Photo Credit: Tc Morgan via Compfight cc

As always, thank you for reading :)

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courtesy of aaaai.org

This is the second post in the Developing an Information Strategy series. You can also read my first post in the series, Developing an Information Strategy, Part 1.

Why resources?

I love the above picture. It fits so perfectly with the topic of this post, which is how resources fit into developing a strategy for designing a hobby or life that you love.

Resources are another one of the puzzle pieces for any goal or decision; they will help you to reach the big kahuna, the final product. A resource is all about new ideas and concepts, stuff that you reallllly want to learn about.

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This week I'm going to look at the blog Sheep Dressed Like Wolves, which is written by Andy Mort.

What this blog is about

Sheep Dressed Like Wolves is the blog and podcast for people defined as reluctant leaders and gentle rebels who long to make an impact in a sometimes strange, absurd, and often overwhelming world. Andy's goal with this blog and podcast is to encourage, inspire, and equip other introverted and highly sensitive people (HSPs) looking to find meaning and variety in their own lives.

He wants to assist them so that they can live out their deep passion and purpose and make their unique gentle impact on a loud world that easily overwhelms them (see the About page for more information).

Why I love this blog

Any introvert will love this blog. I just also happen to be a highly sensitive person and an introvert and I was sooooo happy to find out I was not alone in my struggles. Andy gives out the Gentle Rebel's Manifesto when you subscribe and it was so helpful to understanding exactly what makes highly sensitive people different.

I also recently joined his Member's Haven to meet other highly sensitive people and introverts. Please check out this blog if you are an introvert or feel overwhelmed in our noisy world.

As always, thank you for reading :)
Melissa

P.S. I am not affiliated with this blog or the products Andy sells. I simply like sharing blogs that I have personally found helpful in my journey :) 

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courtesy of madtownagency

I've written before about why an information strategy is essential and how to define an information need.

But now I want to move on to developing an information strategy by first looking at how you like to learn.

Part 1: How do you learn?

You've thought about what you want and your goals and you can think about what you need in terms of information to start accomplishing your goals. Now, you need to think about how you learn.

This can be tough (I know, I've been there). Knowing how you learn will help you to locate the resources that will be the most helpful to you. All the information in the world won't help you if your brain doesn't like processing it :) Your stubborn brain will rebel every chance it gets.

Three main types of learners

1. Auditory learners -  you would rather listen to things being explained than read about them

2. Visual learners - you learn best by looking at graphics, watching a demonstration, or reading

3. Kinesthetic learners - you process information best through a "hands-on" experience, like writing

To really absorb information and use it in your strategy, you need to know what kind of learner you are. Most people usually are a mix of all three with one that they strongly prefer.

I found I learn best through hands-on experience. I still write pages of notes when I need to work something out in my mind. Even when I'm listening to or watching something, I need to write notes to really work it out in my head.

What kind of learner do you think you are? Write it down :) 

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courtesy of Salamanca Arts Centre

What is an information need? 

Oh information. We can't do anything these days without you. But where should you start when you need to gather information, particularly if you are considering a different hobby, pursuing your passion project, or want to start your own business? We can't do any of these without gathering info first to see if it might be a good fit for us right? When making new and big decisions, it always helps to research it first before jumping in.

An information need is defined as "an individual or group's desire to locate and obtain information to satisfy a conscious or unconscious need." You could also replace need with goal if you want :)

Defining your information need 

So how do you go about knowing which information you need to help you make your decision? Write out your information need or goal.

I've pulled out three different things to look at when you decide you want to pursue something new and want to research it.

1. What is your goal?

Any information you look for won't really help you unless you have a clear goal in mind for how the information will help you. For what purpose do you want this information? For example, my goal is to write a novel.

2. Look for the problems and questions and list them.

Use these problems to find which information you really need to get started. As you start looking for information, your questions might change and that's okay. For my writing example, I had no clue how to write characters, plot, or suspense. And I knew I needed to research these further.

