Welcome to the IdeaMatt blog!

My rebooted blog on tech, creative ideas, digital citizenship, and life as an experiment.

Sunday
Apr092006

The crucible of teaching: Want to learn in a hurry? Teach!

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.

Note: The workshop described below has to do with managing the multitude of information streams that workers at the university have to deal with.


Status and outline

The interest on campus was overwhelming, and I decided to cap enrollment (at least for this first round) at 25. I spent a ton of time preparing for it [3], and presented the first session last Wednesday. (I decided to split the workshop into two two-hour sessions with a week between.) I thought it went great [4] - my estimated timing for the parts was very good, and we had lots of discussion and questions. I'm really looking forward to the second half this Wednesday.


Issues and challenges

The main challenges for me were:
  • Deciding what parts of the content could be reasonably covered in just four hours,
  • Choosing how to present that material,
  • Managing procrastination [5], esp. with such a large new project,
  • Having the courage to face the fear of failure and looking like a fool (in spite of daily visualization of wild success), and
  • Working to enjoy the process, even while being well outside my comfort zone [6].

Advice for new trainers/teachers

Finally, I'd like to share some information that I found helpful when getting my head around this huge new project.

First, in the article Ten Tips for New Trainers/Teachers Kathy Sierra tell us:
  • Keep lecture to the absolute minimum.
  • It is almost always far more important that your learners nail fewer subjects than be "exposed" to a wider range of subjects.
  • For classroom trainers, the greatest challenge you have is managing multiple skill and knowledge levels in the same classroom! Be prepared to deal with it.
  • Work hard to get everyone to complete the lab exercises, but NEVER give out the solutions in advance!
  • Do group exercises whenever possible, no matter what you've heard.
  • Designing exercises
  • Leave your ego at the door. This is not about you.
  • Have a Quick Start and a Big Finish.
  • Try never to talk more than 10-15 minutes without doing something interactive. And saying, "Any questions?" does not count as interaction!
  • Don't assume that just because you said it, they got it. And don't assume that just because you said it five minutes ago, they remember it now.
  • If you're not passionate, don't expect any energy from your learners.
She finishes with:
Remember: It's not about what YOU do... it's about how your learners feel about what THEY can do as a result of the learning experience you created and helped to deliver.

Second, Marc Shiman passed along these very helpful thoughts:
  1. What do you want your audience TO DO when you get done with the workshop? There's your goals. Focus on that. Then - focus on what you must achieve for them to DO what you want them to do. Some achievements might be "complete understanding of the system", "complete buy-in and commitment", "establish that they have a problem", etc.
  2. The human brain has a short-term memory of 8 minutes before it stops absorbing. Once you hit that 8 minutes of information, it needs to be transferred to long-term memory. That's the role of the exercises. Try to structure everything in chunks - short presentation, reinforcing exercise, and, most importantly, thorough debrief.
  3. Use a variety of activities, people get easily bored which is a learning killer. Have them discuss things in a large group, have them discuss in small groups. Put them through very structured dialogue, put them through very open ended dialogue.

Last, a friend who teaches in high school suggested attitude really counts, and encouraged me to let my passion for this work come through. He thinks passion is absolutely necessary to reach the audience, but not necessarily sufficient (you have to know and repeat your content.)


Conclusion

Naturally It ain't over till the fat lady sings, but so far it's been well worth the effort and challenges. However, the real hope is that my students take away something that significantly helps them manage their stuff. In the first session's group sharing exercise I heard lots of issues around stuff - challenges facing many of the participants that were emotional and went deep. And that's why I'm doing this - to try to help by sharing what I've learned.

And this is just the start. As Jason Womack says in Positive Focus on Successful Outcomes:
To be honest, it's a dream come true. Why? Well, I think I'm finally beginning to realize what this is about ... really.
NB: This is after teaching 50 seminars.


References
  • [1] Creating your own Master's in Personal Productivity is an idea that hit a nerve with readers, esp. Marc Shiman and Pascal Venier.
  • [2] I've always loved public speaking, and being in the spotlight (I'm a rock-and-roll guitarist from way back when), and I enjoy making people laugh, so I thought it would be a good fit.
  • [3] I've heard various estimates of the amount of time required to prepare for an hour of in-class content. My WL&D person said 3:1, and a fellow worker suggested 8:1. The best I can tell, it ended up being somewhere between 10:1 and 15:1.
  • [4] I am rather looking forward to learning from the participant evaluations after the second session.
  • [5] A corollary to this post: "Want to overcome procrastination? Commit!"
  • [6] You may enjoy reading Don't close it.


