{"id":1686,"date":"2013-12-18T19:03:36","date_gmt":"2013-12-19T01:03:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/?p=1686"},"modified":"2013-12-18T08:32:24","modified_gmt":"2013-12-18T14:32:24","slug":"planning-with-fractals-in-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/2013\/12\/planning-with-fractals-in-mind\/","title":{"rendered":"Planning with Fractals in Mind \u2013 Review, Sort of"},"content":{"rendered":"

I always appreciate discovering lesser-known things \u2013 yes, always, at least when it comes to organizing, time management, productivity, and other things that fascinate me.\u00a0 I wish I could remember how<\/i> I come across some of them, as is the case with the e-book \u201cClear Mind, Effective Action\u201d<\/a> by Jim Stone where he talks about his Fractal Planning system. Are you already rolling your eyes or afraid to read more?\u00a0 Talking about fractals and planning systems might sound intimidating or like a non sequitur, yet this is the type of thing I\u2019ve encouraged all of you to do \u2013 at least to some degree \u2013 use what works from the systems around us and then find ways to adjust for the parts that don\u2019t work as well.<\/p>\n

Therefore, let\u2019s talk about his approach, fractals and all.\u00a0 What do you think of when you hear the term fractals?\u00a0 The way he envisions fractals is as \u201ca rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-sized copy of the whole\u201d which he says is how Wikipedia (at the time of writing) defines it.\u00a0 What is critical about fractals in his view is that they surround us and \u201ccreative productivity (like most business projects) grew via fractal processes\u201d so a successful planning tool would incorporate fractal awareness into it.<\/p>\n

He offers several different ways to envision fractals around us.\u00a0 One of those is a tree, where you take a main branch off a tree and it looks like a smaller tree.\u00a0 If we continue, taking a branch (he refers to this as a sub-branch) off this other (main) branch, this also looks like an even smaller tree.\u00a0 And so on.\u00a0 Sometimes there are some random variations at each step, as with this example of a tree, yet remains an example of a fractal.<\/p>\n

\"Tree<\/a>

Tree as an example of a fractal we see and take for granted<\/p><\/div>\n

Part of what that means is the versatility for breaking things down into ever and ever smaller parts \u2013 the splitting (or fracturing) mentioned above that is still a smaller representation of the bigger picture. \u00a0Yet, fractal can also be seen as a way to build things up through the branching process.\u00a0 This can be seen with the Koch Snowflake (animated to see the process in one direction) \u2013 where you can see how both breaking down as well as building up applies.<\/p>\n

Isn\u2019t this what we need when we\u2019re planning our tasks and priorities \u2013 the flexibility to approach things from any direction?\u00a0 Sometimes we\u2019re stuck in the forest, unable to see the trees when we\u2019re trying to plan.\u00a0 Other times all we can see are the trees \u2013 or to put it another way \u2013 we\u2019re busy thinking in the big or small picture view and struggle with aspects that go beyond that view.\u00a0 Or maybe we\u2019re just not clear \u2013 it\u2019s somewhere between the two extremes \u2013 yet wherever we might be, it\u2019s important to have a planning tool that will support us as we capture our thoughts.\u00a0 And then we can take that planning as far as we need to for maximizing our productivity and minimizing our stress \u2013 fractal like in either breaking the steps down or building our plans up.<\/p>\n

\"Von<\/a>

Von Koch Curve showing the fractal nature<\/p><\/div>\n

Essentially the idea of fractal planning comes down to the idea that being aware of the fractal nature \u2013 of our plans, our goals, our entire lives \u2013 will help us as we\u2019ll work better, becoming more efficient and effective while our stress will decrease.\u00a0 As Jim Stone says, \u201c”If you set it up right, with a planning tool that allows you to break down projects to any level of detail, your plans will just grow naturally from your brain\u2018s innate desire to break tasks down as you go. That\u2018s what fractal awareness does for you. It helps you see that your whole life can be represented in the same plan, and you can trust it to grow organically, just like a tree grows (because that\u2018s how plans grow, too). And don\u2018t worry. There is no \u2015right way to break down your life plan or your projects and sub-projects.”<\/p>\n

I love the optimism of this \u2013 while the skeptic in me wonders how realistic this is for everyone.\u00a0 Oops, even I can slip into the temptation of 1 solution for all of us.\u00a0 This is simply an example of one person\u2019s solution to planning and productivity challenges that were not solved from another system out there (David Allen\u2019s Getting Things Done<\/a> are evident in places).\u00a0 \u00a0His approach also assumes you are 1) comfortable with technology and 2) that you sit at a desk the majority of the time \u2013 where it\u2019s easy and convenient to be interacting with your list.\u00a0 [Please note that I have no data on his paid online system \u2013 and am considering writing another piece that discusses some of the issues I see with this system; this post is about the ideas in his e-book.]\u00a0 Nevertheless, the idea of fractal awareness shifting how we view things intrigues me \u2013 without needing to adopt any other piece of his system.\u00a0 Are there any ideas that capture your interest?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I promote we all find our own way, adjusting things for how we function. And I read a free e-book from Jim Stone that talks about how he combines David Allen\u2019s Getting Things Done with fractals, they\u2019re pervasive all around us \u2013 and he says, \u201cI estimate (very conservatively) that I get twice as much done, and have far less than half the stress as compared with before.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,11],"tags":[10,8,18,5,9,7,22,15],"class_list":["post-1686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-timemanagement","tag-behavior","tag-discipline","tag-goals","tag-household","tag-motivation","tag-procrastination","tag-productivity","tag-resources"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7p82c-rc","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1686"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1689,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1686\/revisions\/1689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}