Hamster system

Boost productivity and reduce stress by organizing your documents, workflow and personal budget with an ultra-simple system loosely inspired in GTD, Todo.txt, OBTF (One Big Text File), Bullet journal (notes on paper), spreadsheets, index cards, inbox zero and desktop zero.

So, how can you start?

• hamster folder: organize your (digital) documents
• hamster flow: organize your workflow
• hamster budget: organize your money
• TLDR - what does this stuff solve?

Hamster folder - organize your documents

'Every document belongs to a project'.

Container

• root folder: YOUR NAME

    First of all create a folder in a partition of your disk.
    ALL your stuff will be stored here.
  

• main folders: PROJECT STATUS

    Inside your root folder there are 2 folders:
  
    INBOX (folder to store your active projects)
    ARCHIVE (folder to store your inactive projects - often organized in collections)
  

Project folders

[collection] #project @subproject -folders

• collection: [ ]

    Inside ARCHIVE folder you put [collection] folders:
    e.g: [large investor]
  

• project (derived from twitter hashtag): #

    Inside INBOX, ARCHIVE or [collection] folders you put #project folders:
    e.g: #house in portugal    
  

• subproject (derived from twitter mention): @

    Inside #project folders you put @subproject folders:
    e.g: @building permit
  

• storage folder [^1]: -

    Inside @subprojects you put -storage folders:
    e.g: -drawings
  

And be pragmatic:

    When reasonable reduce unnecessary nesting by merging folders:
    Prefer: #project@onlyOneSubproject
    Instead of: #project / @onlyOneSubproject

    Prefix for temporary folders: _
    e.g: _standby

    Folders to keep old versions of files: +
    e.g: -plans / +

File naming

• use a system that fits your needs[^2]. Some hints:

    Prefix for template / boilerplate files: $
    e.g: $curriculum
  

• version files by using a modification date suffix[^3]: Calendar Versioning

    e.g: yourfile+20211018
  

Navigation

• you only need one permanent desktop shortcut to navigate through your documents:

    Shortcut to INBOX folder
  
    A shortcut to ARCHIVE is optional - only inactive projects are there.
  

• and/or a launcher-file finder[^4].

Hamster flow - organize your workflow

'Manage a collection of inputs'.

• One text file[^5] and a paper notebook collect all inputs:

  • actionable inputs (Tasks) are managed in the paper notebook. Non-urgent tasks eventually move to the Calendar section of the text file[^6].
  • non-actionable inputs are managed in the (markdown) text file. Hints:
    • One long file is easier to manage than many short files.[^7] See it as a flat wiki and use built-in search for navigation.
    • This file is not write-only: progressively summarize and tree-shake it each time you iterate your notes. You'll leverage your excitement instead of forcing discipline.
    • Ideally, notes are organized by project, not by category. It can be a catalyst for action and reviews.
    • Only store things that surprise you, not stuff you already know.

• Tasks listed in the Calendar section of the text file have a due date: [ ]

    Dates are inserted before the task description (allowing chronological sorting):
  
    e.g. inserting a scheduled date: [year-month-day=hour]
    [2021-11-29=9h] Doctor appointment
  
    e.g. inserting a trigger/fuzzy date: [date >>]
    [2021-10-10 >>] Waiting for client feedback after this date
  
    e.g. inserting a deadline date: [date <<]
    [2021-10-22 <<] Pay electricity bill until this date
  
    e.g. without knowing the due date: [soon] or [someday]
    [soon] Call Mom
    [someday] Bungee jumping with friends
  

• Resuming (check also screenshots):

    on a paper notebook:
        Tasks (collection of tasks to be done ASAP)
  
    on a text file with 2 sections:
        Calendar (collection of tasks that can/must wait)
        Notes (collection of thoughts and bookmarks)
  

Screenshots

• Calendar section on Sublime text editor.[^8]

• Easy text-editor navigation with markdown (adaptable to YAML for data serialization).

Hamster budget - organize your money

'You may not need a personal budget'.

Does it worth to spend cognitive bandwidth to know that last month I spent €321,83 on groceries? I already know that I spend around €300. What I crave is to feel in control of my finances.

How to do it in a practical way? Track your net worth in a spreadsheet:

• List all your assets (cash, stocks, bonds, crypto, real estate, whatever) and sum them. List and sum your liabilities (if relevant). Every case is a case so you must build your own spreadsheet.
• When your net worth is too risky for your personality get more tight.
• When you feel confortable with your number you can loosen up a bit.
• I used to track it every month. I've loosen up to every quarter and eventually to semiannual.[^9]

TLDR:

What does this stuff solve?

Complicated systems always fail on the long-term. Hamster-system aims to be simple and practical.

• Hamster folder (organize your documents)

  • Transmission of projects with a predictable structure.
  • Prediction (with acceptable accuracy) of filenames and their location. A file finder is great when you remember the filename but less useful when you don't.

• Hamster flow (organize your workflow)

  • Mix the good parts of many workflow management approaches using your favorite text editor, cloud and a paper notebook. Markdown - if necessary - can be adapted into formats like YAML to facilitate data exchange and serialization.

• Hamster budget (organize your money)

  • Feel in control of your finances spending a couple of hours every quarter. Minimum overhead.

Possible painpoint?

This system doesn't have specialized apps nor I plan to add any. However, it is platform agnostic so you can easily adapt it to meet your needs.

Is this the truth?

Probably not but I test new options and tree shake existent ones agressively.[^10]

[^1]: This is the deepest level you'll get. It's enough and keeps it simple. [^2]: e.g: relevant naming system for architects. I use a great free tool for batch renaming. [^3]: After a long trial, Semver and then "builds" were deprecated. "Modification dates", aka Calendar versioning (CalVer) are simpler. [^4]: After having tried most options for Windows (win+type, Keypirinha, Everything, Cerebro, Wox, Zazu, Launchy, FARR), I'm using Listary. Pros: Launch and file search without external software, low memory usage (less than 40Mb on win7), fast and configurable. Cons: No calculator function. [^5]: Hosted in a cloud (Google Drive, Dropbox, etc) if possible. [^6]: A full featured calendar (Google calendar, Apple calendar, etc) may pay off in "busy" lifestyles. [^7]: Try to keep it under 2K lines. If you can't, it may mean some excerpts should live independently or even in a more suitable format (e.g. spreadsheet or public notes). [^8]: Hint: on Sublime press F9 (or F5 on Mac) to sort dates. [^9]: I will stop here. Longer timeframes imply too delayed signals. [^10]: Org-mode, «wiki notes» (Roam, Foam, Obsidian), Johnny-decimal, (...)

Hamster-System by Enio Ferreira is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.