Related
  • In his excellent book Love is the killer app, Tim Sanders says
    When you talk about a book, it forces you to know it inside and out.
  • In Time power, Brian Tracy suggest we become teachers in order to learn (which is a primary reason I blog):
    What the experts have found is that if you think about how you would teach new material at the same time you are learning the new material, you seem to absorb it and internalize it far faster than if you just thought about learning it and using it for yourself.

Tuesday
Apr042006

Some common GTD questions, with answers

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?

About the "Collecting" phase: I was thinking of defining a physical place where to put the "In" stuff, and also a basket where I will put some post-its as a reminders of things which are either: 1) too "ethereal", or 2)physical but way too big. Do you think this is a good starting point?
I think Allen would say the fewer 'In Baskets' (collection points) you have the better. In your case I don't see why you'd need more than one; at my office I have a stack of paper-holding trays, and the top one is my In Basket (it's labelled so others can use it too). If you have something that's too big to fit, put a 'place-holder' note just like you were thinking. If you'd rather use a real basket (wire, wicker, etc.) by all means do so; it should be something that is functional (and pleasing) for you.

Regarding 'ethereal' items, an example would help, but I'd just write them down on a piece of paper (or sticky, etc.) and put those in the basket. The main point is to get it out of your head, and into one place that you'll empty out every 24 to 48 hours. At *that* time you'll process it using his workflow, and file, create next actions, etc.

What's the best tool for ubiquitous capture?

About the "ubiquitous capturing tool", I was thinking of a A6 paper agenda: I've used the Palm for 6 years, I love it, but capturing things on the spot is most quick with paper. I'll use the Palm to put the lists, as DA suggests. How does it sound? Also, the PocketMod is very very handy. I've been using it (in non-GTD terms), and I'm very satisfied. I'm using a pencil, instead of a pen, so I can delete the "Done" items.
This sounds great. I'm the same way - paper is quickest for me for capture, but use whatever works for you. Again, it doesn't matter what you use as long as you train yourself to a) put it in your In Basket frequently (don't let those notes sit around in your pocket, etc), and b) process your In Basket every day or so, in order to 'harvest' things to go into your organization buckets - Someday/Maybe, Reference, Waiting For, Next Actions, Calendar/Ticker, and Projects. (And thanks for reminding me about the PocketMod - I love it.)

Do you use a tickler file?

What about the tickler file? It sounds a splendid idea to me and I'm willing to try it out. What's your opinion on the subject?
It's really up to you. Give it a try if you're interested. As an alternative to the tickler file, I've chosen to use the "calendar/holding file" technique (as Stephanie Winston calls it) in which I put a date-specific reminder in my calendar, and put the associated "thing" in a holding file (I call mine "Action Support"). I do it this way because I didn't have enough items in my tickler to warrant the overhead required to manage it. Here's a blurb on davidco about the ticker: The Tickler File.

One nice thing about his system is that he really encourages us to experiment and adapt it. Many of the basics aren't negotiable, but the details are flexible - which contexts to use, ticker, etc.

How do I work a combined digital/physical situation?

I had an e-mail from my boss, asking me to call a co-worker. I called the co-worker, got no reply, and left a voicemail message. I was left with the e-mail; what to do with it? Instead of putting it in @Waiting For--which I am poor at checking--I printed the e-mail and put it in my tickler for tomorrow, to remind myself to call the co-worker again tomorrow if I haven't heard from him by then. I'm pleased at the effectiveness of this solution.

Do you all find yourself taking a digital action and making it physical? Can you give the rest of us some examples?
My take on it:
  • put "call [co-worker]" on @calls
  • add deadline to calender, if time's a factor
  • add it to project list ("assignment [__] from boss") if call is part of multi-step effort
  • if the email contains important information for the call (or project), you can a) print it and file it, or b) save it in an @action-support email folder. Regarding where to file the printed message, I'd put it in the project folder (if it's a project). Otherwise I'd put it in an "Action Support" folder (AKA "Pending" or "Holding"). It's a kind of catch-all for paper that doesn't quite deserve its own folder.
You'll notice that everyone has a different solution. That's one of the great things about Allen's work - it's adaptable. However, it's also a double-edged sword that can lead to confusion for people new to it.

