Lifemuncher

Circular Schedule

2011-06-06T12:35:00.000-07:00

This is one of the first interesting ideas in productivity that I've seen in a long time.

Keep Your Daily Routine in Check with a Circular Schedule - Lifehacker

GTD's starting to bore

2010-03-31T10:08:00.000-07:00

Is it just me, or does it seem like David Allen has run out of ideas? I follow him on Twitter, Facebook, GTD Times, etc., and it just seems like a lot of repetition. Just sayin.

Rob Long is a GTDer

2009-05-14T08:01:00.000-07:00

Thought it was cool to hear producer and writer Rob Long, of "Cheers" fame, talking about GTD in his most recent podcast.

A couple of interesting time-management/motivation links

2009-04-27T15:15:00.000-07:00

The Pomodoro Technique. (via Mark Forster)

The Gift-Card Economy. (via Reason Magazine)

Checking in

2009-03-19T10:33:00.000-07:00

Just a few tidbits:

I got about 100 pages into David Allen's new book, but it seemed like a rehash of GTD and I got bored and stopped reading.
For the past couple of months I've been using Mark Forster's deceptively simple Autofocus system and finding it very helpful.
I adore my new Kindle.
You can follow me on Twitter, though I'm not really talking about productivity much these days.

That is all.

Interesting articles on procrastination

2009-01-26T15:54:00.000-08:00

Why people procrastinate | Motivating minds | The Economist

Procrastinating Again? How to Kick the Habit: Scientific American

Why Computers Can't Kill Post-Its - Forbes.com

2009-01-23T11:58:00.000-08:00

This is an interesting take on how we manage information. The paper mentioned in the story is even better.

This is for Merlin Mann

2008-09-25T16:46:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been playing around with some publications at work, putting my rudimentary Photoshop and InDesign skills to use, and it occurred to me that one thing that makes a good designer is the ability to pull all the little bits together -- making sure all the fonts are consistent and go together, reducing the size of the text where appropriate, positioning the images in just the right place, adding a border or a graphic element here and there. All those things come together to make a good design, and separate the amateurs (like me) from the pros.

Now stay with me here, because this is a bit of a stream of consciousness post and I'm not sure what it all means. In one of Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea books (sorry, I can't remember which and Wikipedia is no help), the main character Ged (or is it Tenar) stays at a castle with his companion, a little animal that I picture as being like a squirrel. Within moments after they get settled in their room, a servant quietly brings a litter box and unobtrusively places it on the floor. Reading that tiny detail the first time, that someone was thoughtful enough to provide a potty for the little animal, practically made me weep. The way LeGuin engaged with the mundanities of life and included them in the picture she was painting, brought the entire scene to life and pulled me into the story.

In Everyday Zen (I think), Joko Beck tells the story of some her students, whom she was teaching about mindfulness and paying attention. She notes how one of the students gets up from the table and walks away without pushing in his chair. How could he really be mindful if he didn't notice the chair?

These are the things that came to mind when I read Merlin Mann's recent meditation on arcs and The Wire.

The single most memorable part of the Wire for me is Snoop -- her accent, her clothes, her voice, her androgyny. She made the series for me. To my whitebread eyes, she seemed strange, and charismatic, and scary, and absolutely real.

To me it wasn't the intersecting story arcs that made The Wire, it was the details. The nails in the nailgun that boarded up the houses full of murder victims and eventually gave them away to Lester. The way the cops threw beer cans on the roof of the station. The fact that Mr. Pryzbylewski washed Duquan's clothes for him because he was homeless and the other kids at school made fun of him because he stank. Those touches are what's missing in most television shows, and in most writing.

Maybe it's because I'm a girl, but to me, the blogs that matter are the ones that give me a glimpse into someone else's life. The promise of personal blogging is the chance to connect with a total stranger who's a good writer and observer, who's honest and generous with their life. See Tenuous At Best for an example. I've never met her, but I look forward to hearing from Not Very Anonymous Mom, and I care about what happens to her and her family.

In On Writing Stephen King compares writing to telepathy. He has a picture or idea in his mind, writes about it, and by doing so gives me the chance to see it too. Unfortunately, bad writers, whose thinking is fuzzy and whose writing is vague, just send me static and make my brain hurt. Most of today's bloggers are unfortunately of the second variety, and their collective cloud of white noise creates a background of anxious, meaningless, vague nonsense that is destroying our ability to pay attention to what matters. For god's sake people, let's cut it out.

Le Sigh

2008-05-21T08:13:00.000-07:00

No Schedules, No Meetings--Enter Best Buy's ROWE | The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss:

"ROWE stands for Results-Only Work Environment. In a ROWE, each person is free to do whatever they want, whenever they want, as long as the work gets done. Currently, there are two authentic ROWEs—Fortune 100 retailer Best Buy Co, Inc. and J. A. Counter & Associates, a small brokerage firm in New Richmond, WI. At both organizations, the old rules that govern a traditional work environment—core hours, “face time,” pointless meetings, etc.—have been replaced by one rule: focus only on results.

In the 4-Hour Workweek, you helped people understand that because of technology, people don’t have to defer living until retirement. They can design their own lifestyle. Now imagine what would happen if the entire culture of a workplace went through the same transformation. That’s what a ROWE is. A ROWE is a work culture that gives people the power to take control of their lives. As long as they get their job done, they’re free."

Dave gets all Buddhist on us

2008-05-19T10:24:00.000-07:00

David Allen: Control Or Spontaneity: The Paradox - Living on The Huffington Post:

"There is a freedom that is only approachable by the sacrifice of our attachments to anything, including our organization and commitments."

Bravo! I heartily concur.

But what if I read lots of blog posts about productivity?

2008-05-14T09:50:00.000-07:00

Letter to a young procrastinator. - By Seth Stevenson - Slate Magazine:

"Understand that this will never, ever change. You will always be lazy, and you will always procrastinate. I know it's tough for you to hear, but it's a harsh truth that you need to internalize."

You mean everyone's not out to get me?

2008-05-14T09:05:00.000-07:00

SMILT NON-FICTION - Reviewing Reviewers--Kluge:

But before you despair that humans are doomed to a life of lost keys, irrational beliefs and false memories, Marcus does supply us with a whole host of ways to trains our brains to act more rationally. My personal favorite is his first, “Whenever possible, consider alternative hypotheses.” He recommends forcing yourself to come up with a list of alternatives even if you are absolutely certain that your husband is breaking drinking glasses out of spite and not because the sink is a little too deep for its intended purposes. Some of his other tips also involve forcing your brain to get out of the habit of relying on its more instinctual (and less reliable) thought processes and practice using our more conscious frontal lobes. This kind of advice may seem obvious when you read them but try and think about the last time you actually took advice such as, “Whenever possible, don’t make important decisions when you are tired or have other things on your mind.” Or “Always weigh benefits against costs.”

Explains a lot

2008-05-09T11:51:00.000-07:00

The Science of Thinking Smarter: A Conversation with Brain Expert John J. Medina:

"...the brain isn’t interested in reality; it’s interested in survival."

Still reading...

2008-05-09T08:28:00.000-07:00

Comprehension Climbs When You Slooooow Doooown:

"It should take you two and a half seconds to read this sentence."

This must have something to do with neuroplasticity

2008-05-08T16:14:00.000-07:00

Fixed Mindset vs. Growth Mindset: Which One Are You? - Michael Graham Richard:

"People who hold the Growth Mindset believe that intelligence can be developed, that the brain is like a muscle that can be trained. This leads to the desire to improve."

$835! The hell?

2008-05-07T15:35:00.000-07:00

David Allen Company : David Allen Collection

I really want to read this book - Kluge by Gary Marcus

2008-05-06T08:39:00.000-07:00

Los Angeles Times: Does your brain have a mind of its own?:

"Consider, for example, the difficulty that most people having in sticking to abstract goals like 'I intend to lose weight' or 'I plan to finish this article before the deadline.' Nice thoughts, but not formulated in terms that your ancestral, reflexive brain might understand. The work-around? Translate those abstract goals into a form your ancestral systems -- which traffic largely in dumb reflexes -- can understand: if-then. If you find yourself in a particular situation, then take a specific action: 'If I see French fries, then I will avoid them.' As Peter Gollwitzer, my colleague in New York University's department of psychology, has shown, even simple changes like these can markedly increase the chances of success."

Amazon.com: Subscribe & Save

2008-04-28T08:59:00.000-07:00

This seems really cool. You just pick out items you order regularly but not weekly, like coffee or shampoo, and they send them to you automatically. I'm off to sign up...

Improve your typing.

2008-04-24T17:24:00.000-07:00

My best score was 86 wpm. Could it possibly be true that someone types 511 wpm?