3. Write (or type) your goals and problems and keep them with you as you begin searching for the answers and resources you'll need.

You may find that other goals and problems may pop up, which is okay.

By defining your goals, problems, and questions early on, you can begin to create an information strategy that will help you in whatever decisions you want to make.

Thank you for reading. Until next time :)
Melissa

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This week I am reviewing the blog Tiny Buddha, which was founded and is maintained by Lori Deschene.

What this blog is about 

This was one of the first blogs I started to read when I wanted to start changing my life a few years ago. It is fantastic. Tiny Buddha is about reflecting on simple wisdom and learning new ways to apply it to our complex lives—complete with responsibilities, struggles, dreams, and relationships. Over the last four years, Tiny Buddha has emerged as a leading resource for peace and happiness, with more than two million monthly readers.

You’ll find posts about happiness, motivation, inspiration, love, relationships, meaning, possibilities, mindfulness, and letting go. Much of it has its roots in Buddhism, but this is not a site about religion. It’s about ideas that make sense and make a big difference when applied.

Why I love this blog

The wisdom in this blog has helped me through so much crap in the last three years. If you are experiencing hard times, I recommend going to read about other people's experiences. This blog is all about empathy with other people; chances are you are not alone in any of your experiences.

The other great things are the forums, where you can talk and interact with other people. Check out the quotes that are famous on Tiny Buddha. The founder, Lori, also has an ecourse, Recreate Your Life Story. There are also several great books written with the Tiny Buddha philosophy.

Check all of it out and find what is useful for you :)

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courtesy of extremetech

Happy Memorial Day! In this post, I'm going to talk a little more about personal information management and why having an information strategy is so important to designing the life that makes you happy.

Where do you start? 

For the longest time, I lived my life following the formula that has been peddled to the American people since lord knows when. You know, the American dream, the white picket fence, the big house, the family, etc. It represents ambition and I've always tried to follow my ambitions. I did good in high school, got good grades and participated in extracurricular activities. Then,  I went to get my bachelor's degree and graduated with a good GPA and manga cum laude.

I went to graduate school after that. I got good grades and a good GPA, and I got a job within three months of graduating. All of this took a lot of hard work and a lot of sacrifices. Now, I am living in a different city in a different state, working a job I went to school for. I'm extremely blessed, I know, and I try not to take that for granted. I worked hard to get where I am.

And yet, I felt like I was missing something. In my pursuit for what I thought I should do, for that ambition, I sacrificed other things. Friendship and fun are just a couple. Once I was done with school, I realized I had no personal life outside of school. No hobbies and all of the interests I had were school-related. I knew I wanted things to feel different in my life but I had no idea where to start.

How did I change? 

Well, I guess you can say it all started with a blog I began reading. Which led me to other blogs that inspired me to create hobbies and interests for myself and where I could meet like-minded people who wanted the same things that I did in life. Taking in all of this information led me to see what I wanted.

I set about making a strategy for myself to see what else I needed to learn about my hobbies before I began making decisions for integrating them into my life. For instance, I knew I wanted to write a book, but I needed confidence in myself that I could write. I created a strategy for how I wanted to learn to write. I knew I needed a space to practice and where I could get critiques. I knew I also needed it to be on my time, without too many deadlines, because I was working a full-time job and didn't have a ton of spare time.

Then, once I identified the information I needed, I began looking for it. Blogs are a great source of information and one blog led me to the Gotham Writers. One class in particular, called Jumpstart Your Writing, was about building confidence in writing. I immediately signed up for it and I've been writing ever since. I am now working on my first novel.

What is an information strategy? 

An information strategy is a plan, a plan for identifying what you want, finding more information, and using that information to take action steps. It's also about building confidence in yourself. When you have more information about something, you feel more confident that you know what you're getting yourself into.

Don't underestimate the power of having an information strategy. By having one, we can know more about where we want to go in our lives. I'll be talking more about this in later posts.