How do I choose what to do next?

I have 8 NA's in my @Computer. One is approx 5 min, three 10 min, two 15 min and two 30 min. When you use Context,Time,Energy,Priority concept how do you choose NA's to act on now? Let's say you have 45 min till the next hard landscape action. What would you choose: one big action or a few small?
As you say, you've 1) used context (you're at your computer, so look at that list) to do the first round of decision-making. (Naturally you might also be near a phone, and have @Calls you could make, but let's stick with your example.) And 2), you know times available and needed, so now energy and priority come into play. I think the gist of GTD "doing" is that you need to integrate all your choices in your head, and make a call. If you're working during your "prime time" (am for most people), then you may want to tackle one of the "harder" ones. (Note: I can't tell whether "longer = harder".) I sometimes use my internal anxiety meter to determine which to work on - it's based on deadlines coming up in the calendar, which is hardest, which I'm procrastinating on, etc.

How do I handle too many next actions?

Is anyone else overwhelmed by the longer GTD lists like me? Mine gets around 175 and hovers there...it's quite overwhelming and I find myself looking at my list less frequently than when I just kept 2 dozen tasks on it.
That's a great question, and is big enough to be a separate post by itself, but here are a few tips from the davidco GTD forum that might help:
  • make a temporary list for the day to help focus
  • move some items to Someday/Maybe
  • make sure actions are really do-able
  • focus on projects (and their actions)
  • limit your NAs - are all important?
  • only list the very next action for projects, not parallel ones
  • hire help
  • block off an hour or two on your calendar, put your phone on voice mail, and just attack your list

What will I physically have when the program is fully implemented?

What I will physically have when the program is fully implemented?
If you walk around the outside "buckets" of the workflow diagram you end up with:
  1. Lists/support for the four key action categories - Projects (the master list - one line/project), Calendar (computer, portable, etc), Next Actions (list), and Waiting For (list). People often split their Next Actions into separate "context" lists, e.g., @Calls, @Home, etc.
  2. Folders for:
    • project support materials (one per project)
    • general reference material (one per topic, project, person, or company)
    • Someday/Maybe (one)
    • tickler (43 of them)

  3. Filing cabinets - Folders get stored in filing cabinets, a minimum of one set (2-4 drawers) within swivel distance. Optional: Second set of drawers for secondary (longer-term) storage. Simplest is to mix project and general reference in one A-Z system. If you have secondary storage, that will be its own A-Z system.
  4. An in-basket for collecting.
Note: You should not have any piles in your workspace. Everything goes into one of the above places. For example, when you're done with a project (at least for now), put its materials back into its folder, and file it. Some people like to use a stacking shelf for "current" projects, but this is only to make accessing them slightly easier. The key point is to use your action system (Projects, Calendar, Next Actions, and Waiting For) for reminding, *not* stacks.

Finally, the only "non-stuff" in my workspace is supplies, reference material, decoration, and equipment.

Should I use digital or analog organizing tools?

GTD is tech-agnostic, so I suggest you go with your preferences. If you're having trouble deciding, here's a quick summary (from Organized for Success by Stephanie Winston):
  • digital: reference, connectivity;
  • paper: capture, memory prompting
However, in the end the tool doesn't matter; the habit of daily processing is more important.

Here are a few other resources:

How do I handle unproductive meetings?

Here are a few tips, but most require a change in the person making and running the meetings. However, deciding whether to attend is within your control. Even if "mandatory," you might convince superiors to let you off if you can give a compelling argument on time lost, work not done, etc.

From The Personal Efficiency Program by Kerry Gleeson:
  1. Identify the meeting's purpose.
  2. Prepare properly.
  3. Keep the meeting on track.
  4. Be decisive.
  5. Distribute meeting minutes promptly and stick to the decisions made.
Also related:I hope these help. If you come across good resources, please pass them on!
Tuesday
Mar282006

Are daily to-do lists and GTD compatible?

