Productivity 101

Photo by Cheeseworks

I was visiting the Making it all Work seminar featuring David Allen in Amsterdam yesterday. The seminar was organized by the David Allen Company and Life Architect. It was my third time that I visited one of David Allen’s seminars. I also listen regularly to the audio version of the seminar. It was as usual a very good seminar, relaxed, focused and entertaining. It looks like it doesn’t cost him any energy. Because I know what it is to have to present in a different timezone, it is amazing how he does it. With humor but with great persuasion he tells his story about productivity. You can read elsewhere on Internet about the content of the seminar.

There are two things I want to write about in this post regarding the seminar. First, David demoed his own system with Lotus Notes with the eProducivity addon from Eric Mack. He also showed his extensive use of MindManager. By doing this he showed first hand how it works in his own personal and professional life. I must say this was quite powerful. It resembled much of how I have set up my own system in Evernote.

The other thing I wanted to mention is the story behind the story. When you have been introduced to GTD and have a good understanding of the practicalities of GTD it is fundamental you get the basic and fundamental theory behind it. Completely in line with his new book, Making it All Work, David pointed to the fundamental behavior changes that are needed to really get GTD and stick to it.

Couple of quotes to illustrate what I really got out of this seminar:

“Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.” – David Allen

“Psychologists say Distributed Cognition, I say Write it down” - David Allen

“A successful executive solves bigger problems that he or she creates!” - David Allen

And as always during a seminar like this all kind of new ideas, tasks and projects have surfaced and are now in my trusted system waiting for the right timing.

written by Fokke \\ tags: David Allen, GTD

One of the great things of internet is the enormous amount of information. One of the drawbacks of internet is that within a multitude of information it is often impossible to find good quality info on specific subjects.

There is no doubt about the fact that GTD is really hot on the Internet. There are many many websites writing about it. There are als many many fora dedicated to GTD.  So I started an GTD oriented search engine based on Google Coop.

The goal of this search engine is that only ‘official’ high quality content GTD sites are added to the engine. For now there are only three in the index: GTD Times, 43 Folders and of course David Allen’s site.  So if you have a specific question and want only results from trusted GTD sources, just type it in the appropriate box on the right.

If you know good quality sites with information on GTD please add them in the comments of this entry. You can also hop to the GTD search engine by clicking here.

written by Fokke \\ tags: Getting things done, Google, GTD, search engine

I have a two hour time slot in my calendar every Friday. I sit down and do my Weekly review. For me this is a perfect start of the weekend. It helps me to keep track of everything. It also ensures me that nothing is falling between the cracks.

It is a special time in my week. During the review I listen to music, not always the same kind of music. Mostly music that reflects how my week has been.

I can do the weekly review almost everywhere. I only need my Treo 680 with me or my laptop computer. I have set up a note with a template of things I do during my review. I just open up that memo on my computer or my Treo.

Here are the highlights:

1. I review my calendar for the week that is almost behind me. By reading through my calendar entries from the last several days I am reminded of actions that I need to write down, follow up calls I need to make. Fresh ideas are gathered and written down. It amazes me how refreshing this can be. I take notes during meetings and conversations with people, yet still after a couple of days I am getting new insights from those events.

2. I review my calendar for the next week. Do I need to reschedule some meetings? Do I need to prepare myself for some of the things that are coming next week? I make sure everything is in place for the new week.

3. I review my next actions list. I see if there are any actions that I can mark as complete. Some actions are removed to my Someday/Maybe list. This leaves me with a fresh and current list of next actions to tackle for the coming week.

4. I review my projects list. By going through my list of projects I am reminded of the things that are important in my life. On my projects list I have work and personal projects all in one list. During this time I write down any next action that comes to mind for every single project I am currently doing. By reviewing the projects lists every week I ensure myself that the projects are still going strong.

5. I review several short memos with important stuff in it. I have memos on my short term goals, long term goals and focus areas in my life. This is more a time of thinking about the higher levels of life. Am I still on the right track?

6. I review the action support file folders for my current projects. Just to keep completely informed and up to date on the projects I am doing.

7. I do some errands. I empty my pockets for credit card slips, business cards or other info I need to keep. I go through my briefcase to see if there is something in there that needs my attention. I make a backup of the SD card in my Treo on my computer and then I do a complete backup of the computer. (During the week incremental backups are done with a online backup service I use, Mozy).

During the Weekly Review I have a nice cup of coffee with me, preferable with a bar of chocolate. It truly is a fun time! When I fall behind on this habit I experience more stress in my life. That is the main reason I have scheduled it as an important meeting with myself.

written by Fokke \\ tags: GTD