TypeRacer

Alan Watts and the South Park guys explain it all

2008-04-19T07:29:00.000-07:00

Life & Music

Thanks to A brood comb for the link.

Something to make you cry

2008-04-18T14:18:00.000-07:00

http://www.stservicemovie.com/

Minimal Achievement

2008-04-17T10:54:00.000-07:00

This paper, "Strive for Minimal Achievement" by Barry Moltz, talks about something I'm learning more and more as I get older:

Stop planning, stop analyzing, stop asking questions, and to see what comes next. Go out and get it done. Only experience builds true confidence. So in our business strategy, we need to outlaw premeditated business. Stop waiting for the perfect moment, enough capital, the right team, the right market conditions, reliable customers, or desperate competitors. Forget about the “only if” game. It is delusional.

Eight-minute lessons are key to grades - JournalLive

2008-04-11T08:47:00.000-07:00

Heard about this on The Productivity Show (see below). I thought it was faskinatin'.

Eight-minute lessons are key to grades - JournalLive:

"So youngsters at his North Tyneside school are receiving lessons lasting just eight minutes.

Then they have a 10-minute break.

Then the eight-minute lesson is repeated."

The Productivity Show

2008-04-11T08:40:00.000-07:00

If you haven't listened to it yet, I highly recommend that you add Tony Goodson's The Productivity Show to your podcast subscription list. It's an entertaining and thought-provoking show that I especially love to listen to on long drives. Thanks for the entertainment Tony, yeah?

That damn left hemisphere

2008-03-19T19:11:00.001-07:00

Experiment - Intermittent Fasting

2008-03-10T16:19:00.000-07:00

Report:

I read about intermittent fasting on Tim Ferriss's blog the other day and thought I would give it a try - for the sake of science, let's say.

Monday:
I had already eaten breakfast when I read the post, but I skipped lunch and ate a fairly sensible dinner at 6 pm. I decided I was going to try the schedule where you eat breakfast and lunch one day and dinner the next. I didn't find that I was particularly hungry, and I enjoyed the burst of energy I got from not eating.

Tuesday:
I ate breakfast and lunch as planned, but work intervened and I got roped into a business dinner at the last minute. So that day was shot. I knew I had another work dinner coming up later in the week so I decided to change to a dinner-only schedule.

Wednesday:
I fasted all day and ate dinner only. I felt great all day. A little hungry in the afternoon, but it was ok.

Thursday:
I fasted all day and ate my business dinner. Everything was good, except I noticed that I was more hungry that afternoon. I hadn't been very good about weighing myself, but it seemed like I'd dropped a couple of pounds - probably water.

Friday:
Fasted all day. By 3 pm I was bloody starving and counting the minutes until dinner. Even though dinner was a little larger than it should have been, I was still hungry when I went to bed. Maybe because I ate at 5pm?

Saturday:
I woke up starving and couldn't take it anymore. The fasting experiment was over. My weight quickly returned to where it began.

Conclusions:

Sure, I know this wasn't exactly scientific, but here are some thoughts anyway. Take them for what they're worth. I actually liked not eating and having extra free time at lunch and breakfast. However, I don't think I could do the dinner-only schedule every day. In future experiments I might try a late breakfast/dinner schedule, or a three-days-on, one-day-off scheme. In terms of weight, I think fasting was a good way to clear my head and get myself out of the snacking pattern I was in. Even though I'm not fasting this week, today I have been more careful about the size of my daytime meals. When it comes down to it, I really felt great when fasting, at least at first.

Bottom line, it's good to remind yourself that hunger is ok now and then.

Feed reading and blog posting

2008-02-15T08:09:00.000-08:00

Thought I would share my current system for evaluating new posts in my RSS feeds and deciding whether I want to use them for my blogs. I have folders in Google Reader that group posts according to which blog they're related to and how valuable they are. ("Read for Lifemuncher", for example, or "Lifemuncher Second Tier".)

For the top-tier feeds, I go through folders in expanded view, starring the ones that look interesting. I use the keyboard shortcuts J (next) and S (star). I find that I need to see them in expanded view to know if they're worth reading or not.

When reading the second tier folder, I usually use list view, because I know that most of them aren't going to be interesting. I go right by things like "Use Linux to wash your dishes" or "17 Ways to Find Eternal Happiness." C'mon. Really?

I then go through the starred items folder for a second look. If it looks like something I want to read, I open it in a new tab and quickly go to the next post. If my first instincts say that the post is promising, I leave the star, but if it seems like it might be boring, or something I will be able to post immediately using the Firefox BlogThis extension, I take the star off. I leave the star on more interesting articles so that I can find the article easily if I decide to write about it. The fact that it stays in my starred folder serves as a reminder as well.

When I have a few open tabs, I go to them to look at the post directly. If it seems boring, I close it. If it looks like something I could post about right now, I do so. If it's a long article that I'll probably sit down to read on the couch, I print it out. Then I go back to the starred items and repeat the process as time allows.

What do you think? Any suggestions?

Does it make coffee?

2008-02-13T09:20:00.000-08:00

Web Worker Daily - Archive WWD Coffee Break: Xambox, Link Bunches & Traffic:

"In addition to scanning documents to indexed PDFs, it also files the hard copies for you in a special tray. If you ever need the actual piece of paper, the application will tell you where to find it - “three places beyond the black divider,” for example."

This is kinda cool

2008-02-13T07:46:00.000-08:00

Add a Blogroll to Blogger:

"Blogger in Draft (a pre-release version of Blogger) added an interesting widget that lets you display the latest posts from your favorite blogs. It's an enhanced blogroll that displays the recently updated blogs and snippets from the most recent posts."

Hey, me too!

2008-02-12T08:34:00.000-08:00

Scott H Young - 20 Tips for Batching to Save Time and Cut Stress:

"I’m batching right now. Although my articles appear almost daily on this website, I only write twice a week. This is my third article today. I was batching this morning too, when I did all my daily e-mail, RSS, website maintenance, comment-handling and inbox dumping over one 30 minute period."

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy defined

2008-02-12T08:30:00.000-08:00

How to Change Your Beliefs with Praxis, Part 2:

"The idea of praxis is that by taking consistent actions and creating results you will create new reference points for yourself that will change your thinking. By doing and taking action you will change the way you experience yourself. When you change the way you experience yourself you change what you believe. The key is to take action, do things and do them consistently."

Making it easy to do the right thing

2008-02-12T08:17:00.000-08:00

Unclutterer - Archive - Preparing for tomorrow’s work day:

"At the end of the work day, I clean off my desk and then I organize everything that I need for the next day. For example, if I were to have a morning meeting, I’d have my agendas photocopied and in a labeled folder at the center of my desk. This way, if I were to be stuck in traffic or sick and attend the meeting over the phone, it’s easy for someone else in the office to grab the agendas and pass them out in my absence.

A clean desk and organized materials also are worthwhile if you do make it to work on time and healthy. This preparation allows you to hit the ground running when you arrive at work. Five to 10 minutes of organization at the end of the work day will have you on your best footing tomorrow morning."

How's your time and motion?

2008-02-12T08:12:00.000-08:00

2time’s Time and Motion Basis - The 2Time Mgt Blog:

"One of the key inspirations behind of the 2Time way of thinking happens to be the time and motion techniques I learned as an undergraduate in Industrial Engineering.

The idea behind the technique is simple — observe each physical motion taken by person performing a task of some kind. Record it, and analyze it using some common sense, then experiment with improvements. Use metrics to determine whether or not the improvement is a valid one.

When I look at someone’s time management system, I naturally have an inclination to see what they are trying to do in 'time and motion terms,' coming from my formal training in this area."

This morning, I was thinking about my eye makeup. Usually I get bits of mascara and eye shadow on my cheeks and have to wipe them off, which disturbs my foundation. Duh, I thought, I should do the eyes first, then the foundation will be perfect! Lookit me! I'm an industrial engineer!

More on happiness and choice

2008-02-09T08:32:00.001-08:00

Barry Schwartz at Google

Dan Gilbert at TED

Another argument for limits and routines

2008-02-07T07:54:00.000-08:00

The Choice-Minimal Lifestyle: 6 Formulas for More Output and Less Overwhelm | The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss:

"The choice-minimal lifestyle becomes an attractive tool when we consider two truths:

1) Considering options costs attention that then can’t be spent on action or present-state awareness.

2) Attention is necessary for not only productivity but appreciation.

Therefore:

Too many choices = less or no productivity
Too many choices = less or no appreciation
Too many choices = sense of overwhelm"

I call it "repurposing"

2008-02-07T07:48:00.000-08:00

Do it Tomorrow and GTD: Comments on the two systems? - The David Allen Company:

"Hi, I've read all of Mark Forster's books now and I have to say that I've found them extremely helpful. My problem is with procrastination and overwhelm, and Mark's book Get Everything Done was a revelation.

