Bookworm

Stop digging and start climbing

"We've all been there: I feel stuck so I might as well get busy doing something...anything...so I at least feel like I'm at least making progress. Email is wonderful for this. Send/Receive never fails to distract me into a busy trap. It grew up on the same farm as procrastination. I'm not saying plenty of valuable work doesn't show up in email, but I think anyone these days can relate to getting stuck in the infinite loop of email rather than doing what we know we should be doing instead. Just because it landed on email doesn't mean it's your job." [Simply GTD with Kelly: Stop digging and start climbing]

Boy, I fall prey to this trap, for sure.  I had to post it for the clever line, "It grew up on the same farm as procrastination."

Things That Work

• Setting out my work outfit the night before
• Using the time spent waiting for the final leg of my commute to write down the day's priorities
• Writing myself Post-it(r) notes on work-in-progress at the end of the work week to minimize the start-up time on Monday
• Jumping into Typepad and quickly drafting something when I feel the urge to write (instead of putting it off)

Procrastinating Perfectionist

If you had to diagnose the biggest roadblock(s) that keep you from being as productive as you could be, what would your diagnosis be?  I diagnose myself as a procrastinating perfectionist.  I want to do really well, but I sometimes doubt my ability to do as well as I'd like, so I put things off.  In some odd sense, it's as if I feel that if it's still undone, I still have the opportunity to do it perfectly.

I'm working on ways to combat this tendency of mine.  It would seem obvious that giving myself less time to accomplish something isn't going to give me the best chance of success. 

So, I should:

1. Determine the highest priority projects and tasks that require my attention.
2. Realistically estimate the amount of time required to complete them.
3. Block out that time on my schedule, while leaving breathing room for the inevitable emails, phone calls, and drop-ins that are part of my job as well.
   1. Nota bene: This is the one Julie Morgenstern (Time Management from the Inside Out) tip I will implement to a degree, even though it's not really kosher in the David Allen Getting Things Done methodology.  I find that even if the structure of one methodology makes more sense to you than others, it's still useful to add bits and pieces from others if it works for you. 
4. When I feel like I want to procrastinate on something, I need to talk or write my way through that roadblock.  Telling myself "Just do it" doesn't always work.  There's usually some subconscious reason I don't want to make the call (I haven't thought through exactly what to say, for example), or fill out that form (I might be unsure how to fill it out).
   1. This is where the David Allen "Next Action" concept really does help.  In both of these examples, I haven't put the very next action on my list.  Instead of "Call Jane," I should write, "Jot down items to be covered in call to Jane."  Instead of "Fill out form," it might be "Email John and ask for instructions on filling out the form."

Also, I've realized now that I'm in a different position with more responsibility and less direct supervision that I am missing the external reinforcement and approval that I seem to crave psychologically.  The approval of my parents, teachers, professors, and supervisors has been a motivating force for me in the past, but now I rarely have face time with my boss and when we do meet, it's very businesslike.  I need to find a way to give myself approval for my accomplishments.

1. I have started keeping "thank you" emails that people send when I've helped them out.  Even though it seems self-indulgent, maybe once a quarter or once a year I could condense them all into one big text file and read them.
2. I should keep a list of accomplishments, large and small.  Looking at the list will make me feel good and will be useful at evaluation time.
3. If there's a particularly difficult or onerous task or project that must be completed, I could try to think of a reward to give myself when it's done. 

Seven Questions

* 1. What will I try to improve on next week?

    * 2. What was I most proud of this week?

    * 3. What was my biggest accomplishment this week?

    * 4. What have I done to get closer to my life goals this week?

    * 5. What was hard for me this week, and why?

    * 6. What was my biggest waste of time this week?

    * 7. What did I do this week that made me ashamed? [Seven Questions That Will Change Your Life - lifehack.org]

This might be useful for journalers, for those following a spiritual/religious path, as well as for productivity purposes. . .

Procrastination or no?

"When something starts to repel me on my action lists more than attract me, it's usually because:

1. I don't have all the information I need to take the action
or/
2. It's not my very next action

For example, I've got a list about a mile long right now for my home-related next actions since we just moved. One of the first ones that was added to my list was to "buy new fluorescent lights for the kitchen." They flicker and it's annoying. So off we go to the hardware store to buy new lightbulbs. Whoops, what size? Back at the house, I've gotta shift gears into something else and can't finish the light project, so I change the action on my list from buy new lights to measure for new lights. It sits there for a few weeks and doesn't get done. At this point, I could either change my standard about the flickering light or get more specific. The flicker still annoys me, so I'm still committed to doing this. I take a good look at it and consider why is this still on my list? Oh right, need to get the stepladder to pull down the screens to measure the lightbulbs. Where is the tape measure? Can't measure without the tape measure. See where I'm going with this? What started as "buy new lightbulbs" was really "find tape measure." You may not take things down to that kind of microscopic next step, but for me, it can make the difference between getting something done with the least amount of effort and attention....or not." [From: Kelly Forrister: Is it really procrastination?]

