GTD Cafe: Surpising Moments of GTD Clarity

Each Wednesday The Daily Saint hosts the GTD Cafe, focusing on David Allen's Getting Things Done methodology.

I want to have a t-shirt made with one line of text: do one thing at a time.  It's become gospel for me and it just won't go away.

One thing at a time flies in the face of multitasking, which has finally been outed.  More and more folks are realizing that the habit of doing one thing at a time is not only the best solution to working smarter but perhaps the only one that makes sense.  I've posted on this very habit several times and it seems to come up again and again. I've also come to see that it's the handmaid of another practice- next action thinking.

 

Some times in the past week, surprisingly small, when one thing at a time has showed up:

• Laundry on the stairs- rather than ignore it, pick it up and bring it to its final destination



• Mail left on the kitchen table- toss it or put it in the in box for later processing



• Dishes in the sink- definitely something to delegate!



• Toys left in the yard- get the kids to practice stewardship and put them away prior to bedtime



• Blog post still in draft mode- schedule a time later in the day to get it done



• Kids want your attention right now- drop what you're doing and tend to their needs, however small they may be



• Deadline looming at work- cut out the unimportant stuff, close the door and get in the zone for 30-45 minutes



• Commuting and phone- use extreme caution here as phone talking while driving is tricky business

The surprising effect of doing one thing at a time is that it brings tremendous clarity and gets "stuff" out of your head.  If you act on the folded laundry that's on the stairs, you'll never feel guilty about walking past it.  If you tend to your kids-coworkers-spouse-friends in the moment, you'll never say "If I had only spent more time with..."  It's truly an act of being aware of the present moment and then getting the most out of it.

Resources for the Road
Cell Phones and Drunk Driving
Stress Tip Video: Do One Thing At a Time
Zen Habits: The Habit of "Do"

Quote for the Road
The simple act of paying positive attention to people has a great deal to do with productivity.
Tom Peters
 

GTD Cafe: The Power of Small Decisions

Each Wednesday The Daily Saint hosts the GTD Cafe, focusing on David Allen's Getting Things Done methodology.

I subscribe to a number of newsletters which I find to be extremely helpful.  One that arrived this week is called The High Calling and featured an article by James C. Schaap called The Influence of Small Decisions.  Like many who read The Daily Saint on a regular basis, I've found GTD to be extremely helpful in decision making throughout the day.  Here are just four instances when GTD can help us navigate the demands of daily life:

Waking Up: fix your rising time with an alarm that's set to the same time each day.  Putting mind over mattress gives you a leg up on the competition. 

Starting the Day with Purpose: Leo from Zen Habits has a great recommendation of setting three Most Important Tasks (MIT's) for the day.  David Allen speaks often about the importance of prioritizing actions in a simple manner.

Managing Interruptions: it's a myth that a workday (whether at home or at the office) should be free of interruptions- just deal with them with grace and patience.  All you can do is respond and react but it's your choice to make.   Phones will ring, "friends" will stop by to chat, emails will arrive- all are getting in the way of your productivity...or are they?  I appreciate David Allen's take on interruptions when he speaks of how true GTD practitioners absorb them when they come.

Finishing Well: rather than leaving the office with a desk full of paper and unfinished tasks rolling around in your head, put them down on paper and get that workspace in shape for the next day.  You'll have closure on the day and the following day will already be more successful simply by the way you are finishing today.  You'd never leave your kitchen a mess after dinner so why leave your workspace in disarray?

Quote for the Road 
"It is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters."  Mother Theresa of Calcutta

Newsletters Worth a Look
Click here for my previous post about practical newsletters worth reading.
 

GTD Cafe: Capturing Thoughts (And Why the Moleskine Might be Overrated)

Each Wednesday The Daily Saint hosts the GTD Cafe, focusing on David Allen's Getting Things Done methodology.