I just read it last weekend and I'm still thinking about it, but I'm beginning to think that for me it was even more helpful than GTD. It really gives you a lot of insight and practical tools to deal with resistance, and helps you get started when you feel stuck.

The problem I see with GTD is that it's not possible to think through all your work in advance. Life moves too fast. I've been working with GTD for a couple of years now and I've never been able to "think about once a week." In my profession, working is thinking. The idea that I could do a weekly review and come up with everything I needed to do that week is just not possible.

Get Everything Done doesn't delve into that issue specifically, but it does give you tools for getting going. My problem is that I get overwhelmed because I don't know where to start. Forster has helped me to understand that I need to just dive in, and that giving myself time to think is not goofing off. "

Interesting ideas and tips from the productosphere

2008-02-04T13:15:00.000-08:00

Plan your work and work your plan

Organising my home tasks with a week planner | blog to discovery:

"There are 14 boxes each representing a different area of my life e.g. website, writing, health, friends. On Sundays I go through my home task list and add two tasks to each section on the form. This provides a spread of tasks to ensure I am progressing each area of my life, but is also a manageable number to complete in a week (although I haven’t actually completed all of them yet). There is also an area to mark any deadlines and to highlight any tasks that I am resisting."

Maybe that's why I'm always reorganizing

Simply GTD with Kelly: Shifting your position:

"Did you ever move your bedroom around as a kid? Even a simple thing like moving your bed from one wall to another? Remember going to bed that night? It felt new and exciting. Same furniture, new perspective. If that worked for you as a kid, it can work for you as an adult."

I read this paper. It's really good!

[Productivity Workflows] - Blog Archive - Getting Things Done: The Science Behing Stress-Free Productivity:

"A post on the David Allen Company Forum draws attention to an intriguing academic paper, available for download as a preprint, which seems worth a read. It is: Francis Heylighen and Clement Vidal (2007) Getting Things Done: The Science behind Stress-Free Productivity."

Who could resist a good Conan quote?

The Task Tarot at LifeClever ;-) Tips for Design and Life:

"Personally, there are days I’d rather be elbow-deep in cow guts than take another scan through my to-do list. At least a good hieromancer would give you a clear answer, from 'the crops will be good this year' to 'you will crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women!'"

Are you master of your bitstream?

2008-01-23T12:18:00.000-08:00

Matt's Idea Blog: A conversation with Mark Hurst, web usability expert and author of "Bit literacy":

"Mark stresses that the book is not just about email and getting the inbox to zero (a major change for most of us). It's about managing effectively all the bitstreams coming into our lives. Mark says the world has changed, but most people haven't caught up yet - the always-on lifestyle, urgency, and haste make us neither effective nor sustainable. Here's how he puts it:

Five, ten or twenty years from now, the bits will increase exponentially: email, web, phones and PDAs. Without proper training, users everywhere will face an increasingly urgent problem of overload. Now is the moment to learn bit literacy. It's like getting in shape on a slow-moving treadmill before it speeds up to a sprinting pace."

The man is a productivity animal!

2008-01-22T16:48:00.000-08:00

The Holy Grail: How to Outsource the Inbox and Never Check Email Again | The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss:

"Here’s the upshot: I get more than 1,000 e-mail a day from various accounts. Rather than spending 6-8 hours per day checking e-mail, which I used to do, I can skip reading e-mail altogether for days or even weeks at a time… all with 4-10 minutes a night."

This is super cool

2008-01-22T16:41:00.000-08:00

Reason Magazine - Hit & Run > Surplus Commodities and 1940s Hats:

"The Library of Congress just announced that it has put up 3,000 public-domain photos on Flickr and enabling tagging by all comers. It's a pilot project that could someday be extended to the 14 million photos in the collection."

Something cool to play with

2008-01-22T15:44:00.000-08:00

A New Way of Mind-Mapping | Mysterious Flame:

"On the wall of our copywriter’s office, I saw something on her whiteboard that made me take notice. “Nice spider-web,” I said. She explained to me what it was: a sort of modified mind-map called UNO, short for UNiversal Organizer, developed by Paul Borzo, a teacher and writing tutor at Metropolitan State University in Minneapolis/St. Paul."

My Forster Admiration Continues

2008-01-20T17:02:00.000-08:00

I literally finished reading Mark Forster’s How to Make Your Dreams Come True just a few moments ago and wanted to put some thoughts down and share them in public.

The title of the book makes you think it’s yet another get-rich-quick ripoff that promises far more than it can possibly deliver. But in reality it’s actually a very profound, moving book about the meaning of life, the role of the individual, and how we should spend our time on earth. It’s only possible to appreciate these qualities by reading the whole thing, because the book was written in a unique way, using a dialog technique that created and developed the themes as Forster was writing.

I think the book spoke to me so well because it is very much in keeping with my own background and beliefs. Forster combines a comforting, down to earth, practical Englishness with a very American understanding of the value of self-interest and creativity. As a first generation American of English parents with individualist leanings, it touched me deeply. Mark, thank you for this gift.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled irony.

Cri de coeur

2008-01-20T10:24:00.000-08:00

Once, long ago (actually last year), when I was young and impressionable, I was seduced by the siren’s song of Levenger’s beautiful, expensive Circa system. The paper was luxurious, the pictures in the catalog were sensual and filled with leather clad offices and crackling fireplaces. I succumbed, and dropped a couple hundred bucks on the stuff.

But since then, after getting frustrated with all those little smurfs and flaps, I’ve returned to my senses and my roots - my beloved Trapper Keeper roots. Today the productivity tool for me is a humble three ring binder.

You don’t have to buy any special equipment to use it. Most offices already have a three-hole punch. You can even buy packs of pre-punched filler paper or glued pads on sale at office supply stores during back to school season for less than a dollar. You can punch smaller pages with just two holes instead of three. You can include customized forms, checklists, typed notes, and articles from the Internets easily, without having to futz around with margins and complicated templates. You can seamlessly combine the analog and digital.

See here my friends: Behold my efficient, flexible, couldn’t-live-without-it, less-than-three-dollars binder (which is actually a Staples brand presentation folder, which I use because it’s light):

It’s not beautiful, but I use it far more often than I ever used my Circa stuff. It’s a little big, but it makes it to work and back just fine. I transfer unneeded pages to other binders for storage (Four binders for $6 at Staples!) and keep only the current stuff with me.

Circa, I hereby proclaim, is a fraud. A fraud I tell you!

Talk amongst yourselves.

Little and Often - Mark Forster Part Two

2008-01-16T16:53:00.000-08:00

When I was a kid, I had a little metal coin bank with motivational sayings on the side. One that stuck with me is "Little and often fills the purse." I think it meant that steady saving, no matter how small the amount, makes a big difference in the long run.

Productivity guru Mark Forster applies this bit of wisdom to projects, particularly ones that you’re procrastinating about. As he says in my new favorite book: Do It Tomorrow,

"For almost any initiative, the route to success is regular, focused action.”

It’s not exactly a revolutionary idea – GTD recommends a similar approach with its focus on “next actions” – but I’ve found his advice surprisingly productive in my own work.

As I wrote yesterday, one way to make progress on "high resistance" tasks that you’ve been avoiding is to work in small, non-threatening, timed bursts. In Do It Tomorrow, Forster shows how he puts this into practice while writing. He sits down for a specified period of time – half an hour, say – and just starts putting stuff down on paper. The first session results mostly in an outline. The second starts to flesh it out a bit. The third might result in a few actual complete sentences.

In each case, he doesn’t get freaked out about stopping because he knows that another draft will come soon. In between sessions, his mind gets a chance to process what he’s written and think of new ideas. He also fools his mind by using a timer and stopping as soon as it rings. The idea is that by stopping work regardless of whether you’re "done" – in the middle of a sentence for example – you leave your mind wanting more. The mind likes completion, he says, and stopping in the middle of something makes you more willing to work on it the next time.

Short bursts of focused action are also valuable, says Forster, in completing tasks or projects that are past due - what he calls a "backlog." The idea is that you pick something that needs to be done, that you might ordinarily not get around to, and do it first thing in the morning. You work on it for as long as you can, every day, until it’s done.

I’ll talk more about backlogs and current initiatives tomorrow. My timed burst is up.

The artiste at work

2008-01-15T16:58:00.000-08:00

Here’s how any writing project starts for me:

Irrational Jennifer: Ok, I have to write something. But I don’t know where to start! Oh no, it’s going to be terrible! I have absolutely nothing to say!

Rational Jennifer: But you always feel this way, and you always come up with something eventually.