Thank you for reading and see you next time :)
Melissa

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This week I am reviewing the blog Zen Habits, which is written and maintained by Leo Babauta.

What this blog is about

Zen Habits is one of the most widely regarded lifestyle blogs on the internet with more than a million monthly readers. Zen Habits is about finding simplicity in the daily chaos of our lives. It’s about clearing the clutter so we can focus on what’s important, create something amazing, find happiness. Some of the topics it covers include: simplicity, health & fitness, motivation and inspiration, frugality, family life, happiness, goals, getting great things done, and living in the moment.

About Leo

Leo Babauta is a former journalist of 18 years, a husband, father of six children, and in 2010 moved from Guam to San Francisco, where he leads a simple life. He started Zen Habits to chronicle and share what he's learned while changing a number of habits. Find out more about him on his post My Story.

Why I love this blog 

What's not to love about it I think is the better question. Every time I go exploring on this blog, I always find something I needed to read. Leo also blogs a lot about writing, which I find very useful. The theory in Zen Habits is that you can accomplish anything but you have to start small and build your habits one by one. By building habits, you stick to and accomplish your goals.

Leo also offers some courses for building habits, including his Habit Course and the Simple Fitness Habit course. I plan on taking both of these :).

Check out Zen Habits. You won't regret it!

Resources 

Zen Habits - http://zenhabits.net/
Leo Babauta - http://leobabauta.com/
The Habit Course - http://habitcourse.com/
The Simple Fitness Habit - http://simplefitnesshabit.com/

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The Renaissance Soul: How to Make Your Passions Your Life by Margaret Lobenstine 

courtesy of powells.com

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This week I am looking at the blog Yes and Yes, which is written by Sarah Von Bargen.

Yes and Yes by Sarah Von Bargen

What this blog is about 

Yes and Yes is a lifestyle blog about living a multifaceted life. Sarah interviews interesting people, shares travel tips to cool places, connects nice people, tries new things, finds recipes from awesome books and far-flung countries, and writes about a million how-tos.

About Sarah 

Sarah Von Bargen started Yes and Yes in 2008 and has slowly found an audience of 11,000+ daily readers. She has been self-employed for the the last three years, harnessing all that hard-won know-how for hundreds of clients. She works with creatives, bloggers, and small businesses to create super doable, totally effective, non-overwhelming plans for internet domination.  She can help with ideas for blog posts + social media plans + pitch templates + promotion ideas.

Why I love this blog 

When I first started building this blog, Yes and Yes was where I went to for ideas on how to design it for readers. Sarah has written great blog posts on starting a blog and she also has a small business blog on her personal website. Plus, Sarah's posts are so interesting and she really has something for everybody.

P.S. Sarah also has ads for other businesses on her website. Take a look at them. I've found some creative services and people through those ads.

Until next time :)
Melissa

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Budokai Dojo

Hi everyone,

In an effort to re-brand myself, I've given this blog a new name, one that I think fits more with the message I'm trying to get across.

My blog focuses on the role that information and technology play in creativity and lifestyle design. And I felt that Nerdy Mindful Librarian just wasn't getting that across.

Why The Information Dojo? 

A dojo is a Japanese term that means "place of the way". And I wanted my blog to be the place of the way for learning how to manage information and technology to design a creative and fulfilling life.

Finding the right information has played such a huge part in my life that I wanted to share that with you guys, my readers, to help you design your life and pursue the activities and projects that you love. Life is too short for anything else!

Again, thank you for joining me on this journey and I hope you like the new name :)

Melissa

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Welcome to part two on lifestyle design! While researching lifestyle design, I came across this post on the Small Change Project website about what lifestyle design really means.

What really struck me was the response to what lifestyle design even means:

"We figured out what we wanted and then we ACTUALLY did it."

AND

"Lifestyle design is knowing what you want and then lining up your daily practices to make sure you get it now, not in 10 years, today." 

I just love this post and it made me realize how PIM (personal information management can fit into lifestyle design). 