One of the key weapons in the GTD arsenal is the habit of consistently capturing thoughts on paper so that you can clear your head and work at one thing at a time.  What follow are some tips and tricks for repeatedly practicing this habit:

When Listening to Messages: I always have a pen and paper in hand when I'm listening to voice messages, whether at home or at work.  For follow-through, be sure to delete messages after you listen to them, rather than competing in the "Voicemail Tally Challenge" contest.  My mother in law recently had 23 messages saved on her machine!

In the Car: Thoughts do come at us when driving or as a passenger.  Keep a small notepad handy so that you can safely get that thought on paper (when at a light or at a stop).  A voice recorder might also do the trick.

On Your PDA: I use a Palm Treo with a keyboard and this is especially handy.  No need to invest in expensive notetaking software, the standard "notes" feature is probably sufficient.

In a Meeting: It's a good idea to have a pen and paper with you for any meeting that you attend.  Whether it's PTA or Parish Council or something for work, thoughts will arrive and you'll want to be prepared for them.  If the meeting is boring, you'll especially want to get some productive work done while those around you are rambling on.

When Waiting: There are more times of waiting than we might be aware so be sure to have pen and paper available for those "dead times" in the day when you might be waiting around. 

What about the Moleskine? I know that many have fallen madly in love with the Moleskine notebooks.  I got swept up in this and purchased a Reporter Notebook and it's just too darn big!  I can't fit it in my pocket without looking like a thief and I've found it to be somewhat of a let down.  Overrated?  Probably not but for me it's just another notebook and I've assigned it to "car duty" for those times when a thought turns up during my commute.

GTD Cafe:8 Moments When GTD Matters Most

Each Wednesday The Daily Saint hosts the GTD Cafe, focusing on David Allen's Getting Things Done methodology.

GTD Cafe

All of us have a "dead time" during the day.   For my son, age three, it's between 6:30-7:30pm.  He gets tired and is generally uncooperative.  Hey, you can't blame the guy, he's working on staying up late like his big sister is able to do!  For me, after lunch is the time when I get a little down and have to combat the dead time with some clever work strategies.  How about you? When does GTD matter most in your day?  Here are 8 moments in the day when GTD makes a difference in my life:

1.  Waking up: if GTD is about action-oriented decision making, then it's time to put mind over mattress and wake up at the same time each day.  This doesn't prohibit an occasional weekend-sleep-in but for the most part, getting up early and at the same time works for most GTD enthusiasts.

2.  Morning routine: I was inspired years ago by Tom Hanks and the movie, Turner and Hooch.  Hanks played an obsessive-compulsive cop who starts his day the same way, every day.  Clothes are laid out, coffee is waiting to be drunk, and minutes are scripted to the "t".  You don't have to be as obsessive as Hanks was in the movie, but establishing and sticking to your routine is a must for a true GTD sensei. 

3. Commute: Whether you have a short walk to work or a more arduous journey, commuting time is learning time.  Every GTD master I know is using her/his commute time for ongoing ed.  I generally keep 1-2 audio books on my passenger seat for my listening pleasure.  Keep a notepad or audio device to capture key ideas so that you can get them out of your head.

4. The first 20 minutes at work: Rather than checking email first thing or puttering around with a few colleagues to start the day, why not review your to-do list which you created the night before (right?) and start in on your Most Important Tasks.  If you have an interruption-rich job like I do, then it's not always easy to launch into your own work.  Nonetheless, it's still vital to pregame your day and then tackle it with the force of a speeding bullet.

5. The "lag time" part of your day: It's 1:30pm, your lunch is digesting and you don't have the same vigor as when it was 9am.  Welcome to life!  It's at this point in the day (and we all have our different 'lag times') when GTD matters most.  The key is to stick to your plan, be flexible and kind with yourself and keep moving.  I find that manual labor of mindless labor (like filing) can be the perfect antidote for the post-lunch blues.

6. The last 20 minutes at work: Here are some good practices for the 9th inning of your work day: clear off your desk, process any leftover mail, clear out your in box, respond to emails, plot out the following day, call your spouse to see if anything needs to be picked up at work, put in a courtesy call for your evening appointment to see if it's still on, read through your Google Reader and GTD Network feeds.

