One Simple Question About Productivity

One workshop participant asked me recently the following question,

"I've been taught that there are two approaches to plotting out your day: the priority (A1, B2, etc.) system or the process of matching up tasks with certain blocks of time.  Which system is right?"

My response tried to match the best of a FranklinCovey (top down approach, starting with goals and mission) approach and a GTD (bottom's up approach, starting with cleaning up the open loops and stuff that's on our plate) approach.  The fact is, there isn't one method of planning out the day that is superior- what helps me to get important things done is in itself good.

The Problem with A1, B2 Priority Planning
I explained to my participant that this system ignores the fact that some tasks change in their importance as the day goes on.  An A1, B2, C3 method can also get awfully confusing.  After a while, you just get tired of assigning letters and numbers to things!

The Problem with Matching Time Blocks With Tasks
This isn't the silver bullet either as a big block of time could be filled with a meaningless task that simple requires a lot of time.  I would love to prune the trees in my side yard (requiring several hours of labor) but if something else is more important, my pruning would be something of a waste of that particular time.

Here's a much simpler approach to planning out the day: ask yourself at the start of things, "By 5pm, what would I be upset about if I didn't tackle it during the day?"  It's one simple question that works for me and provides a more intuitive method to planning. 

I'd love to hear reader feedback as to other methodologies for planning out a day. 

One Thing to Blog About GTD, Another to Present On It

Emerson once said, "Be an opener of doors for such as come after thee."  As an educator, one of my primary aims is to plant seeds and open doors that might not be passed through for years to come.  While some teachers get frustrated that the fruit of their labor isn't realized for 5 or 10 or 15 years after graduation, I've come to accept that it just is the reality of education. 

Yesterday I had the opportunity to present a workshop to about 50 participants at the NCEA annual convention here in Baltimore.  I had submitted three proposals for workshops, ranging from faith and sports to my "day job" in campus ministry but the one that was accepted was about GTD. 

My presentation was slated in perhaps the absolute worst slot of all- the final block at 3pm on a Thursday and so my expectations for numbers was very modest.  When the room nearly filled just minutes before starting, my juices were flowing and I was ready to roll.

My presentation: Stress Less and Achieve More Through Time Management and Workplace Productivity.   It reminded me that it's one thing to talk about something (or blog about something- an elaborate way of talking) and another to teach it in public.  I walked the audience through the following issues:

• A definition of stress and its sources



• Some data from the Cal Berkeley study on information overload



• A working premise that work can be spiritual and transformative on many levels



• An outline of the GTD 5 phases of work-flow



• A sample step-by-step tutorial of the weekly review

After the hour-long presentation, I answered questions about work-flow management, preparing for each day and issues of procrastination.  One participant told me afterward, "I've been to ten workshops this week and yours was the best."  Not a bad way to end the day and just another reminder that the best way to learn something on a deep level is to teach it to others.

Do Two Forgets Make a Remember?

Last night my wife and I were going for a drive- a great GTD moment ensued:

"Can you remind me next Monday at 6 o'clock about our appointment? "

"I'll remember if you write it down for me.  I don't have my Palm with me so I'll bet that we'll forget." 

"Well at least we'll both be forgetting at the same time!"

Do two forgets make a remember?  You know, do they cancel one another out so that we remember next Monday at 6 o'clock? 

One of the great things about GTD is the constant emphasis on capturing key information so that there are less open loops and more Monday appointments at 6 o'clock remembered.  With all of the talk about the Moleskine notebook, the many Palm devices that are available and plain old pen and paper, there are more ways to capture than ever before.

When we got to the supermarket, I asked the pharmacist for a scratch piece of paper and I scrolled in big, bold letters, "MONDAY, 6PM.  CARY APPOINTMENT."  The gal behind the desk probably thought I was nuts, but who cares?  Information captured, mission accomplished.

Quote for the Road

"Tell me, I forget, show me, I remember, Involve me, I understand."
Carl Orff

The Work of Holy Week: Friday | Jesus & GTD?

Part V in a 5-part series connecting daily work with spirituality

 

Good Friday: "How Jesus Would Have Practiced GTD"

As this week progressed I was looking forward to Friday, a day that for Christians, is called "good".  This unique paradox is a central tenet of the faith and it got me thinking: aren't many of the concepts of GTD somewhat paradoxical? 

Core principles like "mind like water" and "relaxed control" appear, on the outside to make no sense whatsoever but to those of us who dig GTD, they are cool and hip.  We get it. 

How would Jesus have practiced GTD?  More fundamentally, what would he have called it?  Maybe something like TPW (Treating People Well) or even HTBWC (How to Be  A World Changer). 

