See more views of jalopy.

So, what are your thoughts? An odd way/location to dispose of a jalopy? Some sort of marketing ploy to bring in customers (which worked on me)?

Update: A week or so later, I noticed the ‘Bring in your clunker’ sign, so it was, in fact, a marketing ploy… and a good one!

Staying organized is something I’ve always been a big fan of. Growing up, my dad knew that if I didn’t make a list for something, it wasn’t going to get done.

He would always ask if I had written something down. He never had to make lists so I never understood why I had to. I would simply forget to do things. Not cardinal things like, brush your teeth or go to sleep, but I have written ‘take a shower’ or ‘eat breakfast’ not to remember, but to be able to cross it off a list.

I like the satisfaction of crossing something off a list. I’ve seen people use check marks and even ink-wasting circular strokes that leave imprints 4-5 pages beneath. I’m a one-to-two-line strike through kinda guy – I like to be able to read what was there for even more sense of accomplishment. Sometimes I even write something down, just to cross it off.

Behance and Knock Knock have great tools for fulfilling any of your strike through needs. I use both for different occasions and have found them both to be very helpful. Behance has a great to-do which I’ve used for project meetings, personal to-do lists, and even site maps for websites I’m working on. Knock Knock has a handy little weekly schedule which helps me not forget a last minute request from a client or to follow up on progressing projects.

Staying organized on the fly is a little different -  I go through sticky notes like crazy, have a notebook or two strictly for client meetings, but as far as to-do lists – those range from index cards, loose leaf paper, used envelopes, Beer Books, various tablets, even a sugar packet (once). The table life of these notes is usually short, but sometimes, I make the overwhelming ‘page-long list’. This list can include things that need to be done that day to the next month, or next year to the day I die. Things like ‘buy more beer at grocery’, ‘catch up on design blogs’, to ‘live in the UK’ and ‘get out of debt’ end up on the same list. Mostly this list is just a great form of procrastination, usually more counter-productive than anything. Nonetheless, things get written down and some things get crossed off – all with a little more gratification.

Field Notes is where my resources go and I’ve upheld their slogan – “I’m not writing it down to remember it later, I’m writing it down to remember it now.” It’s just thin enough to toss in my back pocket and bring just about anywhere. I have contacts, books to read, music to listen to, links to check out, research on various products I want to buy, artists to further research, quotes, etc

Along similar lines comes Moleskine notebooks. I use Moleskine notebooks for lengthier writings – usually as ‘idea’ books. From more promising ideas to the lame and comical ones, I try to keep these ideas in the same vicinity for reference… and a good laugh. They also have a multitude of other books from museum specific to city notebooks and planners to watercolor notebooks.

In the end, everyone has their own way of staying organized – from paper to paper-less… with technology like iPhones and Blackberrys, applications like iCal and Google Calendar, and even free online to-do list resources, I still have a soft spot for good ol fashioned paper. It’s reliable, easy to come by, fairly efficient, affordable and still the best way for me to ‘write-to-remember’ things not to overlook.

So, it’s your turn. Let me know how you stay organized as a creative. What other resources should I look into for taking notes, keeping organized and making to-dos?

Further Linkage:

Behance
@behance

Knock Knock

Field Notes Brand
@fieldnotesbrand

Moleskine
13 Twitterers Share Their Moleskine Obsession

If you’re not using anything to bookmark your links, I’d highly recommend StumbleUpon. It’s super easy to use, is a great way to find more cool sites, allows reviews and tags and displays them very nicely as well. Check out this interface:

So, what else out there is worth checking out? What social bookmarking service do you use and why?

Further Linkage:

20 Largest Social Bookmarking Sites
The Top Ten Social Bookmarking Sites on the Web

Flickr photo from Stabilo Boss. Many thanks for compiling these logos.

With so many social media venues to subscribe to or sign up for, how on earth are we supposed to get any work done? There’s Flickr (photos), YouTube (video), Vimeo (video), Twitter (communication), MySpace (communication), Facebook (communication), LinkedIn (communication – professional), Digg (news), StumbleUpon (link sharing/bookmarking), Hubspot (news – marketing), deviantART (art), del.icio.us (link sharing/bookmarking), WordPress (blogging), Hi5 (communication), Last.fm (music), Foxmarks (bookmarking sync), TweetDeck (tweet organizer)… and a crap-ton more (these are just the one’s I’m more familiar with).

How do we know when to stop following, uploading, searching, subscribing, watching, clicking, saving, tagging, bookmarking and commenting? I assume the answer is ‘never’ since these choices allow us to learn, research, organize, share, keep up and even procrastinate. If this is the case – how do we manage? How do we properly distribute our social media time?

I currently use Twitter (via TweetDeck) to keep up with design insights, events and friends, Foxmarks to keep up with RSS feeds of blogs, Flickr to upload and view interesting photos, YouTube to find awesome 80’s songs/videos (and to procrastinate), Facebook to keep better tabs on my friends (and their birthdays, photos, and ‘info’), StumbleUpon to organize, tag and find awesome links I run across, LinkedIn because I figured it was more professional than Facebook or MySpace, and WordPress for this post you’re reading now.

If you’re not a junkie yet, good for you. Or maybe you’re just unaware that you do have a problem. If you’re still in denial, Wikipedia defines ’social media’ as follows:

Social media is information content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies that is intended to facilitate communications, influence and interaction with peers and with public audiences, typically via the Internet and mobile communications networks. The term most often refers to activities that integrate technology, telecommunications and social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and “building” of shared meaning among communities, as people share their stories and experiences. Businesses also refer to social media as user-generated content (UGC) or consumer-generated media (CGM).

Source: Wikipedia

Social Media is taking up too much of my time. What do I do to cope? How do you manage your social media habits? I thought about having “Twitter Tuesdays and Thursdays”, “WordPress Wednesdays”, “Facebook/Flickr Fridays”, “StumbleUpon Saturdays/Sundays”… and give Monday a break? Oh, I’m sure something will come along…

To fuel the fire:

50 Social News Websites: A List of General and Niche Social Media Communities
Top Social Media Sites
List of Social Media and Social Networking Sites
Social Media Websites
How to Leverage Web 2.0 & Social Media Sites…
Wow, Social Media is a lot like High School!!