7. 6-9 PM: Being fully present is another GTD concept.  If you have a family (or even pets for that matter), then you know that children demand a certain level of attention.  From the moment I get home from work, my kids are all over me and want to wrestle, play with blocks and provide undivided attention to their needs.  The key is to be fully present- if you know what you have to do the next day, you won't be worrying about it during your family time.  Turn off the tube, ignore your email and be present to the moment.

8. Just before bed: It's a seldom discussed issue but the final hour of the day is crucially important for the GTD practitioner.  Mornings grab all of the headlines but it's the final hour that can make or break your day.  The art of winding down is vital and makes a statement about you, your level of productivity and your desire for life balance.  No matter how hectic life can get, take the final hour of the day to veg-out and relax.  Read a chapter from a novel, watch Sports-center, or play a video game. 

These are just 8 of the moments when GTD leaves its mark on my day.  How about you?

Resources for the Road
GTD Cafe: New Spin on Waiting-For Action Items
Zen Habits: GTD FAQ
GTD Cafe: GTD in Daily Life- a Snapshot
LifeHack: What You Should Know Before Starting GTD
E Leadership: GTD Religion or Real Living?
GTD Cafe: David Allen and Bruce Lee

GTD Cafe: A New Spin on "Waiting For" Action Items

Each Wednesday The Daily Saint hosts the GTD Cafe, focusing on David Allen's Getting Things Done methodology.

I made a tragic mistake yesterday in a department store: I picked the slow line. 

For about five minutes I watched as a cashier-in-training processed the clothing of an older woman who did not seem familiar with the whole debit card process.  The woman behind me said something about "those foreigners" who shop at the store, an apparent swipe at the woman ahead of us. 

It was a great GTD moment of 'waiting for'- trying to get things done but unable to as quickly as I would have liked.  No big deal in the cosmic scheme of things.  It got me thinking: how do you track your 'waiting for' items?

Kelly Forrister, a David Allen coach, posts about the importance of tracking 'waiting for' items.  My colleague Phil Pearcy tracks people via a simple daily list of folks that he has to meet with.  Sometimes the list is 10 people deep and sometimes 30.  The key is persistence and follow through.

Resources for the Road
43 Folders on Waiting For
Matthew Cornell on His Favorite List: Waiting For
GTD Wannabe on Waiting For

GTD Cafe: David Allen & Bruce Lee

Let's face it- deep down we all like a good martial arts movie.  Good guys take on 10-12 bad guys who stand around in a circle and wait to jump right into the mix.  Punches are thrown, powerful kicks send the attackers flying and we keep watching and watching.  It's no wonder that David Allen's martial arts references strike a cord with many readers. 

The great Bruce Lee once said "Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be
    assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or
    through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose
    themselves."  It's no wonder that Lee became an icon of the martial arts, inspiring millions to sign up for classes in Kung Fu and Karate, just to name a few.

What Lee and David Allen had in common was an uncanny ability to adapt to their surroundings.  For Lee, it was through the martial arts.  For Allen, it's a "work thing".  To the ability that I can respond (not react) to the interruptions in my day without losing my focus, I achieve what Allen calls a "mind like water".  Here are some practical apps:

• Start the day with a list: when you know what needs to be done, it's easier to avoid sidetracking events during the day.



• Start the day with focus: asking, 'what absolutely needs to get done today?' is a crucial question.



• Start the day with drive: let's face it, we feel better when we are productive so why not aim for the 5 o'clock feel goods and get stuff done in a timely fashion?



• Start the day with a flexible attitude: things may not turn out exactly as we would like so that famous saying comes in handy, "God grant me the
            serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference."

To be productive is to prepare, adapt, focus, respond, return and do again.  If we do this, we will gradually get "into the zone" and achieve, with more frequency, a mind like water.  As Bruce Lee said, "The more complicated and restricted the
    method, the less the opportunity for expression of one's original sense of
    freedom."