Hi!

Word of warning, I'm in a disgruntled mood today.

One of the problems I have with traditional softare to "organize" is that I have trouble putting things into categories. Which would explain my messiness when everything is on the floor (always run out of floor space), my inability to find things when everything is put away, and reasons why tje Windows Explorer folders just isn't enough for me!

I collet bits of information....(I know very well I won't remember them when I need to and somehow I think I will need it one day) so I think I'm doing myself a favor by marking my magazine with a post-it tape flag, and keeping the magazine "as a reference".

In my mind, all these bits of information are interconnected--each bit should have it's own folder in my root directory on my harddrive:

1) Because, if I don't see on the main folders, I don't remember it's there!
2) And, many of these bits of information belong in many different categories!

For example (this is just an example because if I took an example from my real life it would be too embarrassing:

I was reading this week's "The Week" about the guy who invented the software program "SimCity"... That reminded me about something I read long ago (I should have written it down) about some idea for a relationship tool that was supposed to simulate marriage. Now, under what folder do I put this "reminder for me"?
Under C:\Technology\Software\Games?
Or under C:\Health\Marriage\Tools\Software ?
Or under C:\Home\Marriage?
Or even C:\ThingsToDo\NewSoftware?

It really needs to be filed under all four of those categories! (at least)

Now what happenes when I pick a directory to put my file in:
SimCityAuthor.doc

And in this file I make a note of the author and what I wanted to find out about a possible SimMarriage program.

So I locate the guy's email, website, and while I'm reasearching this my mind branches off and I start to make a list of other similar software packages and put them in the document. Then I start to make a list of sites like epinions.com, and amazon.com, addforums.com, consumerreports.org so I can check these sites for what other customers have to say about those programs...

Now I have a lot more things in this SimCityAuthor.doc document. It has not only info about the SimCity author, but info on novel marriage tools, a nice list of consumer opionion websites... How do I find all this information again?

Sometimes what starts out as a small document with a little bit of information quickly becomes the "Grand Research Project" of the evening! I'm left with a huge amount of something that I think is important and I don't know where to put it! I've lost my original focus of my little reminder...

And if such a huge database program did exist how long does it take for that monstrosity to load? Is it stable? Will it crash? Can I import notes from other word documents and Yahoo Emails into this database easily? Does it work with my back up program? Maybe there is such a program but you subscribe to a website so you can store all your infocrap on their database instead. I don't want people I don't know snooping into my notes! What if their database crashes....

Sometimes I wonder if the reason why I have all this information is because I like the thrill of the chase. For example it took me 6 months worth of research and opinion gathering before I decided to buy llamagraphics' Life Balance. But I was so daunted by the idea of transferring everything over to it that I never even used it!

So I guess my question is...anyone know an information orgainizing, windows-based computer program that can sort all this info that I have? Can anything out there TEACH me to catagorize and remember the categories so I can find things later?

Anyone know what I'm going through?

Sorry for the rant,

-M

The "thrill of the chase" - I can totally relate!

You might want to check out www.thebrain.com (http://www.thebrain.com/)

This is organizing software (for files, web pages, anything on electronic computer format). You can download a 30 day trial and can take an on line seminar that teaches how to organize.

It is very "visual" in nature.

Thanks for the "brain" info - I have downloaded the trial and it looks like this is exactly what every adder needs! I too have problems finding stuff that I have "organized", but these self created "thoughts" and the visual aspect "the brain" offers seems to work in harmony with how my thoughts work.