Lots of Post It Notes Everywhere, what to do? (Q&A)

Thanks, courtesy to Kim K. for this question:

I could use some suggestions...I'm a "Note Poster" this is my craft room and I have notes everywhere! Suggestions how to make this visibly cleaner, but not forget what i need to see/do/find/how to... Same with lists, i make lists of lists...then cant remember what book, location, the list is at. TIA

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Response:

I am a highly visual learner, so I totally get what you're talking about with wanting everything in front of you at all times so you can see them. With that said, I'd start by looking at what kinds of notes you're writing on the post-its. It looks like you've got some inventory lists, some spatial layout orientation lists, some daily or regular open up/close down task lists, and maybe some shopping/restock lists? I would start with the easiest first, which to me, would be the how to lists (ex; how to operate a specific machine or tool). I would pick one large piece of colored paper (not a bold red, but something medium-enough colored that's far away from yellow since most of your background and wall color is yellow....perhaps a light blue color). I would then type out those instructions (or hand write them, whichever works better), and print all how to instructions on identical large printer-sized pieces of paper, and then locate them immediately adjacent to the tool or item where it's stored/used...as in, they go together like a pair. Then, when you visually scan the space, all the large blue sheets of paper will pop out, and you'll know without having to go up to those pieces of large paper that they're how to instructions, and that you only need to look closer if you physically get closer to the sheet of paper and the tool/machine it explains how to do things with. For your open up/close down lists, I'd stick them on an orange piece of paper, and co-locate them at the entrance to the craft room on the door or immediately above/below/next to the light switch to the room. I'd laminate that piece of paper, but before laminating it, I'd put empty square check-off boxes next to each item, and then stick a dry erase marker attached to a string to that hanging piece of orange paper, and you'll know that the open up/close down tasks are all in the same place and that those are the very first thing you need to do every day/every end of day. If you're worried about losing that piece of paper if you need to carry it around the room with you while you do things, I'd attach either a helium dollar tree balloon to it, or one of those smaller helium balloons that are stiff and attached to a stick to it, so that wherever you move that piece of paper around to in the room, the moving vertical balloon will always easily grab your attention. If you pick the smaller stiffer stick balloon, pick one that is obnoxiously loud/bright colored/patterned so that it visually pops easier off the contrasting background and makes it easier to find. For the shopping lists, you can do one of several things. On Alexa or google home or siri, create a series of lists named after each of your stores. As you think of new items, as alexa, google home or siri to add those items to your respective store lists. You can also make a separate folder on your phone in your notes called shopping, and then a separate file for each called the same name after each store, and then with the apple reminders app, you can set pop-up reminders tied to the different store addresses so that your relevant note will pop up when you are geographically at the store you want to shop at. For the spatial layouts that you're talking about with some of your lists (like what's on certain shelves), you can draw out the layout on a piece of paper like a map and label what goes where so you can see overall what you have and where things should go. If things are regularly going into the same spots, I'd recommend lining your shelves with large sheets of craft paper (like those used for bulletin boards in classrooms or that you can get from art supply stores), layout everything the way things should be laid out, and then box them off on the large sheets of craft paper and label what goes into each box. If you're looking at possibly outsourcing any of your things, or even types of things, you can color code the types of things that you store in your craft room, based on what they're used for (like all stickers in one area, all knitting things in another, all paint in another)., and then either rainbow craft paper from left to right the colors of the rainbow with a different color for each section/bookshelf based on craft type so it's easier to visually see where all the pottery things are, etc. You could also get matching for sale sign stickers that you can get from the dollar store (the little ones that people use at yard sales to mark prices) and stick related colors together on some of the larger items if you can't remember which sections they go into. For things where you're gonna need to go back to them, you can set timers like they use in PT and set them and velcro them to the areas that need them (like maybe a 15 min. timer to remind you to go back to check on paint tackiness)...most only go off for a few seconds, but you might be able to find others that go off non-stop until you turn them off.

this is an example of what I mean by a PT timer. I haven't used this one personally, but I think they tend to only beep for a short amount of time: https://amzn.to/3wWn7Sk

this is a version of a differently branded time timer. I do have this particular version, and it is LOUD, and it can go off for a full 60 seconds. I like that the order of the numbers makes more sense, vs. the officially branded time timers where the numbers are backwards. If I were to get it again, I'd get a larger clock version, and one with more contrast than the one with a star and clouds. https://amzn.to/3TIKIzJ

I also grid my post-it notes based on how far away from this moment in time they need to be done and move them around as needed. this is my preferred size for small project names and small tasks, mosty because of how moveable and transportable they are: https://amzn.to/3QhZNFt

I also carry around a section in my physical planner book that I have dashboarded out, and treat it mostly like a message board. each Dr. gets a post-it note, so when certain questions come up I want to remember to ask for later, it goes on the respective note. same goes for other places.