IJ: Yes, but I torture myself for days before! I’m insane! I can’t do it!

RJ: Why don’t you just jot a few ideas down?

IJ: But that’s just procrastinating! I need to WRITE. I should be able to draft brilliant, witty posts instantly. Otherwise, the world will end! Aw, fuck it. I’ll just go watch TV.

RJ: Why don’t you just jot a few ideas down?

IJ: I guess I can manage a few words. Hey, that’s not too bad! I could actually use that! I have so many brilliant ideas! This is going to be great! Why was I so nervous? I’m clearly a genius.

RJ: Now maybe write the first sentence?

IJ: Oh no, I can’t do that! It’ll suck! I don’t know where to start! I’ll just take a little break. I suck and I’ll never write anything again.

RJ: Just write the first sentence…

And so it goes. Over, and over, and over.

I’ll get going for a while, then stop. A few weeks will go by, and then, after much self loathing, I’ll manage to talk myself into writing for a few more minutes. Maybe I’ll actually have a deadline, which will make me finish something. The written piece will turn out great, and I will feel like a moron once more.

This post was begun precisely 11 days ago. I wrote down lots of ideas, and even came up with the beginning. But then I stopped, and I’ve been stewing about it ever since.

This time, I’m using a technique I learned from my new guru, Mark Forster, which he calls “little and often.” I spent precisely 19 minutes writing this. Spending time on this post was on my list of things to do today, and by God I did it. Tomorrow I will spend another 15 minutes and elaborate on Forster's idea, which recommends timed bursts of activity on “high resistance” tasks. I sure know about those.

Gotta get me a timer

2008-01-15T14:04:00.000-08:00

My Favorite Productivity Trick:

"Here’s how I plan my day. I take a piece of paper, often scrap paper or a page in my capture notebook and write the date at the top of the page. I draw a line down the center. In the right column I write 'To-Do' and on the left I write 'Plan.' I write out all my to-do’s first. Then I plan out my day by inserting those to-do items into time slots."

How To Stay Focused For Greater Productivity - Dawud Miracle @ dmiracle.com -:

"For every 60 minutes of the workday, I stay micro focused for 50 minutes. Then I get out of my chair, away from my computer and out of my office for 8 minutes (give or take). The remaining two minutes I settle back down in my chair, look over my next todos and look at what I can accomplish in the next 50 minutes. Then I’m off to the races again.

During my 50 minutes of focus, I do nothing except what is on my todo list. If I’m writing code, I code for 50 minutes. If I’m returning phone calls, I do that for 50 minutes. If I’m writing a blog post, I do that for only 50 minutes. I keep a timer running in the background with an alarm so I don’t have to watch the clock."

Dave's on the Teevee

2008-01-15T13:47:00.000-08:00

Michael Dolan: David on Fox Business

I love this

2008-01-13T08:19:00.000-08:00

An Eschatological Laundry List | Alex Shalman . com

1. This is it.
2. There are no hidden meanings.
3. You can’t get there from here, and besides there is no place to go.
4. We are already dying, and we’ll be dead a long time.
5. Nothing lasts!
6. There is no way of getting all you want...

Visit the original post for the rest.

I'm slowly learning this

2008-01-12T08:20:00.000-08:00

Working In Close | 43 Folders:

I’m a nervous wreck. I’m a slob. I have no patience. And I’m rather lazy. All those things would seem to guarantee that I would not make work like I make. But I didn’t want to just go with my nature.

So instead of painting overwrought, expressive things when the mood struck, he committed to making his epic, close-up portraits by breaking the work into tiny pieces and hewing to a grid. Not only did the grid make technical sense, it forced a lifehack on Close that would help him deal with his own tendencies. It helped get the work done, sure. It allowed him a style that might not have been ‘natural’ to his disposition. & it also had other side benefits.

What I found that one of the nice things [about] working incrementally is that I don’t have to reinvent the wheel every single day. Today I did what I did. You can pick it up and put it down. I don’t have to wait for inspiration. There are no good days or bad days. Every day essentially builds positively on what I did the day before. … Given my nature, I believe it was very good for me to be able to add to what I already had and slowly construct the final image out of these little building blocks.

Quote for the day

2008-01-11T06:28:00.000-08:00

Intern: A Doctor’s Initiation - Sandeep Jauhar - Book Review - New York Times: "He learns to surrender some of his anxieties, a natural consequence of increasing competence, and to lower his expectations. “For most of internship, I had been tormented by an ideal, which I had to get rid of in order to survive,” he writes."

God knows I loves me some panic

2008-01-09T12:20:00.000-08:00

26 Reasons Not to Use GTD - Make Money Being a Geek from Geekpreneur:

"22. Panic focuses the mind
We’ve already pointed out that most people naturally prioritize their work by waiting till the important stuff becomes urgent, then panicking and getting on with it. If GTD works, then you’ll lose the focus that panic can bring. And if it doesn’t, why do it?"

Mine would be the peanut M&M method

2008-01-08T12:00:00.000-08:00

Academic Productivity - How to complete your PhD (or any large project): Hard and soft deadlines, and the Martini Method:

"What I call the Martini Method is named after an anecdote I once read about the novelist Anthony Burgess (of Clockwork Orange fame). Burgess was a very productive writer, which is attributed to a system where he would force himself to write a 1000 words a day, 365 days a year. When he had completed his word count, he would relax with a dry martini, and enjoy the rest of the day with an easy conscience, and normally in bar."

Not sure about this, but it's interesting.

2008-01-08T11:59:00.000-08:00

How to Use a Notebook to Make 2008 the Best Year Ever - Lifehack.org:

"Once a topic comes to mind, write it on your notebook and stop thinking about it. You’ve put it on your list so that you won’t forget the topic. You’ve put it on your list to clear you mind of that issue, thought, concern, action item ‘to do’, discussion, etc. Do not replay full discussions. If one comes up, write the topic and hit “pause” on your mental replay."

Note to self

2008-01-08T11:51:00.000-08:00

Two Simple But Powerful Rules to Achieve Financial Freedom | Life Optimizer:

"From what I learn, what we should do to achieve financial freedom can be boiled down to two rules:

1. When you work, work to build a system
2. When you buy, buy an asset"

I need to do this

2008-01-08T11:43:00.000-08:00

Creating a backlog (or how to deal with a long task list) | blog to discovery:

"I have written out my task list to the end of December on blue paper to highlight it is not my current task list and made it a closed list by drawing a line below the last task so the backlog can not grow any longer. On the 2nd January I started with a completely clear task list and each day as I plan my day I work on one item from my backlog as the current initiative."

The colored paper is genius, genius I tell you!

An alternative to New Years resolutions

2008-01-08T11:38:00.000-08:00

ask the Career Counselor — Helping you Navigate the Career Landscape:

"Forget New Year’s Resolutions.
Admit it: you never keep them anyway, right?

Instead, consider wrapping the whole next year in a wonderful theme for your life or business."

Happiness is without

2008-01-07T15:39:00.000-08:00

Actually, happiness isn't within - Yahoo! News:

"So, at the dawn of another new year, I say: Stop looking for the new you and, instead, book a flight. Or better yet, call a friend."

Scheduling redux

2008-01-07T11:44:00.000-08:00

Two interesting posts today about scheduling tasks:

You're in good company. | TimeBack Management:

"Mike Durney, the CFO of Dice Holdings, wanted to handle work related to the company's London office in the morning so that staff over there didn't have to work into the evenings. Unfortunately, morning meetings sometimes got in the way, forcing him to call or email London later. His new approach for 2008? Schedule his work: setting aside blocks of time for email and investor calls. He also vows to turn off his email alerts so that he doesn't get pulled into email when he's not supposed to."

The Problem of Not Scheduling - The 2Time Mgt Blog:

"The problem with only having a list (or lists) of activities is a simple one — it is too easy for a list to grow out of proportion to the time that one has available when it’s not scheduled into a calendar."

Hear hear!

2008-01-07T11:37:00.000-08:00

IA THINK: Looking back at three years of Getting Things Done:

"I remain convinced that the value of GTD, at least for me, is not in getting more done. It's in living an uncluttered existence, which helps me feel mentally more relaxed and focused."

Big Think

2008-01-07T07:01:00.000-08:00

The New York Times profiles Big Think, the "YouTube for Ideas" today. Check it out, starting with this one about the value of modest, incremental change.

Do It Tomorrow

2008-01-04T08:57:00.000-08:00

My favorite band, the White Stripes, is based on the idea that limits enhance creativity. They generally stick to three-part schemes – black, white and red; guitar, drums and vocals – and believe that imposing artificial structures on themselves forces them to find new ways to make music.

