Life Organisation Investment: Google Maps
Kicking my own butt into gear and cleaning up my pinned favourites
I’ve become one of those Parisians who never leaves their quartier. Related but not: my Google Maps favourites had become an unwieldy mess.
It’s time to do something about both.
I’m always keeping note of recommendations people give to me (restaurants, museums, etc). There is so much to discover in Paris, so I appreciate the tips. Something I like the sound of? Put a favourite pin on it, honey.
Over the years the recommendations came, and I noted them all. I watched with pride as my map of Paris turned into an ever-growing heap of pink hearts. And eventually a pizza crowded with salami.
Not surprisingly, this way of saving recommendations wasn’t working out for me.
My map had turned into a visual chaos that I simply did my best to ignore when I was using the app, much like you would garbage in the street. If I ever did want to look at my recommendations, I had no way of sifting through them for whatever I was actually looking for. Since I wasn’t even looking at the recommendations, I certainly wasn’t following up any on them.
In the meantime, the comfortable routine that I had settled into — my usual cafes, restaurants, shops and such — was on its way to becoming a rut.
A couple of weeks ago I was in Berlin. My friend/host there was recommending some art galleries to me, and offered to send me a list he had organised in Google Maps. He had lists for everything: restaurants, museums, doctors, etc.
I was impressed, and for giggles showed him my own map — the well intentioned mess I’d made of Paris. He gave me a curious look and suggested I start organising myself.
I realised, of course, that he was right. That also didn’t make me want to spend a couple of hours tapping away at icons in Google Maps just for bragging rights of being more organised in life. Organisation is a virtuous thing, sure, but an app on my phone is not the only thing that could use tidying — and my energy is finite.
Weighing up the pros and cons, I realised that organising my pins could motivate me to explore Paris again. It’s been three years since I moved here; long enough that I’ve settled into a comfortable routine of my usual spots.
Being a creature of habit has its time and place in life, but I was ready to shake things up again. A year ago I had been happy to be the Parisian qui reste pres de chez soi, now, I’m the visitor who wants some change.
Bring it on.
Organising my pins turned out to be surprisingly fun. I got so into it that I even customised the icons so that I can see, at a glance, what kind of things I want to see in a neighbourhood.
Let’s see if this gets me exploring the horizons of my own home town. With winter coming, having the extra motivation of my neatly organised pins is going to help.
Have a lovely week, everyone.
Got any tips of your own?
Share the love and comment.
I have tried to come up with a better system… croissants is the emoji for places I want to go. I have an Eiffel Tower for my Parisian hit list. But my map is a mess and even when I see a place has closed I don’t usually delete it because I like to know what I used to like. 😅
There are thousands of pins. It’s a bit silly. But I do use it to see if there is anywhere near where I’m going that I might want to go.