My own formula is: 

Lifestyle Design = Personal Information Management + Action

Never underestimate the value of finding information that contributes to your life but action is just as important as finding information.

All the information in the world won't help you if you don't use it :).
So find information that can contribute to your life and then act on it!

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Courtesy of John Liu

Ahhh, this is such a great question and one I had a difficult time finding the answer to. A lot of other people out there apply lifestyle design to designing your life (particularly your job) to fit you and your personality. Timothy Ferriss first coined the phrase in his book 4-Hour Work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich.

 The premise is that people must determine what is most important to their lives and design a (sometimes uncoventional) work life around those values rather than working 40+ hours for 40-50 years. And see, while that definition works, my problem is that I don't think life is all about work. I think it's something a lot more than that.

Obviously lifestyle design is about designing the life that you want. But what goes into designing that life? It's a combination of things and there is no simple answer. When I was finally done going through high school, then undergraduate, and then graduate school, I realized that I realllllllyyyy needed to work on my life because I had nothing in it besides school.

The first thing I did was develop some hobbies and this is where I suggest you start too. What hobbies do you enjoy doing? What makes you feel creative and inspired? What do you love doing? Never take these things for granted and make time in your life for them :)

I'll talk more about lifestyle design and what goes into it in my next post. Until then, what does lifestyle design mean to you?

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Personal Information Management (PIM) is known as "the practice and the study of the activities people perform in order to acquire, organize, maintain, retrieve and use personal information items". I like this definition; it's simple and efficient. However, I wasn't entirely happy with it as it completely leaves human nature out of the equation (we aren't robots after all). Gathering information isn't so methodical; it can be messy and frustrating.

While doing research for this post, I could not find enough information on personal information management that thoroughly explained to me the thought processes that go into actually managing personal information. I found plenty concerning the actual technology tools you can use to organize your information but nothing on how to actually process information or find what is relevant to you.

If you want a good introduction to personal information management, I recommend William Jone's book Keeping Found Things Found (even though some of technology mentioned is outdated, the concepts in the book are still good).

Courtesy of tametheweb.com

Why should we care about personal information management? PIM goes beyond just organizing information. Look at the role PIM plays in lifestyle design. You gather information every single day in your life. You are constantly processing information whether you are consciously thinking about it or not (which is why I find the brain to be the sexist organ in the human body.  How can you not love that power?).

Anyway, how do you find information that is relevant and important to you? And how did you react with that information? What emotions did you feel? How is this information going to impact your life? Obviously, you may not ask all of these questions when you find information, but in the context of lifestyle design,  these are some extremely important questions to ask. I will continue to explore PIM and its relationship to lifestyle design in later posts.

Until next time!

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Looking at the title of this blog, the word that will probably stick out the most is "librarian". Yes, I am a librarian and I deal with information constantly. It's my job and I absolutely love it. And I want to share my love for information.

Why did I start this blog? 

Because I have some topics that I'm really passionate about. My blog looks how to explore information at the crossover of five main things: personal information management, lifestyle design, technology, creativity, and nerdy stuff. I want to help you find the right information and resources for these topics. I also want to talk about my passion for manga, anime, and science-fiction (just to spice things up).

Join me on my journey!

I have been in school for the past 20 years of my life (and I'm only 25). This blog will chronicle my adventures as I begin to develop my life after not having much of one :). I'm going to explore personal information management, lifestyle design, technology, creativity, and all things nerdy.

I hope my information will be useful to you and please connect with me!

Welcome to Nerdy Mindful Librarian!

Topics on my blog include:

Personal Information Management

Lifestyle Design

• Wellness 
• Career/Entrepreneurship 
• Blog of the Week 
• Mindfulness
• Minimalism 

Technology

• Tutorials 

Creativity

• Writing 
• Blogging 

Nerdy Stuff

• Manga 
• Anime
• Science-Fiction and Fantasy 
• Book Reviews

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