Mark Forster’s book, Do It Tomorrow explores this idea from a productivity standpoint, recommending that we impose limits on ourselves in order to manage the stream of incoming work, email, interruptions and paper that we deal with so that we can create buffers for ourselves and think before we act.

These days, buffers are more important than ever. Information comes at us so quickly that we either find a way to filter, examine, and deal with it or risk being buried under an enormous pile of email, blog feeds, paper, voicemails, text and instant messages, and meeting notes. Buffers and limits are a matter of survival. We need to build walls, slow down, and create systems that allow us to spend our time and attention wisely.

GTD is an important tool in this struggle, but I think many of its adherents, myself included, still find themselves at a bit of a loss. We are told to complete our two-minute actions and choose from our contexts on the fly, which risks leaving us at the mercy of our already-strained attention and energy. Do It Tomorrow, on the other hand, provides us with concrete tools and ideas for reducing interruption, combating procrastination, and making sure our time is spent on the things that matter.

I don’t want to give too much away, because you should really read the book, but I will share a few of the deceptively simple tools Forster suggests. First, there’s the big one, in which you measure out a day’s work for yourself by dealing with things in a batch. Everything that absolutely doesn’t have to be done today is put off for tomorrow. Today is reserved for yesterday’s incoming work, email, voicemail, and paper. Since yesterday is over and no more work can be added to the batch, you know exactly how much you have to do, and how many other tasks you can count on doing today. Interruptions and urgent requests may come up, but at least you have a plan that is in keeping with your priorities and goals.

Here’s an example. I read a selection of RSS feeds every day for this blog. They’re kept in a folder in Google Reader. In the morning, I go to that folder and read all the posts from yesterday, starring the ones that I think I might like to post about. I then go back to my starred items and winnow them down, finally deciding on the ones that I will use. I post about them, and I’m done for the day. No longer is blog posting an overwhelming, never-ending task. There won’t be any more to deal with, because yesterday is gone. I do the same with my email and any paper mail or receipts that accumulated yesterday. Mark Forster’s techniques have given me a concrete and practical way to measure out a day’s tasks and deal with them.

I’ll explore more of Mark’s ideas in future posts, but for now I strongly recommend that you buy the book, and visit his Web site at www.markforster.net.

Memento Mori

2008-01-04T08:29:00.000-08:00

Starting a New Year with Death | PickTheBrain: "Reading the obituaries is a constant reminder to me that our time is limited; a reminder for me to appreciate life, to love life."

Someone's been reading my journal

2008-01-04T07:51:00.000-08:00

PsyBlog: Schopenhauer's Extreme Self-Help for Pessimists: "Here are some practical suggestions Schopenhauer put forward for managing ourselves:

* Live in the present, making it as painless as possible.
* Make good use of the only thing we can control, our own minds.
* Our personality is central to our level of happiness.
* Set limits everywhere: limits on anger, desires, wealth and power. Limitations lead to something like happiness.
* Accept misfortunes: only dwell on them if we're responsible.
* Seek out solitude, other people rob us of our identities.
* Keep busy."

True dat

2008-01-03T10:20:00.000-08:00

Brad Isaac asks:

"Are you resisting examining one or two of the goals on your list for some reason? You might even feel like defending a particular goal. That defense is a signal - you need to pay attention and write it down."

Taking a test run

2008-01-03T10:05:00.000-08:00

Bruce Keener reminds us of an important consideration:

"If you retire too early, that is a mistake you can recover from. If you retire too late, there is no recovery."

He describes the process he used to decide to retire, and how he learned the importance of testing out a big life change before you make it.

One Bucket to Rule Them All

2008-01-02T09:20:00.001-08:00

LifeClever ;-) says:

As soon as I dumped all my tasks into one bucket, I felt a sense of peace. There, before me, were my tasks. A mountain, perhaps, but mountains can be climbed.

I go back and forth on the question of contexts and how to organize lists. Sometimes I like one big list of everything on my mind, sometimes I like separate lists that pull out just the things I'm focusing on right now. I've experimented with various contexts and formats, and I think the thing to remember is that re-calibration is a good thing. That's what the Weekly Review is for. Every different method of organizing tells you something new about your work. Just be sure that you're not spending more time organizing than you are working.

Work is a necessary evil

2008-01-02T09:20:00.000-08:00

The always-perceptive Ryan Norbauer says:

"I invite you then, patient reader, on a desultory First Night journey with me as I take our mutual favorite hobby—the idle navel-gazing contemplation of productivity—to its most absurd yet logical conclusion: to ask whether eradicating the need for achievement itself might not be the key to happiness in work."

He asks us to consider "the pleasures and benefits of mediocrity." Dude, I'm with you there. GTD and my navel-gazing contemplation of productivity is something I do for fun, not because I care about climbing the corporate ladder and buying myself a Beemer.

I just want to make a living in a way that is pleasurable and productive, and make the most of my free time. David Allen, at least, never argues that the point of GTD is to help you work harder. Instead, he wants to help us spend our time advancing our values and goals. If your goal is to "Pour yourself a glass of port, cuddle up in front of the fire with a book that you’ll probably never finish, and chill," GTD can help by getting you to the couch faster.

Steve Rubel is a Googlin' fool, I tell you

2007-12-29T10:01:00.000-08:00

Micro Persuasion: Become a Knowledge Management Ninja with Google Reader: "Like Gmail, Reader should be viewed as a database that you can build from scratch and continually hone."

3mindme Reminder Service

2007-12-29T09:41:00.000-08:00

Fellow productivity enthusiast David Barrett would like input on a new email reminder service he created. Check it out and let him know what you think...

I just built an email reminder service -- a sort of email version of the "43 Folders" technique for organizing future tasks -- and I'm curious what you think.

Basically, email a reminder to yourself at "tomorrow@3mindme.com" or "jan5th@3mindme.com" or "nexttuesday@3mindme.com" and it'll forward whatever you sent back to you at the specified time. Visit www.3mindme.com or just email help@3mindme.com for more information. Anyway, I *just* made it and I'm looking for feedback on how to make it more helpful, and I'd welcome any advice you have. Thanks, I look forward to hearing from you!

The age of the editor

2007-12-28T11:21:00.000-08:00

12 Filtering Tips for Better Information in Half the Time | The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss: "In a digital world, the race goes not to the person with the most information, but the person with the best combination of low-volume and high-relevancy information. The person with the least inputs necessary to maximize output."

Cool idea!

2007-12-28T11:19:00.000-08:00

HD BizBlog- The Blog: Productivity in Context � Blog Archive � The Book of Days DIY Project: "...this journal is designed to become an ongoing record of my personal development, with tags and pointers to other resources."

But a little more doesn't hurt

2007-12-28T11:16:00.000-08:00

Free Money Finance: You Only Need $40,000 a Year to Be Happy: "She then goes on to detail how she and her husband (plus one child) lived in New York City (a few years ago) on less than $40,000 for more than a year. And if you can make it there on $40,000, you can make it anywhere on $40,000."

Baby steps

2007-12-28T11:13:00.000-08:00

Web Worker Daily � Archive Tip of the Week: Try Searching Instead of Planning for Career Success �: "To use a search strategy to move forward in your career, take small steps towards what you think you might like to do (and what might reward you financially), stopping and checking often to see if you’re getting the results you want."

Think again

2007-12-28T11:00:00.000-08:00

Think you own that hard drive in your MacBook? (Friday): "During a recent trip to Europe, Dave’s MacBook died, giving him nothing but a black screen when turned on. He took the notebook into the Apple Store in Emeryville when he got back where he was told the hard drive was faulty, and he would require a new 80 GB drive at a cost of US$160 (Amazon.com has 80 GB drives for an average of $60).

On reluctantly accepting the price, Dave got his MacBook with new drive installed and then asked for his old hard drive back. The Apple Store staff then explained he could not have it back, because the drive was no longer his."

Seth's Blog: Exclusion

2007-12-27T09:51:00.000-08:00

Exclusion: "When I was in college, the Dean tried to put together an advisory group of students. Nobody he invited joined--it wasn't worth the time. Then he named it, 'The Group of 100' and in just a few days, it was filled. The easiest way to have insiders is to have outsiders."

How to Think

2007-12-18T12:32:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Ben Casnocha for pointing me to this great article by Ed Boyden of MIT on How To Think. It makes me feel smart, because I do many of these already. My favorite is number 9, which should explain to my boyfriend why I'm always taking notes. (He thinks I'm weird.)

9. Document everything obsessively. If you don't record it, it may never have an impact on the world. Much of creativity is learning how to see things properly. Most profound scientific discoveries are surprises. But if you don't document and digest every observation and learn to trust your eyes, then you will not know when you have seen a surprise.