If I need a longer list, this is the style I prefer. Different colors correspond to different things. Because the overall size of the lined paper is larger, I know that it contains a list of things to do, vs. the smaller-sized post-its, which may be more likely to contain a list of things I need to ask someone, like in a Dr.'s appointment. This visual differentiation by size also helps to denote a difference in functionality, so when I'm visually scanning, my brain is knowing to look for a certain SIZE or style of paper, and then it knows to look for a certain COLOR of that size of piece of paper if I want to get more info, then actually looking at the heading in thick marker for the topic that's covered on the paper, and then finally, to actually read whatever I wrote in regular pen ink on the paper. There's a hierarchy to visual pre-attentive attributes that draws our brain's attention, and keeping those considerations in mind makes it much easier to more efficiently process, sort through, and bypass a lot of extraneous visual information and get to whatever it is that you're actually trying to look for and re-surface it. : https://amzn.to/3RjZFql

For everyone who likes Trello, you may want to check out Notion. They have Trello-style boards (called kanban), but they also have other things, like tables that are the equivalent of Excel spreadsheets, that can also be set up like relational databases if you want, places where you can create your own wikis/house your knowledge bases, and you can time/date things that then can go onto a calendar (not ical/google calendar integrated, as of yet, as far as I'm aware , and also very very basic Gantt style project timeline roadmap charts. It's also free for a single user. https://www.notion.so/

This is a thick magic marker. You could also try using a thick sharpie marker. Part of how you visually differentiate things, aside from size, shape and color, is also by thickness. Try labeling the top of every list in a THICK, dark-colored, magic marker, and see how much of a difference the contrast makes visually and how much easier it is for the relevant visual scanning information (the purpose of the piece of a specific piece of paper) pops and allows you to move on quicker when it's not exactly what you were searching for. Everything else you can write in regular thickness ink, but make the title in LARGE letters with a THICK magic marker. https://amzn.to/3BbQ6nU

Try making a drawing of your craft room. I did a painting of my apartment, and it was the perfect visual illustration of how you can physically have a bunch of items in front of you/around you, however, what your brain sees is only some of the items and it actually disregards most everything else because there's too much cognitive energy in continuing to reassess constantly... your brain is always naturally trying to create shortcuts to conserve on processing power and cognitive energy, so step 1 is visually surfacing and seeing what your brain is seeing, vs. what it's actually disregarding, which in all likelihood, is very different from what any other random person would see when they're looking at your space. I found looking at my painting, the where's waldo-ness of my apartment suddenly disappeared and instead, what I ended up painting were the things that my eyes regularly tried to focus on, or wanted to focus on, which translates as the hotspots of the apartment that are the most important to me. The level of detail I did in certain areas vs. others really made more visually apparent the areas I, personally, am most interested in. If you do this exercise, you might be surprised how much you choose to focus on certain regions or hotspots. After doing this, I would step back, look at those areas, maybe physically circle them, and then redirect the focus of your energies on just improving those areas that your brain is already gravitating the most towards. That's the 80/20 Pareto principle, where you focus on the 20% of the area that actually really matters the most to you, and where you'll see the 80% of your life improvement regarding that space since you were able to identify and focus on the areas that actually mattered the most to you. Hope that helps! Let me know if you end up actually doing this, since I'd be interested in seeing the contrast between the where's waldo-ness of your space, and what your brain actually feels is the most important and significant. That's when you can then really shine by putting forth effort in those areas to get the bigger impact for your resources.

Also, laminate a google map print out of where you live (you can mark public transportation bus roots/subways, etc. on it, as well &/or important areas like school, work, etc., just don't use an erasable pen since the heat from the laminator will make the ink color turn invisible). Then, as certain errands come up (grocery stores, post office, dry cleaners, pharmacy runs, stores you like to shop at, places you want to go, etc.), you put your small post it note or flag on them. When you're mapping out your route for the day, you can trip chain them together (start with the place furthest away from you geographically (in case you get tired...a.k.a. energy conservation) and work your way back home). Also, when you visually start to see a cluster of flags in a certain area, then you know it's time to do a trip chain run to get those errands done in that specific geographic region. This is what I mean by flags: https://amzn.to/3QczX5H

I haven't used this specific set personally, but you want to get the kind where you can actually write on them. & possibly re-use them. You can also check the dollar tree. They tend to carry flags, but they also tend to be hard to write on (at least the ones near me that I've gotten). Maybe if you put different sticker material on top, but unsure.

If you look here at the 4:52 mark, you'll see what I mean about tying the balloon to your opening/closing list if you'd carry that list around the room with you while you're doing things. here, the balloon is attached to the phone case so it's easier to find your lost phone amongst a busy background.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYga0zz5WBY

If you tie this helium balloon to a caribeaner clip, you can then clip/unclip the balloon from your phone case holder &/or the opening up/closing tasks list more easily without fraying down the string from all the tying/untying of it. The larger size (sometimes moving) combined with the vertical-ness helps whatever it's attached to stick out and pop much easier against the stagnant visual background and make it much faster, visually, to locate exactly what you're searching for. I'd save it for super-high value things that stop everything from working if they're lost/misplaced, like your phone. Or keys. Or the opening/closing list. https://amzn.to/3QcC2i1

Here's an example of what I mean by a mini mylar balloon on a stick. This type is self-inflating. I'd attach it to the open up/closing list, &/or your phone. Whatever you might move around the room with you and put down somewhere without realizing it & losing it. https://amzn.to/3CWwqp8

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