You know, every time I sit down to write this column, I always think, “No one is going to give a shit about my work week.” But judging by the amount of feedback I hear and the number of click-throughs, it's a popular topic. Sooo.....my week:
I worked evenings for the second week in a row which is unusual since my partner Leon and I usually switch mornings and evenings each week. But Leon is back in Massachusetts after his brother fell ill and had a brush with death. He's still in bad shape, but much improved from where he had been, so things are hopeful. Leon will be back at the end of next week. Meanwhile back on the farm, another week went by.
The ever-present never-ending shower-room project is still getting chipped away at. I admit I let that one coast since last I wrote. I had other priorities. I've only been able to laser-focus on projects in the past because Leon was making sure taxes got filed, staff got paid, and the schedule got scheduled. With him gone I've had to warp forward and go into business-admin mode. Fortunately a lot of my personal development work in the last couple years was to learn good task management skills which meant that even though I haven't been on top of these things lately, it was a simple and familiar procedure to process, organize, and identify next actions.
I use a system called Getting Things Done (GTD) developed by David Allen and explained in his book of the same name. If there has been one thing I've done in the past two years that has made the biggest difference in my productivity and ability to juggle many different projects and obligations simultaneously, it has been this. It has enabled me to put all the stuff that needs to get done into an orderly reliable system of lists and reminders which let's me get all that stuff our of my head. The amount of clarity and peace of mind this brings is impossible to overstate.
When I first tried to implement it, I got set up and then didn't know how to use it so it lasted about 3 weeks before falling apart and I reverted back to handwritten notes in a notebook. But the number of responsibilities I had was too great for that sort of set-up, so I still needed a better system and came back to GTD. This time it lasted about six months before trailing off. Then, having learned more about how I actually like to operate, I started over from scratch and rebuilt it using experience as a guide. Now I use it according to my present need and even if I don't consult and update it daily, it's easy to bring up to speed and get on top of things at short notice.
Basically it works like this. You have two or three inboxes, I have a paper inbox at home and work, and an electronic inbox. For my electronic inbox I use GQueues which has a phone app and integrates with email. All stuff gets directed at one of those places. If I'm out on an errand and I have a bright idea or learn something that might be useful, I enter right away it into my GQ's inbox. This simple procedure is huge for two reasons. First it puts everything into a few reliable places. I don't have to remember where I put a receipt or an idea on a post-it note because those all go into my paper tray. Non physical things are in the GQ's box. The second benefit is that it gets that stuff out of my head. Have an idea? Capture it immediately so you can come back to it later. It reduces mental noise and lets you think about ideas in better detail. Seriously this little habit changed my life. At least weekly, and usually daily, I come back to those inboxes and process what's in there. I'll skip the details about how to do this. After all, an entire book was written on the subject, I'm not going to be able to do it justice here. However, here is a workflow diagram that sums everything up quite nicely.
So that's the theme this week: meeting deadlines, pushing all projects out so that I'm waiting on other people to get back to me rather than them waiting on me, empty inboxes, and still having enough time to get my workouts in. Feels good.
By Morgan on Sunday, April, 06, 2014