The Bayesian Heresy: You Tube Lecture of the Day- Atul Gawande

2007-12-14T13:06:00.000-08:00

Atul Gawande is one of my favorite writers and a wise observer of organizations and people. Though it's ostensibly about medicine, this lecture can teach us all about ways to solve problems and get results.

A benefit of handwritten lists?

2007-12-13T13:14:00.000-08:00

I was just reading this thread on the David Allen Company forum and got inspired to look at my lists. I've gone back and forth about whether to keep my lists in electronic or handwritten form, and lately I've been using an Excel spreadsheet. I printed the spreadsheet out and took a look.

There are clearly many next action items on my list that I don't really have to do. They're more "could dos." I also noticed that the items at the bottom of my list are generally more pressing, because they're the ones I've added recently. It seems that I actually complete and add new items at the end of the list, and all the ones at the top just sit there.

So I was wondering whether one way to counteract this phenomenon would be to hand write my next action list. Maybe hand writing a list every week during my weekly review would make my list more realistic, simply because I would be too lazy to keep re-writing items I knew I wasn't really going to do? Maybe writing them down would make me think about them?

Planning your day

2007-12-13T10:20:00.000-08:00

The productivity blogs have been rumbling about a couple of new organizational ideas to explore, including Mark Forster's book Do It Tomorrow and Mission Control. I haven't delved too deeply into them yet, but one idea bubbled up that I've put into practice, which is planning your day.

At work I use a writing pad from Tops that is divided into sections. Every morning I review my master task list and pick out the tasks I'm going to do that day. I write them on my pad in the left section.

Then I print my calendar for the day from Outlook and figure out how much time I have in between meetings. I then pencil in (on the calendar) my plans for accomplishing the day's Most Important Tasks and when I'm going to do them. It's a bit like the "Unschedule" in Neil Fiore's book The Now Habit.

During the day I capture new stuff - thoughts, new tasks, phone messages - on the right side of my notepad. At the end of the day I update my master task list with the things I've completed and the new things I've captured. Throughout the day I avoid looking at my master list or my email because they distract me. My end of day ritual includes email-responding and processing.

Kate Davis has a good post that's giving me some other ideas, and which matches my experience over the past couple of weeks. She's actually created a form for herself (available for download) with a checklist.

I might go there eventually, but for now I like the freedom of my ever-present notepad. I find that I'm incredibly lazy, and even having to look in my drawer for a notebook and find a page to write on, or find an index card, is too much work. I need a capture tool that is always available. Plain old 8.5" x 11" pads fit the bill. Otherwise, I don't write things down, and I end up in a downward spiral of non-GTDness.

Susan Smalley: Meditation: The Seat Belt Of Mental Health - Living Now on The Huffington Post

2007-11-08T16:43:00.000-08:00

Susan Smalley: Meditation: The Seat Belt Of Mental Health - Living Now on The Huffington Post

Mindfulness Meditation

2007-11-06T09:41:00.000-08:00

Recently I’ve become interested in mindfulness meditation practice, and started participating in classes at UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center. These days, mindfulness meditation means a non-secular approach to becoming more present in the current moment, and using mediation techniques to reduce stress and relax. These articles will give you a sense of what I’m talking about.

My first real introduction to the techniques was MARC’s “Day of Mindfulness” workshop, in which we experienced different types of seated meditation, walking meditation, and even mindful eating. I expected to get bored or fall asleep, but surprised myself by remaining alert all day and enjoying myself immensely. The teacher, Diana Winston, was very gentle and supportive, and my fellow students all seemed like well-meaning, intelligent people who were keen to learn a new skill for coping with our busy world. I left the day feeling very relaxed and centered, vowing to start a mindfulness practice of my own.

I’ve managed to meditate a few times, and I’m finding that I miss it when I don’t do it. It helps me to concentrate on doing one thing at a time, and allows me to step back from stressful situations to relax for a moment and gain perspective. It really only takes a few minutes here and there throughout the day, and brings an important new skill to your life.

Study Finds Working At Work Improves Productivity | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

2007-11-05T06:25:00.000-08:00

Study Finds Working At Work Improves Productivity | The Onion - America's Finest News Source: "According to a groundbreaking new study by the Department of Labor, working—the physical act of engaging in a productive job-related activity—may greatly increase the amount of work accomplished during the workday, especially when compared with the more common practices of wasting time and not working."

Quote for the day

2007-10-20T08:38:00.000-07:00

From Spiritual Enlightenment: The Damnedest Thing, by Jed McKenna:

The reason for writing it down on paper or on a computer where you can see it is because the brain, unlikely as it may sound, is no place for serious thinking.

Writers Rooms

2007-09-19T06:44:00.001-07:00

Check out this series of photos and essays by British writers about their offices. So many of them write by hand first. Will Self uses Post Its. This quote from A.S. Byatt hit home:

I write fiction by hand, hence the absence of a computer in the picture. I write better since I put the computer in a separate office - partly at least because I am less tempted to play Freecell when I can't think of a sentence.

Wired Profile of David Allen

2007-09-18T09:35:00.000-07:00

The next issue of Wired, I presume the October issue, has a profile of David Allen. There's nothing particularly new, but it's worth a look.

Quote from Stephen Pinker

2007-09-17T11:42:00.000-07:00

Here's one for the DIYPlanner crowd:

Do you have a Personal Digital Assistant...? These are the hand-held devices that recognize handwriting, store phone numbers, edit text, send faxes, keep schedules and many other feats. They are marvels of engineering and can organize a busy life. But I don't have one, though I am a gadget lover. Whenever I am tempted to buy a PDA, four things dissuade me. First, they are bulky. Second, they need batteries. Third, they take time to learn to use. Fourth, their sophistication makes simple tasks, like looking up a phone number, slow and cumbersome. I get by with a notebook and fountain pen.

- Steven Pinker, How The Mind Works

GTD Projects as Inspiration

2007-09-14T09:45:00.000-07:00

One of the things that confuse people most when they start GTD is the difference between next actions and projects. Does every project need to have a next action? Does every next action have to have a project? Can I have more than one next action per project? Do I have to do every next action before going back to the project list? Do I need to map out all the actions in a project first? Where do the actions go if I’m not ready to do them yet?

The answers to these questions are a matter of taste in some ways, and after dealing with them myself for some time now, I recommend a more “fuzzy” approach. One good way to think of it is that you don’t do projects. You only do actions. Projects are a way of getting to the actions you need to do.

I think of my projects as inspiration for actions. I keep each project on a separate page and use the page to brainstorm and write notes about its current status. A project is really a goal, and you need to think about what the goal is, and how you’re going to get there. By doing the thinking about your goal, you break it down into smaller and smaller steps. Some steps can be done now. Some need to wait for other steps to be completed before you can do them. Your next action list is just a list of the steps you can do now. The ones that can wait can remain on your project sheet until the next time you look at it.

When I started doing GTD I felt that I needed to tie every action to a project. So if I needed to make a doctor’s appointment, for example, I felt I had to link it to a project like “Stay healthy,” or something like that. I ended up with a lot of projects that weren’t really projects per se. These days, using the definition of projects as inspiration, I have pages in my project binder for general categories of life, which I use to get me thinking about actions I need to take.

For example, I have a sheet called Household/Finance, where I have listed all the parts of my life that I need to think about, like chores, gardening, bills, car maintenance, the vet, etc. That way, when I do my weekly review, I can look it over and be reminded that I need to get an oil change. I don’t really need a project for “Car maintenance,” but I do need to remember to think about my car.

It’s a fairly minor shift in definition, but seeing projects as inspiration has really helped me understand their purpose in the GTD methodology. Someday/Maybe lists function very similarly. They get you thinking and deciding, which is always the hardest part.

Lean GTD

2007-09-10T12:58:00.001-07:00

Just found this really interesting series of posts examining GTD from a Lean manufacturing perspective, written by an organizational psychologist. Definitely worth a look...

Fragmentation

2007-08-23T17:20:00.000-07:00

Read this.

---

I could have written that post. When I read Hawk's Pile of Index Cards web site I got very inspired and ran out to buy myself a whole bunch of 3x5 cards and a box to hold them in. I bought little carriers for them and a Circa Hipster PDA. I was writing on index cards all the time, in the car, on the couch, in the bathroom. There were stacks of them everywhere. I had my whole GTD system on there too.

Then one day I got sick of shuffling through the cards and made a to do list on a regular notepad. I got so much done that day! Somehow seeing everything in one place really helped, so I gave up the index cards and moved to a notebook and online documents that are searchable.

But I still love index cards and I wish I could find a good way to use them. They make me think of about fragmentation, and tearing things down into pieces and rearrange them into new configurations.

