I don’t operate the world putting everything into defined folders and boxes of clear tree-like structure (like I do on my laptop).
I operate the world by slapping infinite amount of tags on everything (which do not exist independently like in some tag cloud, but are rather interconnected in their own ways), and then tag-filtering or pulling the chain of tags when I need.
Sure, from outside that looks like a totally random chaotic pile, but it has its own structure, just the structure is different to what is usually pictured as a structure.
@olena@actuallyautistic
I think most of us have a craving for order and structure. It's just that what we consider structure and how we organise things aren't always what someone else would recognise. For starters, our systems can be quite interconnected and complex and more than a little individual. More than a little like us.
I feel like what we need is order and structure and being able to trust that we're not missing something, and nothings about to come bite us in the butt.
I think ADHD is often a part of the picture. A colleague used to look aghast at my desk, but I knew where everything was. Organised chaos. But I did feel better when it was less chaotic.
@Susan60@melindrea@olena@actuallyautistic
All my spaces appear cluttered, well, actually they are. Yet, I know where everything else is. That includes stuff put in draws thirty years ago. At best, tidying up involves making things look a bit neater by lining them up, without actually moving them much, obviously.
My partner is good at putting things down in random places & forgetting - ADHD. And bits & pieces that belong in the bin, a golf bag, or a filing cabinet, get left lying around. Sometimes put into piles, or takeaway food containers, rather than away. Drives me nuts. Otherwise I like a place to look lived in, books, a jacket (not 5), a pair of shoes (again not 5) etc.
I've found that the only way to really keep track of my stuff is with an inventory system. I'm currently using something bodged together using wiki templates and categories, but I want something more purpose-built like the system I wrote for the online store I used to run (and plan to run again, it's a long story).
@pathfinder@olena@actuallyautistic My office is a mess. It looks like Staples, PC world, The Ghost of Maplins and Pimoroni collaborated in building a dirty bomb and detonated it in situ.
My bookshelves, however are pristine.
My wife despairs at me when out shopping as, if we visit a big bookshop, I have a compulsion to sort the shelves.
My office desk, disorganized chaos.. my bookshelves "not quite dewey decimal classified but definitely haunted by a ghostly librarian!"
@DoctorDisco@olena@actuallyautistic
My bookshelves are more of, there is no system I just know where every book is. I actually made the mistake of re-organising my dvds and now struggle to find what I want. 😊
I used to have 5000 VHS cassettes (imagine the space that took up!) but I got rid of those and ended up with around 4000 DVD's. I now have about 3000 assorted BluRays and DVD's (after i moved in with my now wife) and I need a database to track what I already own as I'm prone to purchasing dupes!
But they're alphabetical sorted in clip folders (sans cases) in punched pockets with 4 dvd's to a page.
@DoctorDisco@pathfinder@olena@actuallyautistic I was in the Oxfam bookshop last week, and found a book about the Great Game (i.e. 19th-century geopolitics) in the games section. I moved it to history.
Personally, I hate boxes because of object permanence. The best way to hide stuff is to put it in a box or a wardrobe: Everything is instantly gone.
When working on an idea, I often have little notes lying around on a table: The position, rotation and even if a note touches others contains relevant information.
Sure, looks like chaos for another person. They can keep their linear lists and little excel sheets, if they want. :blobcatgiggle:
What helped me a lot was: Having radically different systems for different purposes.
Boxes and wardrobes are totally fine for clothes, for example. I know where my clothes are and where I can put clothes that I find lying around.
When I am working on a "project" (which can be anything from programming over electronics to building a tiny trebuchet out of chopsticks), it helps to have a box or similar for just that purpose.
(But only if the visual stimulation of that project overwhelms me. Otherwise, it makes more sense to have it laid out.)
And: You can have different granularities. If you mostly collect e.g. paperwork but once a year require some of it, then putting it into a large "inbox" can make sense, because it is simply not worth the effort to divide it up in subcategories.
In the end, most systems are tradeoffs: Insertion time vs. search time, required space, annoyance-when-using-it (measured in frowns per second), etc.
@olena@actuallyautistic sounds like you could like something like Logseq! It's a note-taking app I've started to use and wouldn't miss it for the world! https://logseq.com/
@luyin@actuallyautistic I am usually too lazy to take notes anyway(at work I am the dinosaur that hand-writes them on paper - among scribbled nonsense), but thank you, I’ll give it a try when/if I will need to write down on my device something more long-lasting than a shopping list)
@olena@actuallyautistic sure, you do what works for you! For a while it really helped me focus my attention on meetings, which I continually struggle with (no surprise, thank you for nothing, #adhd ), and it's been a lifesaver because now I actually find my notes again. Good luck 😃
I personally like that it allows very simple note-taking for me. I don't need to think about where to store that note, I just write something down. When I tag/link it, I'm almost guaranteed to find it again.
I have templates for e.g. meeting notes or my daily todos, which are helpful because they make it easier for me to find notes of a meeting with a specific person (because each person is a link as well).
It also offers whiteboards and a fancy graph view, although I don't use either much.
@olena@actuallyautistic Every autistic individual is an autistic individual. Maybe it's the order we like, and it can be any sort of system that works for us individually?
@lmgenealogy@actuallyautistic a lot of people don’t perceive the ‘tag’ system as ‘order’, only the ‘box’ one. It’s kinda like you’re being told to clean your room because it’s a mess, but for you it’s not a mess, it’s a perfectly organized working system which allows you to function optimally, and if someone ‘cleans it up’ and ‘makes it orderly’ trying to help you - you’re in despair because now it just doesn’t work and you’ve lost half of your staff
@olena@lmgenealogy@actuallyautistic My opinion: we see patterns in the chaos that others don't. These patterns bring stability and order to a chaotic system.
By someone changing the system without us knowing about it, we have to recompute all the patterns again which pisses us off.
E.g. I know exactly where X item is in the big boxes of mess in my attic. If X isn't there I freak out because the pattern says it should be there. (See: safeloosing)