I think this is one of the things that helps me most -- really getting down to brass tacks with a task/next action.  "Hire new employee" is not a task; it's a project with multiple tasks/next actions:  (1) Review job description to make sure no revisions are necessary.  (2) Fill out necessary form with HR to post the job.  (3) Advise recruiter about field-specific locations for advertising the position, etc.

Discipline v. Motivation

"So how can you be "disciplined" about your habits? Get the right motivation (See the Top 20- Motivation Hacks for more). Here are a few tips:    1. Pick one habit, and fully commit to it. Don't try to be "disciplined" for a whole lot of things at once. I've tried this (many times) and it always fails." [From: zen habits: Discipline is an illusion; Motivate yourself instead]

I'm reminded of something Colin Powell said in a speech, that instead of trying to motivate your employees, you should inspire them and they would motivate themselves.

I have been guilty of trying to add/modify too many habits at one time -- almost every January.  Get up earlier each day, Journal every day, exercise on a regular basis, spiritual time every day, hobby time every day, etc.  One habit at a time is a more reasoned (and probably more successful) approach. 

Most Important Task (MIT)

"[Y]our MIT [Most Important Task] is the task you most want or need to get done today. . . I have three MITs -- the three things I must accomplish today. . . here's the key to the MITs for me: at least one of the MITs should be related to one of my goals. While the other two can be work stuff (and usually are), one must be a goal next-action. This ensures that I am doing something to move my goals forward that day. And that makes all the difference in the world. Each day, I've done something to make my dreams come true. . . " [Written by: Leo at zen habits]

In some ways this is a less complicated way to think about priorities:  What three things do I really need or want to get done today?  Since today is Saturday, I'd have said (1) Go pick up new glasses (2) Laundry and (3) play with some digital photography.  The third one is my personal/fun goal -- I won't ever be a professional, but I enjoy it and it's relaxing and diverting for me.  At work, even though I use Outlook extensively and have a PDA, I decided to get paper planning pages for my classic binder so that the appointments are in there, I have a place to take notes, and I can write down my MIT for the day to keep me on track.   

GTD = GOD?

No blasphemy intended, but I found it humorous when spellcheck recently gave me this option:

GTD: Context, Time, Energy, Priority

"Context. . . Time, Energy, and Priority. Applied in this order, you can very rapidly filter your list of possible actions and make the best decision about the very next thing you can accomplish. . .
Context: . . .Tasks (to do items) should always be labeled with their context. . . For example, before I leave the office for lunch each day, I scan my task list by filtering on @Errands to see what I can accomplish while I'm out and about. . .
Time: Once the whole list has been filtered for context, the next criteria is available time. . . Estimating time for tasks is a vital element in making the Time criteria effective.
Energy: . . . The next decision is to honestly evaluate my current energy level.
Priority: This is the fuzziest component of the model. There are many things that can determine priority including externally dictated deadlines. In practice, having filtered on the first three criteria, your remaining action choices should (hopefully) be relatively easy to prioritize." [A nice synthesis of this material from/written by/found here: Marc's Outlook on Productivity]

Priorities, day to day

Merlin Mann writes:

"I come at this from the angle of a GTD fan, in the sense that I try (try, mind you) to see priority as one of several factors that govern where my time can and should go. But, it’s no secret that even the most diehard GTD fan struggles with how to execute a busy day during which this and this and this and, oh crap, that all need to be done as soon as possible. How do you manage it all?

Well, one way is to apply some of the many affordances that various productivity tools offer: priority stuff is big, and it’s red, and it’s bold, it’s at the very top of the list, and it’s stuck on a sticky note in the middle of the monitor; anything to make sure we don’t lose our most important work in the lights.

So my question to you guys: what does “priority” really mean to you in practice (not theory)?

Does it represent the highest value item in your world — that for which you will reject other work? Is it the thing that’s currently causing the most stress and anxiety? Or is it the thing that you’re the most behind on and are therefore the most horribly embarrassed about? What makes you set an item’s priority to the “high” setting, and then how does that help it to get done faster? Does priority planning ever fail you?" [43 Folders]

This is the hardest thing about my work -- prioritizing (and completing) my many projects and/or areas of responsibility, coupled with "customer service" requests in the form of drop-ins, phone calls, and emails.  Knowing when it is acceptable to say, "What's your time frame on that -- I am committed to finishing up a report this afternoon."  To answer Merlin's questions: Priority, to me, in practice, means either that I have a solid deadline for someone higher up in the food chain than me,  or that something is making me feel so stressed out that I just want it done and gone.  Unfortunately, that last bit means that sometimes I do something that might be construed by others as not as important as other things waiting to be done.  If something really has to be done first thing, I'll put whatever paperwork is associated with it right between my monitor and my keyboard.  Sometimes I'll put a neon Super Sticky Post-it(r) note right on the monitor to remind me of the top priority.  Also, at the first of the month, I have started creating new wallpaper which includes a small calendar of the month, a list of my meetings, and a list of the priorities for the month.  I make it attractive, so I don't mind seeing it every day, and use a nice large font (easy on the eyes).