Like....
- blogging
- Twitter and microblogging
- GTD's "widgets" and breaking projects down into smaller tasks
- mind mapping/sweeping
- MP3s and the demise of albums
- wikis
- RSS feeds
- YouTube
- Wikipedia
- Circa

All these things have helped open my mind to the power of fragmentation and collection. My tendency is to create systems and bring information together (like I'm doing in this post). The idea of tearing it apart intrigues me.

The world is breaking down into smaller, more flexible pieces, without gatekeepers to tell you how they should be arranged. That's a good thing.

ZuluPad

2007-08-21T12:33:00.000-07:00

If you've ever considered using a personal wiki to track your GTD to-dos and notes, but abandoned the idea because the software was too cumbersome, you might give ZuluPad a try. I've been using it recently to hold all my various lists and notes and it's really impressive. Go for the Pro version, available for a $15 donation, which allows you to print, add images, and synchronize your wiki online so that you can use it on multiple computers.

My main ZuluPad document is growing by leaps and bounds. I'm using it for all my GTD lists and notes, and I'm loving it so far. Making links to other pages within the wiki or on the Web is practically effortless, and I easily got my pages to print on Circa Junior paper. There's a handy datestamp feature, and it's easy to navigate between all your pages. The online synch has worked perfectly so far.

The program gets a little slow on larger documents, but not too slow to be particularly annoying. The only things I find myself missing so far are traditional word processing functions like bullet points, customizable headers, and a spell check.

Developer Thomas Gersic seems engaged with an adoring ZuluPad fanbase on his Web site, so hopefully some of those options will appear in a later release. Even without them, ZuluPad is one of the most useful and well-written programs I've found online - simple, elegant, useful.

Ready for Anything: The Verdict

2007-07-03T13:30:00.000-07:00

Well, it's a strange book. Basically, it's a collection of insights that Allen came up with writing his email newsletter. They're gathered into sections, but they don't necessarily relate to each other very well. He also veers off into new-agey stuff too much. Finally, I'm still not convinced that this whole idea that "the brain has limited RAM" is even true. Let's ask Stephen Pinker what he thinks, then maybe I'll get on board. This idea permeates the book, and the point is made over and over. Can't GTD just be a good way to organize stuff? Why does it have to be the meaning of life too?

Ready for Anything - Part Four

2007-06-17T13:00:00.000-07:00

This section is called Relax and Get In Motion, or, How to Be Where the Action Is. Below are the segments and my notes.

40. You're the only one playing your game.
The nature of today's knowledge work requires skills that are not yet widely recognized, such as defining one's actions, making decisions, and dealing with an overwhelming amount of "incoming stuff." "I contend that a competitive edge, personal and organizational, is maintained by one's ability to deal with surprise."

41. Too controlled is out of control.
Don't get caught up in the minutiae your organizational system and become an "organizing groupie." You still need to work and think. "[I]t's really about capturing, catalyzing, and executing creative thinking, not about 'getting organized.'"

42. The better you get, the better you'd better get.
As you start to make better decisions and maintain control over your work, your attention will move on to bigger issues. You will always have to engage with the world, at more and more challenging levels. No ABC priority list can change that fact.

43. Trusting your action choice requires multilevel self-management.
"[P]ristine organization of your details does not ensure truly productive activity." There is no simple answer to the question of what is the best thing for you to be doing at any moment. You have to trust your intuition. You exist on many levels, and you need to pay attention to all of them.

44. Your power is proportional to your ability to relax.
"Find out what's stressing you, and deal with it--now--if you want to be truly effective on all levels at once." The freer and more relaxed you are, the more productive you are.

45. Surprises, expected, are no surprise.
"Denial of the reality of constant change produces resistance and frustration." You have to prepare for the worst and think about how you would deal with it if you had to.

46. The longer your horizon, the smoother your moves.
Sometimes the habits that you have developed outlive their usefulness, and you need to make a change. Sometimes we have to give up our comfortable ways of doing things and take risks in order to regain our energy and enthusiasm.

47. You speed up by slowing down.
"You must constantly let go, relax, and refocus." By taking a break, you re-energize yourself and allow yourself to see things differently. You sometimes have to force yourself to do so.

48. You don't have time to do any project.
"...you actually can't do a project--you can only do action steps." Be honest with yourself about which projects are "long term" and which are "someday maybe." It's a subtle and tempting difference that often leads to procrastination.

49. Small things, done consistently, create major impact.
This is true for both positive and negative behaviors.

50. You have to do something to know something.
The people who need GTD the most are the least likely to use it. To work on productivity, you have to believe that you are in control of your life and you have to want to go somewhere different than where you are. Not everyone feels that way.

51. It's easier to move when you're in motion.
"If you're positively engaged, with any part of your life, it is easier to deal with change and to get anything else done." GTD makes you feel better because you're taking control of your life.

52. The biggest successes come from the most failures.
Just keep trying, and don't let setbacks derail you. Everything you try gets you a little closer to where you want to be, either because it's the right thing to be doing, or because it teaches you about the wrong way to go.

Quote for the day

2007-06-17T09:21:00.000-07:00

From Freddy and Fredericka, by Mark Helprin:

Something happens to the body at fifty that at twenty you can't imagine, at thirty you don't suspect, and of which at forty you have just a hint, but cross that bridge when you come to it. You'll be a different man then. You'll forgive yourself. The chase will be over and you'll have learnt to love the world for what it is and to see yourself for what you are. It happens to everyone, even to kings.

Ready for Anything - Part Three

2007-06-14T06:27:00.000-07:00

This section is called Create Structures That Work, or, It's Hard to Stay on Track Without Rails. It talks about the importance of underlying structure and discipline. Here are the titles of each segment and my notes.

27. Stability on one level opens creativity on another.
People rebel against "getting organized" because they haven't really figured out what they want. They associate the organization with giving them more undesirable things to do. When you're doing something you love, the "organizing" part is fun. Alternately, getting organized can help you learn to love what you do because it focuses you on what's best and most important.

28. Form and function must match for maximum productivity.
You need to know what the right tool is. To do so, you need to know what you're trying to do. You have to be both a visionary and a doer, but you have to be able to balance the two roles and understand which one is your strength, and which one might need some help. Your system has to support both roles.

29. Your system has to be better than your mind for your mind to let go.
If your mind doesn't believe that you're really following your system, it won't let you rest.

"Doing proactive knowledge work (thinking, deciding, and sorting) and setting up a well-organized personal-management system to handle the results is like hiring a fabulous executive assistant for yourself--it releases you to do the really important things you want to focus on. But if that system is not kept current, it's like having your key support staff quit without notice or replacement."

30. Response ability improves viability.
Unprocessed stuff reduces your awareness of your environment and your ability to react. But it also serves as a buffer and a layer of protection against the world. When a disorganized person cleans up, he feels vulnerable, and has to learn to live in a new world the way a reformed addict does. The unprocessed stuff allowed him to avoid dealing with real questions about his work and life.

31. Your system is only as good as its weakest link.
"A system relieves no pressure unless it truly handles its job 100 percent...Real systems must be solid enough to hold up in the toughest reality--when we least feel like maintaining them."

In an organization, the low-performer drags everyone else down. In an effective organization, they can deal with higher-level problems because they've taken care of the basics. If you know that someone is actually going to read the email you sent and do something about it, you'll be more careful about what you say. If you make careful decisions and think carefully about your work, you avoid problems later on.

32. The effectiveness of your system is inversely proportional to your awareness of it.
If you have to think about your system, you're wasting energy that could be better used elsewhere. The best systems run smoothly in the background and can handle a big increase in volume. For example, if you don't learn how to use keyboard shortcuts, or you filing system is too complicated and overstuffed, things will back up and take more time than they have to.

33. Function follows form.
A good system will not only help you be productive, it will help you engage with the things you care about the most. To do so, you have to get your whole life, including your friends and family, your staff, and all your interests and goals, into your personal-management system. "[F]irst-degree black belt is only the beginning!"

34. You can't win a game you haven't defined.
You have to know what your goals are. Some people have lots of actions, but don't know what their projects are. Some people have lots of projects, but don't know what their actions are.

35. Whenever two or more are responsible for something, usually nobody is.
Someone's got to be in charge! If different team members with different skills and concerns are competing, someone has to be able to make decisions about who does what. The same metaphor applies to different parts of ourselves. You need to think about what the creative part of you can do, as opposed to the disciplined number-cruncher part, for example, and create a plan that makes good use of each of your talents.

36. Prime your principles instead of policing your policies.
If you are clear about your principles and values, you will act in accordance with them. The same goes for your team, and for people who work for you. If you communicate your standards at the beginning of their relationship with you, you can avoid inappropriate behavior that might occur because of a lack of clarity.

