13 August 2021, Somewhere in the Metaverse - UplandDood (@Just1Dood) 

Start with your Warehouse

Imagine for a second that your daily routine can be compartmentalized and stored in a warehouse. If you can imagine that, then it is easier to tackle what I'm about to share.

If it is not, it will still be worth your time reading this to understand how to get them compartmentalized and organized.

[Disclaimer: This is not Stocking Advice. Do your own research. I'm no expert. I'm writing this partly to get myself organized and manageable.]

How many of you are fans of the TV series Fringe and the X-Files or the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark? Remember those warehouses they showed in these series and the movie? Recall the last scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark, where the boxed-up Lost Ark was put into a humongous warehouse? Without proper cataloging and systematic filing, it would be impossible to locate this Lost Ark.

If that's your intention for your daily routine, then you're fine. Skip this article. But if you're trying to figure out how to make them more manageable, then do follow along and see if my thought process makes any sense.

Take Stock

It's better if I start with a definition of "Take Stock". The online Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as such:

to carefully think about something in order to make a decision about what to do next

If your daily routine was never organized, then the first thing to do is to do a stock take. List down all the things that needed to be done.

Compartmentalize them. For example, list all work-related tasks in one compartment; all nonwork-related in another. Break them down further if you wish. Think of it like how IKEA stack their products in their warehouse. It's all done systematically so that you can locate the item you want with ease.

Incidentally, this topic was birthed out of my need to be a little more efficient in completing my writing, reading, and commenting commitments here at read.cash and my noisense™ and Back to the 80s posts in noise.cash (I'd started two new channels for all my noisense. Do come to join in the fun if you're wacky and have a loose screw.)

Once we have a good overall picture after having taken stock, we need to look at our initial commitment on what needs to be done daily. We now have a look at our Par Stock.

Par Stock (aka Safety Stock)

Again, let's start with a definition. According to Wikipedia, it means that the

safety stock is an additional quantity of an item held in the inventory to reduce the risk that the item will be out of stock. 

Let's take my writing example above. If let's say that I have committed to do the following:

1. Post one article

2. Write one article

3. Read 5 articles

4. Reply to all comments

5. Comment to articles read

6. post in noise.cash (no set number of posts)

I'll then take the following as the Par Stock/Safety Stock

1. One article to post

2. One article to write

3. Five articles to read

What I've done above is that I have quantified and set what I need to at least get done daily. Anything I do above that would be a bonus. However, anything below that would put me at a deficit.

Once I have done my Stock Take and know my Par Stock, I would need to devise a strategy in order not to fall below par.

[Complete your Stock Take and determine your Par Stock before moving on to a Strategy.]

Stock Maintenance Strategy

We now know that it is important to stop and evaluate a situation to understand it first, i.e. to take stock and have a par stock. Then formulate a plan to be efficient.

This was what I'd posted in one of my posts at noise.cash using a football analogy. The gist of it is this - post my article first, then proceed to write an article for my article bank (I'll talk about my article bank in a future article and link it here once published). Once those have been completed, then I will focus on clearing as many notifications (read articles, comment on them) as possible before proceeding to have lots of fun in noise.cash.

It doesn't always end up in that strict order. I do end up replying to comments left on today's posted article and I also intersperse my time with short breaks in noise.cash.

From my experience, if I'd started the day with clearing notifications first, my schedule for that day will be all out of whack. I can get carried away reading and commenting and pretty soon realize that I'm too exhausted to write anything. My brain would have turned to mush by then. That's a recipe for self-inflicted writer's block.

You can see now that it is important to clear the quantified commitments first. Otherwise, your whole schedule will be messed up.

Stocking successfully

Being a successful stockist means that you need to evaluate this constantly. Once you are running smoothly as clockwork, then you can consider upping your Par Stock or allocating the extra time on something else.

Looking back now on my posted game plan strategy, I believe it is working. I've already posted my article for today. Replied to some of the comments while working on this article.

Now, this article is complete and I still have quite a bit of time to focus on my reading and commenting on articles read.

I do hope that my ramblings were clear and that you can derive some value from them. Have fun getting your warehouse in order and good luck!

Thank you for reading. Stay safe and see you in the next article.

Sources:

Header: Unsplash.com -noodle kimm

Image 1: Unsplash.com -  Jezael Melgoza

Image 2: Unsplash.com - Nana Smirnova

Thank you again for dropping by. Have fun with English. Remember to share your experience in the comment section.

Do drop by to say hi at my following addresses. I promise I'll be at home :)

NoiseCash: UplandDood

Twitter: UplandDood

Publish0x: UplandDood (link takes you to site. You'll have to search for UplandDood to find me)