While what I have learned in Ideation class has not helped me specifically for any particular subject, but has helped in a larger context. I generally have my workflow figured out for specific things - in the sense I like to keep things loose. I'm more of a zone person, where I spend hours doing a projects at a stretch and I get more efficient the longer I do it. However, the long term efficiency aside, it tends to get me a bit complacent when it comes to time management. Given that I have three courses this semester, apart from three separate projects on the side, my usual scheduling habits (or lack thereof) would be extremely counter productive. Now with the semester picking up, the weekly planned (ink+volt) is allowing me to spread the stress around the week rather than leaving it all up for a last minute panic. Not only is it helpful to get things done, it gifts the user with the power of foresight to plan things out for the future and to actually visualize it. The analogy would be between tactics and strategy. Sun Tzu said that to formulate a strategy, you must know your enemy. We're our own biggest enemy, and the planner is a strategy to beat that part of you.
I'm generally against the concept of preplanning one's existence. I see it as a sign of the hold that capitalism has on us, reducing us to the level of mere economic units. It's my genuine belief that one needs leisure to philosophize and to be poets. However, till Singularity becomes a thing and machines can run the world for us, it's good to be able to make more art in less time.
Ain't no rest for the wicked.
- Cage the Elephant