One idea that comes up regularly for GTD practitioners is the idea of keeping a "daily to-do list," i.e., a list of tasks (Next Actions in GTD-speak) that should be done that day. Keeping one of these is a traditional time management staple [1], and one that Allen turns on its head. The reasoning is:
  1. The pace of modern life changes so fast that such daily plans are often invalidated by the first unforeseen event (e.g., an email from a client at 8:15 AM that requires your immediate attention).
  2. Having tasks on the daily to-do list that don't absolutely have to be done that day numbs you to other items that really do have to get done, leading to things slipping through the cracks and decreased trust in your system.
In addition, the regular copying forward of un-done tasks every day is tedious, and also leads to numbing or dropping them altogether (which makes the list out-of-date).

Allen's somewhat radical approach of eliminating daily to-do lists is reflected in two aspects of GTD: The calendar (which contains items that can only be done on that day), and a list of Next Actions (a running list of items to be done as soon as possible). The way it works? During the day you first check the calendar, which determines the shape of your day, then check the Next Actions to see what to fit into the remaining time.

However, to help me focus I sometimes find it helpful to save the result of my daily review in a temporary plan. For example, today at work I was feeling a bit scattered, so it helped to write down my goals - read a paper, research an internal blog post, and check-in with my office-mate. None of these had to happen today (as opposed to my calendar's items for today, which I had to work around), and these tasks were all on my Next Actions list, but given my intuition, this was what I wanted to try to accomplish.

Crucially, at the end of the day, after checking off those I'd done from my Next Actions list, I tossed my temporary plan. No tears, and no long goodbyes. And if something came up that invalidated the plan? Great! I could recycle the plan at any second, knowing that everything was out of my head and in my system.

In sum, my recommendation is if it helps to write up a temporary daily plan/goal, fine. But make sure it doesn't morph into a traditional daily to-do list:
  • Create it based on your Next Actions list, i.e., as part of your daily review.
  • Make sure to update your Next Actions list each time you finish an item.
  • Avoid the siren song of keeping the list around longer than one day.
  • Keep the list small - you want it to be just things you'd like to do today. Remember, you'll be throwing it away, so don't invest any time in it.
  • Beware avoiding your system. As andersons puts it,
    If you don't like looking at your lists each day or don't like reviewing them even when you truly need to, then something is not working for you. You will have to figure out whether you need to change your system, your habits, or your motivation. Or maybe all three.

Related

As usual, the davidco forums have tons of great advice. You may find the following threads helpful:
References
Wednesday
Mar222006

How to process stuff - A comparison of TRAF, the "Four Ds", and GTD's workflow diagram

As part of my self-training to be a personal productivity presenter and coach, I'm reading [1] every related book I can get my hands on. (My goal? Be a world-class expert [2] in the field.) One thing I regularly come across are relatively simple ideas for workflow management, esp. "TRAF" (Toss, Refer, Act, File) and the "Four Ds" (Delete, Do, Delegate, Defer). How do these compare with the more complex GTD workflow diagram? Read on!

The players

In this section I'll describe the three approaches to managing inputs that we'll be comparing - TRAF, the "Four Ds", and GTD's workflow diagram.

TRAF

TRAF is Stephanie Winston's system, as described in her books Organized for Success and The Organized Executive (the two I've read). As she puts it:
... there are only four and a half things you can do with a piece of paper. you can throw it away, refer it, act on it, file it, or (the "one-half") read it.
So we have:
  • Toss it,
  • Refer it (i.e. pass it along or discuss it with someone else),
  • Act on it personally (includes now or 'resurfacing' it later, and reading), or
  • File it.
You can read more about the idea in Staunching The Paper Flow - Tips For Time Management and The Art of Organization. (You might enjoy the acronym variations in Chunking Your Inbox by Bert Webb.)

The "Four Ds"

The Four Ds - Delete, Do, Delegate, Defer [3] - is a classic workflow management idea whose origins I haven't found [4]. There are many sources on the web, including 4 Ways to Take Control of Your E-mail Inbox By Sally McGhee, and Information Overload by Kathy Paauw. This gives us:
  • Delete it,
  • Do it (now),
  • Delegate it, or
  • Defer it (act on it later).
(Note: McGhee, whose work is closely related to Allen's, uses the same two minute rule as GTD for the Do it step.)

GTD Workflow Diagram

As opposed to the first two approaches, David Allen's workflow diagram (showing GTD's Processing and Organizing phases - their Rosetta Stone) is graphical rather than verbal [5], and is more complex. The official version is here, but you have to "buy" it (for free). A more accessible rendition is on Doug Johnston's site. I won't go into the diagram's details here, but briefly, the center "trunk" shows the processing steps, as stuff flows from the top down.

