiple platforms makes it easy to keep using GetPocket. The part I like in particular is that when linked with your GCal you can publish a neat calendar of your past readings, for anyone interested in similar topics.
for the next couple months, I will be looking for a job. My top strategies are:
I've invested in my education, and I believe in it. I gladly take on the responsibility to impact my community and society meaningfully, and am looking for an occupation that will facilitate that. The alumni network is one way for me to stay not only connected to my peers that have done this very same, but also to ask about what's going on in a variety of industries. I know what it is I love about what I do (more on that in a subsequent post), but what I can do can be applied in a wide variety of industries-- we'll see where I land!
LinkedIn has become much more than simply another platform to reach out to potential employers through your existing network (mind you, it's phenomenal at that). The increasing number of groups and discussions that LinkedIn facilitates makes it a good resource for to delve deeper in your are of interest.
And then there's good old-fashioned face-to-face networking. I am excited at the prospect of having the time to go to the events on this campus I've spent the past 4+ years of my life. GSB event with a renown entrepreneur? I'm down. MS&E professor about to wax lyrical on the new tools he's discovered work for management? I'm already signed up.
So if I were to sit in front of the laptop all day and simply be either reaching out/ applying to or waiting on contacts and job prospects, I'd go mad. In addition to a part-time job to cover the bills, here's the (rough) plan so far:
daily sketching was something I had down in 8th grade and then forgot along the way. Beyond keeping my sketching skill fast n loose, it will allow me to create that little nook in the day to use a different part of my mind
I'll also keep working on that list of side projects. While I won't have access to the fantastic machine shop on campus (as in this pic), there's enough I can do by hand and in the garage out back to keep me busy.