37. Use your mind to think about your work, instead of thinking of it.
If your system isn't reliable, your mind will focus on things it's not good at, like trying to remember tasks. You need to create habits of action that you will be able to perform without thinking about it. "Form. You can't do, without it. Until you do, without it."

38. You are thinking more valuably than you may think.
"Give yourself the freedom to capture all kinds of thoughts that you can later reassess." Feel free to write down everything that comes to mind, regardless of whether you initially think it's important. Brainstorm and let it all hang out. You'll be amazed at how creative you are. Use paper and computers, or whatever tool works for you. Just get it out of your head so that you can think about it and process it into actions.

39. The necessity to plan and organize is inversely proportional to your perceived resources.
Scarcity creates a need to plan and clarify direction. "What we truly most need to do is often what we most feel like avoiding." For example, when we're super busy, we don't feel like we have time to stop and get organized. Allen argues that evolving and getting beyond this tendency toward self-defeating behavior is what will allow us to do meaningful work. GTD helps us to transcend.

My Killer GTD Setup

2007-06-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

I've been tagged! I feel like a real live blogger now.

gtdfrk, of the Getting Things Done blog has invited me to tell you all about my "Killer GTD Setup." And since I love talking about this stuff, here we go...

Over the years I've tried a zillion different systems. Though I'll admit I do enjoy switching around and setting up new systems just for the fun of it, the truth is that with each change I learn something new, and my setup gets a little bit better.

Here are the three main things I've learned about myself and GTD:

I need to use paper.
As much as I love index cards, having to shuffle through them all the time doesn't work for me. I need a list.
It's got to be simple.

As you may have seen in previous posts, I've been reading David Allen's Ready for Anythinglately, and these quotes really struck me:

A system relieves no pressure unless it truly handles its job 100 percent...Real systems must be solid enough to hold up in the toughest reality--when we least feel like maintaining them.

and

The effectiveness of your system is inversely proportional to your awareness of it.

These insights, and much experimentation, have led me to my current masterpiece. Are you ready for such a mind-blowing revelation? You're sure? Ok, here goes.

Write things down in a notebook.

Phew! That was rough. Take a moment to digest. Re-read and make sure you understand. I'll wait.

Seriously, this is my current scheme: I have a Levenger Circa notebook with two sections. The front of the notebook is filled with blank paper, which I use to write notes throughout the day. I usually keep a few days worth of notes in here, before moving them out. I start each day on a new page, and date each page. That way it's easy to move notes into an archive.

The back section of the notebook, behind a divider called "Reference," is where I keep my lists. I have projects lists, next actions lists, and someday/maybe/waiting for/reminder lists for both work and home. I also keep reference lists in this section, like stuff that I've bought that I'm waiting to be delivered, and restaurants I might want to go to.

I also have a pocket to hold loose stuff.

That's basically it. I have in-boxes at home and work. Here's my home desk:

I keep my files nice and neat:

I use my Circa punch and label maker frequently:

I keep all my contacts in Gmail, and use Gmail for all my email accounts. I make generous use of Gmail's archive feature to process my in box to zero. I keep my calendar on Google Calendar. I keep personal documents in Google Documents. I use Google Reader for all my blog reading.

I take lots of notes, and I always have my notebook nearby. I use my Circa notebook for everything, including meetings. I process my notebook when it's convenient, going through my notes to look for new projects and action items and adding them to the appropriate list.

Here are some key insights that I've had during my experiment with GTD:

You have to write everything down. The knowledge that you have captured the information, even if you're not going to do anything with it, is absolutely necessary. Knowing that the information is out of your head gives you the confidence and comfort to let it go.
You have to trust that you will review your notes. If you write it down and never process it, you won't trust your system.
You have to be realistic, and have what David Allen calls "clean edges." Your next actions list is sacred. Do not put anything on there that you don't really have to do. The next actions list is not the place for "could dos," "might dos" or "someday maybes." It has to be stuff you're really going to do.

That's about it. My system is simple, realistic and robust. And it works!

Oh yes, and I hereby tag Brett Kelly, at the Cranking Widgets Blog, because I think that's the best blog name of all time.

Faster reading through column size.

2007-06-12T09:12:00.000-07:00

Sameer Vasta points out this very interesting program that purports to help you read faster and retain more information by reshaping text into a cascading column. It does seem to make reading easier, so I experimented this morning with Google Reader. I just resized my window so that the text of each post is about an inch and a half wide. It really helps! Try it!

Of course, this isn't exactly a new idea. That's why newspapers print stories in columns. But the relationship between column size and reading speed might just have been lost in the digital world.

Ready for Anything - Part Two

2007-06-08T10:49:00.000-07:00

This section of David Allen's book is called Focus Productively. It makes the argument that our ability to change how we see things is the key to productivity. Here are the segments in this part, and my notes.

14. For more clarity, look from a higher place.
"It's not what is going on in your world that's good or bad. The world just is what it is. What makes the difference is how you're engaged with it." You need to look at your situation in terms of where you are and where you want to be, taking yourself out of the day-to-day panic and looking at it from another perspective.

15. You won't see how to do it until you see yourself doing it.
Visualization allows you to figure out how to get where you want to go. You have to see the goal before you can go there.

16. Working hard enough is impossible.
You shouldn't be just keeping busy, or latching on to the easiest thing you can be doing to feel like you're working. Having your work collected allows you to figure out what you really need to be doing.

17. Energy follows thought.
We all have tricks to make ourselves more productive and focused. Part of this is thinking about things before they happen, and thinking about the circumstances that allow us to focus.

18. The clearer your purpose, the more ways to fulfill it.
Always ask yourself why you're doing something, or why something is set up the way it is. Often you'll find that it needs to be rethought, particularly if you're unclear about its purpose. Think about the purpose of your daily habits and routines. Look at your workspace and see if it's set up to achieve its purpose effectively.

19. Best is much better than good.
Focus on doing your best. Drop your self-doubt, desire for personal comfort, and habits, and think "what is the absolute best thing for me to be doing right now?"

20. A change in focus equals a change in result.
"How fast can you get back to 'ready'?" What do you do when you get a big surprise? How easily can you refocus and act? How are you viewing a situation or problem right now? Could you see it differently?

21. Perspective is the most valuable commodity on the planet.
Leverage times when you're inspired. Write ideas down when you think of them so that you can bring them back when you need them. Take advantage of challenges by learning to see them differently. Think about situations in which you find yourself inspired. How do you get there?

22. You have to think about your stuff more than you think.
One of the tenets of GTD. You need to make decisions about next actions. You need to write the next actions down, and you need to be able to find the next actions when you need them - in your trusted system.

23. You don't have to think about your stuff as much as you're afraid you might.
People avoid thinking because they're afraid that they will be overwhelmed by the amount of work they have to do. They feel like not thinking about it helps them relax. But actually doing the thinking helps you be at peace. "You need to be complete with your incompletions." "I consistently come back to the awareness that I'm not my work, because I've objectified and reviewed it."

24. If you know what you're doing, efficiency is the only improvement opportunity.
This section talks about "Stress Transcendence." "When the fulfillment is present inside me and I'm okay with myself at the deepest level, it's not about getting everything done. It's just a process of doing -- and a very conscious process at that."

25. Only one thing on your mind is "in the zone."
Focus on the task at hand. Be true to your agreements with yourself.

26. The value of a future goal is the present change it fosters.
We set up a dichotomy between "just being" and doing. But it's a false distinction, because we are multidimensional. "You are active by the nature of your intention of where and how you focus your consciousness." To create a balance life, you should ask yourself "What type of doing most aligns me with my being?" so that you can align your goals with your values.

Marc Andreesen's guide to productivity

2007-06-05T09:16:00.000-07:00

Remember Marc Andreesen? Back in 1995 when I first started paying attention to the Web, we all resented him for being so young, so smart, and so rich after inventing Mosaic and starting Netscape. Fortunately, I'm older and wiser now, and can let go of my ill will.

This month he's launched a blog, and it's great so far. This post on productivity is well worth a read.

Commonplace books

2007-06-04T12:46:00.000-07:00

In case you don't know what a Commonplace Book is, here's an interesting article. As a note-taking fool (see below) it's a concept near and dear to my heart.

Speed feed reading

2007-06-04T12:42:00.001-07:00

I have been an RSS-readin' machine since I saw this post on Robert Scoble and his 622 feed subscriptions. I now follow his lead and start with "All items" in Google Reader. I make a first pass using the shortcuts (s for star, j for next item, k for previous item), starring anything that sounds vaguely interesting. Then I hit gs to go to the starred items. Then I have a leisurely read, unstarring as I go. If there's something I want to read, but don't have time, I just leave it starred for the next time. Those shortcuts sure are better than mousing!