Some common GTD elements and how Jesus connected with them:

Collect: to prepare for his mission, Jesus spent 30 years in training , gathering all of the information and perspectives that would lead to fulfilling action for the three years subsequent.

Process: maybe a stretch here but I think it's safe to say that Jesus was a master at processing large quantities of information.  He knew the Old Testament well and was in touch with his "boss" on a regular basis.

Organize: while Jesus did not have an elaborate GTD list system that I know of, his travels around Nazareth indicate a plan and system of doing things.

Review: what could be better than the weekly trip to the Synagogue?  As a faithful Jew, Jesus would have spent every Saturday studying and learning from the best and brightest.  There he could close any open loops and prepare for the week ahead.  I guess you could say that Jesus gave new meaning to the adjective "religious" when it comes to practicing the weekly review.

Do: from the planning to the ultimate death and then subsequent actions of his followers, Jesus was a man of action.  Not since Moses in the Old Testament did history see a man so determined to get things done. 

Some other GTD puzzle pieces would have also been doable for Jesus such as:

Mind like water: Jesus spoke often of the avoidance of worrying and the ability to focus on what's really important in life.  I could have talked about walking on water but I'll keep it GTD focused!

The runway to 50,000 foot view: most people consider Jesus' amazing acts of healing or other significant life events but let's not forget that this was a carpenter we're talking about.  To be successful, and scholars think he was as a tradesman, he had to figure out with precision what each project required.  Even in his years of ministry, he was fully immersed in the day to day details of his family and friends.

I really liked Leo's post linking action with the perspective of a monk.  The bottom line: to effectively get things done over the long haul, one needs a spiritual foundation.   Today is Friday of Holy Week.

The Work of Holy Week: Wednesday / The Impact of Time

Part III in a 5-part series connecting daily work with spirituality

Wednesday: "My time
is at hand..."
All of us know someone who is over committed
and whose life is stretched too thin.  The physical signs are all too
clear: fatigue, lack of energy, poor diet, and health complications.
On a social level too, there are some red flags that immediately catch
our attention: they may be snippy, overly negative, and quick to
dismiss new ideas.  Whatever the outward "symptom", an overly taxed
life is not something to which many of us aspire and yet can easily
find ourselves dabbling in.

We dabble in just one more
committee.  We dabble in another activity for our kids.  We dabble in
another weekend event that's 20 minutes away.  It's only 20 minutes, we
tell ourselves...  At the end of the day, a little dabbling here and
there can add up to too much stress and not enough calm.

On the flip-side, a balanced life is rooted in knowing what we're all about and then sticking to it.  One of the great gifts of GTD
is that you can take a break from the day whenever you want to,
precisely because you have a clear sense of what still needs to get
done and how you're planning to do it.  In the summer months, I will go
off campus for lunch and just park my car under a tree in a nearby
parking lot.  I eat a sandwich and enjoy my book on tape.  It's amazing
how 30 minutes away from work leaves me fired up to go back to work.

In
today's Gospel, Jesus' sense of time leaves an impact on those with
whom he "works".  He knows that his earthly days are numbered and has a
clear vision of how he'd like to use those hours and minutes.  Do you
have a strong direction for your day?  Is your agenda laid out and
timed accordingly? 

As Holy Week rolls on, take the time to
write down the things you'll need to get done.  Refer back to your
lists and be sure to include any ongoing projects that need attention.
My guess is that you'll find that, like Jesus, others will take your
lead and improve their own sense of time management.  Today is Wednesday of Holy Week.

GTD in Daily Life: A Snapshot

Many readers of this blog (as well as the CE on Time community) are
fond of the GTD (Getting Things Done) system of David Allen. I had a
GTD moment this past week. Here's the skinny:

1. I was in the waiting room at a doctor's office.



2. Rather than twiddle my thumbs, I began to read a magazine about cell phone plan swapping.



3. Lightbulb- I feel like I pay too much for my cell contract- what would it look like to "someday/maybe" swap with someone else?



4. Collect-
   rather than let this moment pass or simply ignore the connection
   between my desire for a cheaper bill and the article I was reading, I
   decided to take action.



5. Process- I found a piece of scrap paper and wrote down the websites that the article recommended.



6. Once I got home, I spent about 10 minutes reviewing the websites.



7. After that, I entered into a list on my Palm Treo the items I wanted under the heading "Cell Trade In".

For
GTD purists, this represents at least a snapshot of how the system
works. Gather, collect, process, take action. Simple as that. Rather
than letting good ideas get lost in the sauce, GTD allows you to
streamline and then integrate them in meaningful ways.

“Productivity
is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to
excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.” Paul J. Meyer