Archive - Apr 2006

Reading "Meta" Thoughts

Have you ever worked with someone and noticed they seem to slip in little flourishes as they happily go about their business? I'm thinking of the programmer who gives a little viola after typing a tasty morsel, of the pianist who adds additional movement during a rapid passage, or of the actors who bow for the audience with grand flourish. I was reminded of how uncommon these flourishes are when my five year old daughter and I recently enjoyed the antics at the great local college pizza place, where the workers (young guys from the University) like to toss the slices into the air then catch them on the paper plate before sticking them in the oven.

When I decided to seriously consider switching careers to productivity coaching, I realized that I'd have to create my own "Master's Degree" in the subject [1]. The program I made up includes:

• extensive reading of competing/complimentary time management books,
• weekly blog posts to help explore the concepts through writing,
• "clinical" practice via one-on-one coaching with clients, and
• one-to-many presentations at workshops and seminars.

To that end, I committed this January to design and facilitate a four hour workshop on campus, something I've never done before. My thinking was this would help me quickly deepen my knowledge of the field, and simultaneously evaluate whether I'm any good at this kind of work [2]. I'd like to report on how the first half went, what I covered, and some tips I found helpful.

I'd like to share some questions that have come up recently, along with my answers.

Table of contents

• How many collection buckets do I need?
• What's the best tool for ubiquitous capture?
• Do you use a tickler file?
• How do I work a combined digital/physical situation?
• How do I choose what to do next?
• How do I handle too many next actions?
• What will I physically have when the program is fully implemented?
• Should I use digital or analog organizing tools?