(Note: You may prefer Sally McGhee's diagram, which is closely related to Allen's. You can find more detail in her book Take Back Your Life!: Using Microsoft Outlook to Get Organized and Stay Organized.)

Comparison

So how do they stack up? Here's one way to compare them:

Actionable?Organizing BucketTRAFFour Ds
NTrashTossDelete
NSomeday/Maybe--
NFileFile-
Y + delegateWaiting ForReferDelegate
Y +<2minDo itActDo
Y + >2minDefer it (Calendar, Next Actions)ActDefer

For simplicity I've used GTD concepts as a reference point, mostly because it seems to subsume the others (more below). Notes:
  • The Actionable? column refers to Allen's "Is It Actionable?" step
  • The Organizing Bucket column refers to GTD's organizing scheme (i.e., where to park things so that they map to meaningfulness)
  • Y + delegate means the item is actionable and can be (should be) delegated.
  • Y +<2min means it's actionable, can't be delegated, and can be done in less than two minutes.
  • Y + >2min means the same, but longer than two minutes.
  • - means no direct equivalent in the method.
  • As I understand it, Winston's Act step includes immediate, and deferred action.

Analysis/Questions

As you can see in the above table, GTD is more comprehensive than the other two, and subsumes both. But there's a trade-off in both communication and learning: TRAF and The Four Ds are more readily explained and applied (due to their relative simplicity), which probably makes them more memorable too. However, I want to be fair by pointing out the simpler ideas are often presented in the context of a larger system, which typically includes many of the missing elements identified here.

Of course when it comes down to it, the point is to find a set of tools and a methodology [6] that helps us be more productive, and that is ultimately a personal choice. Will I be giving up GTD for these others? No. But I am glad I know about them.

What do you think? Do you have a comparable system that you like?

References

  • [1] I've had to build some reading skills to keep up with the demand. They're summarized in How to read a lot of books in a short time, for those interested.
  • [2] What's the definition of an expert? From this article:
    So how do you get to be a world-class expert? By working your butt off, according to the brilliant cognitive psychologist, Anders Ericsson (e.g., Ericsson, Krampe, & Tesch-Rèomer, 1993). Ten thousand hours of deliberate, well focused, thoughtful practice will turn you into a world-class expert, whether that expertise is in music, sports, dance, chess, science, or politics. And Ericsson's research suggests you can only do about 20 hours of this intense work per week.
    I also like the analysis in Building a Niche of One. You may also like Notes on the Psychology of Expertise.
  • [3] Some of the other "Four Ds" I found: stress reactions (Denial, Dismissal, Deferral, Development) and Steps for Coping With Withdrawal (Deep Breaths, Drink Water, Do Something Else, Delay).
  • [4] I found this comment by Judy Gleeson intriguing:
    The 4 D's have been in over 12 books on time management and every course notes I have ever read on the topic. It's derived from the 4 quadrants of time management from an urgency/importance matrix.
    I haven't been able to verify it, though...
  • [5] To get a sense of the complexity of converting the workflow diagram to text, see Matt Vance's excellent GTD summary.
  • [6] As Eric Mack points out in Methodology + Technology = Productivity, tools by themselves don't necessarily make us more productive - we need the knowledge of how to use them.
  • On the back of my US paperback edition of Allen's book it says:
    Apply the "do it, delegate it, defer it, drop it" rule to get your in-box empty
    Interestingly, "drop it" isn't mentioned anywhere in the book, that I can determine.
  • In How to Declutter Your Life the author finishes talking about TRAF with:
    Some people swear by this system, but for me, it’s a goal rather than an absolute. I just encounter too many in-between items ... and you probably do too.
Wednesday
Mar152006

On the goal of meeting three new people a week - A ten week retrospective

network as of 2006-03-15

At the start of the year, I decided to try an experiment (see A geek "gets" networking: The strange magic of connecting with others): I was going to grow my personal network by three people per week for a year, a goal that seemed both audacious and possible, given a bit of stretching (which Alvin says is The Most Important Thing to Do).

In the last ten weeks I've connected with about 50 new people, which actually exceeds my goal of three per week (30 at this point). Even this early in the experiment, I've had a number of lessons and questions come up, which follow. However, the short story is 1) it's fun, 2) it's work, 3) it's personally challenging and rewarding, and 4) I don't know where it's going!

