My current previous organization system consisted of several things: a 'todo' text file on my work computer, 'unread' messages in my work and personal inboxes, a public facing calendar, some text files scattered around, paper notes that sit in my pocket, and emails sent to '[date or time]@folllowupthen.com'. While this sounds like a hodgepoge, and it is, it has served me reasonably well: I'm one of the more organized people I know.

I've heard about org mode for a while as an extremely powerful tool for becoming a cyborg. It is huge and complex, but promises to make you much more productive once you've figured it out. What's key to me being able to adopt it now is recognizing that I'm not going to be able to use it perfectly and awesomely at first. I just need to learn enough that I can use it equivalently to my current system. Then over time I can pick up things that let me be more productive.