## Many Thinking Hats Our lives have many different facets each of which requires us to think differently. In a larger organization, you may be able to specialize, even if your tasks are varied. But the independent knowledge worker or sole trader must assume many quite different roles: producer, salesperson, accountant, time and project manager, strategist, and marketeer. And while executing orders for core services must also sell them, coordinating actions both in the present and to generate future business. This means doing the added value work but also determine, set and manage priorities, all while determining the best strategy to pursue. ## Capturing experience This means managing a lot of data, collating, sorting and deciding on a lot of information. And so we advise having systems which can act as both a storage facility and a decision-making platform. Our journey in management started with Google Desktop, which allowed us for the first time to index documents. A little while later came Evernote, which allowed us to comment on them, put them in context, and link them together. It was a valuable scratch pad, a playground, a fertile terrain for developing ideas, a place in which to write to oneself! But Evernote’s performance issues became frustrating, most useful development seemed to stall, and like many, I drifted away. Then came [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/) which works on any platform, and provides many functions to write, store and link notes. But what really attracted me to it was the graph view which replaced moh.io and publish which replaced postach.io. These tools allow us to capture ideas and thoughts, record and manage issues, to formulate goals and projects to move our activity forward. ## Building projects from experience To [[Turn Ideas into Actions and Projects]] and real world achievements requires controlled management to help ensure that we both plan change and remain nimble enough to react to the changing environment. First, ask yourself what you’re trying to achieve. - What is your goal, your end game, to change a situation or a system? - What is your motivation, and are you committed to reaching your goal? - Are you responding to an internal desire or a necessary adaptation to new circumstances? We discuss some of the ways you can catalogue and sort your observations and issues, to make reasoned decisions in the present about the future. Do you react proactively to new information? There’s no magic bullet. The solution is to express your observations in writing, a diagram, mind map or all of these. When you encounter a problem, structure it such as to identify potential causes and potential solutions. Group similar problems together to solve as a project. We share some ideas about how to transform all that thinking into actions that will generate the best opportunities. We encourage you to journal and take notes in your [[The Trusted System at the heart of Getting Things Done|trusted system]]. ## Our Values Our aim is to help people organize themselves and manage their workload, such as by investigating the [[Many Uses of Mind Mapping from essay plans to meeting notes]] and to assess situations objectively. We hope to help you address the stress of work, those who might feel under pressure or can't say no, to manage their time and clarify their priorities. Achieve a calm mind by applying the [[Getting Things Done management framework]] to capture what has your attention. We support the idea of self-management and autonomous responsibilities, in taking the time to work, self-respect, setting boundaries and [[Smart objectives]]. Please [[Contact mjl-tek|contact us]] if you have any questions, but, in the meantime, we hope you can gain some valuable insights from some of our [[Key themes - management, systems, software]].