Effort

Growing and managing a personal network takes work. For example, I take notes at almost every meeting, which means I collect lots of notes that need processing (see Dealing with Meeting Notes - GTD to the Rescue!). It also means talking at night with folks from other time zones when I'm tired, managing appointments and cancellations, etc. I definitely enjoy it, but it was a bit of a wake-up call.

Surprises

I've made a surprising number of connections via people reading my blog (see the upper-left portion of the network above), and my comments on others' blogs. Some recent examples: Bob Walsh, Joe McCarthy, Michelle Crane, Chris Brogan, Pascal Venier, Pamela Stewart, and a host of others. All very wonderful people.

Another surprise was an attitude change I had about what I considered a persistent problem: Years ago I transcribed a bunch of pop tunes and put them up on the net, way back before SPAM was a problem. This might excuse the fact that I included my "real" email address in them at the bottom where I asked for corrections. Well, I keep getting corrections (and SPAM) as a result. However, since I began thinking about networking, I've had a mental shift from from annoyance to opportunity. And this shift applies to everything in my life.

Tools

I'm using a combination of FreeMind and a plain text log file (see My Big-Arse Text File - a Poor Man's Wiki+Blog+PIM) to help manage the growing network. I've uploaded a shrunken version of the map here. Also, Skype is very helpful, esp. when talking with people overseas (I've called the UK, Australia, and Jordan, so far).

(As an aside, I've created a "like to know" section of the network, which I use to set goals. It's a kind of "visualize wild success" thing, which as already started panning out. (Currently, the list partially includes: Merlin Mann, David Allen, Steve Pavlina, Sally McGhee, Stephen Covey, Larry Burdick, and a bunch of local people including my University's Chancellor.)

Questions

Doing this made me ask early on "What's the point?" I'm still not clear, but I still feel networking is a crucial part of my process. However, there are times when I can't confidently explain my purpose to others. The issue sometimes arises because I'm doing this for multiple reasons: to meet people (anyone interesting, really), to practice networking and listening, to be open to new directions/opportunities (esp. my effort to become a productivity coach, to find information/work in productivity, and to learn about related/other fields.

Also, I'm focusing more on deciding who I should talk to - what's the use to them, and to me? I want to retain the "wild" quality of my initial vision, which means being open to meeting anyone. (My good friend David Marshall called it "following scents," which is, if unfair, at least graphic! BTW - check out my favorite painting of his: Tangerines and Kisses!) However, I'm now putting the most energy into meeting people in which there's a clearer mutual benefit.

Lessons

I've found it invaluable to prepare before talking with people. As Ferrazzi says in Never Eat Alone, with Google there's no excuse to not read up on someone you're going to meet with. And these days, given the folks I want to talk to, they almost always have some information available on-line. Preparing gives me starting points for understanding and listening to them, and helps me think of ways to help them.

I've also found it useful to have a backup list of questions in case conversations stall. For example, in my case: life/career changes, networking, reading for education, and personal productivity. Questions like: "Have you ever initiated a major career change?" and "Do you have a book that changed your life?" are always fun to hear answered.

Lastly, to help ensure I don't forget something, I use the following post-networking checklist:

  • Send a thank you email within 12-24 hours. mention specifics, genuine praise, etc.
  • Send a thank-you to referrer (the person who made the referral or introduction). This is one place where good mapping comes in handy.
  • Set a reminder in one month to check-in again with the person.
  • Record the event in my FreeMind network and text file diary/journal (see above).
  • And of course, follow-up on any commitments you made - offers to introduce or help the person are a gem.

Related Posts

Here are some other networking-related posts:

  • From No Time to Network, Keith Ferrazzi says:
    If you're stressed out because you can't fit in any time for networking, my advice is this: Don't.

    That's right. Don't even try to squeeze it in. Instead, focus on meeting people more often during the things you already have to do. That way, you can relax and let networking time come to you.
  • As Ian Ybarra says in The best way to prepare for your career:
    The best way to knock the dust off your skills or tame your nerves...the best way to prepare for your career...is to start doing the work you want. Now.
  • On having courage and being audacious (something I find necessary when reaching out), Jason Womack says his aunt's passed along this advice:
    Until you ask, the answer's "No."
  • In Networking surprises - Some recent unexpected (but successful) outcomes I talk about dealing with surprises when talking with folks.
  • See my post The most important networking question for what you should always remember to ask.