gtd

Since switching to Macintosh I've been trying out tools for GTD, playing with productivity tools, and generally being very pleased with the move from Windows. In addition, I decided to switch from my paper-based action management system to a digital one, and wanted to share with you results from both. I'd love to hear your Mac tips and tricks for productivity too.

Tools I switched to

In no particular order:

Since starting my study of the field of personal productivity (first GTD-related post: August 2005 - Actually Getting Things Done With Getting Things Done!

Apologies for the delayed post - I've been out of town on personal and business trips, I'm preparing for up-coming workshops and one-on-one work, plus continuing my switch to the Mac (!), so a short post this week.

A few blasts from the past

For my new readers, here are a few past posts you may not have seen:

• Using "Follow the energy" to refine your personal development experiments
  
• Use Gmail's "star" to highlight your good news
  
• Living in the moment, preventing regret, and appreciating life
  
• Camera Phones and Ten Cent Augmented Reality
  
• Photo Blogs, Wikis, and Memories for Life

One of the personal changes I was surprised by when adopting David Allen's work was how relatively efforlessly I lost 15 pounds [1]. In my case a simple engineering-based approach worked: Calories in < average calories burned. But keeping it off can be a challenge. What helped a lot was my wife's adopting the Weight Watcher's ("WW" from here on) program [2], which not only opened my eyes to how I thought about eating, but also kicked off some thinking about how WW and GTD are very much alike.

I had a great question from one of my coaching clients who happens to be familiar with GTD [1]. He wondered whether a simpler version of Allen's work was possible, say one that fits the spirit of the 80/20 Principle, maybe even something like 90-20 [2]. The reasoning is that the system can seem overly complex, with a significant barrier to entry.

A little grab-bag post today.

First, yesterday in Western MA, USA, we had a beautiful, exciting, and hazardous ice storm. The latter I experienced first hand (first foot, actually) when I slipped on a near-frictionless driveway and broke my leg (fibular fracture). This is three months on the heels of a broken thumb, so I feel a bit like warmed-over poo. And yes, there's some self-judgment involved as well.

So this week some short, but hopefully high-value mini entries [1].

A few things got me thinking about why we try to be more productive. The first was a stimulating (and emotional) discussion of value, fees, and life purpose in my recent post A conversation with Laura Stack, the Productivity Pro. Toward the end a reader brings up the important of "Why?"

The second thing was Laura Stack's post How to Be More Productive: Have you become more productive or just learned how? She's clearly given it some deep thought.

Finally, early on I wrote It's not about productivity..., and I'd like to revisit the idea. So what follows are a few "Is it all about..." thoughts. No answers here, just a some starter possibilities. Your thoughts on this are very welcome.

Time?

OK, a confession: Like almost everything I've done to create and build my productivity practice, I'm doing goals wrong unconventionally :-) Almost every time management book and blog I've read recommends having written goals, reviewed regularly. For example, Zenhabits' Top 20 Motivation Hacks - An Overview lists (among others):

• #17: Post a picture of your goal someplace visible -- near your desk or on your refrigerator, for example.
• #16: Get a workout partner or goal buddy.
• #5: Visualize your goal clearly, on a daily basis, for at least 5-10 minutes.
• #4: Keep a daily journal of your goal.

And The Ten Part Mental Fitness Program has extensive goal-setting tips. These are great ideas.

Note: I'll be taking a break from blogging for the next three weeks. Next week I'll be putting on three full-day workshops at the Kennedy Space Center. I'm taking my family, enjoying the toasty weather (hey - it's even hotter at home), and if we're lucky we'll get to see a launch! Then we're off to Canada for two weeks for vacation.

If you can't measure it, you can't manage it. -- Peter Drucker? [1], [2]

As a follow-up to Afraid to click? How to efficiently process your RSS feeds I decided to time a few of my RSS processing and organizing [3] sessions. I've included the results below, with average time spent/post in bold. (Note: See the above article for the simplified workflow I use.)

Here are the results:

Test 1

#    : 139 posts
avg  : 33 minutes / 139 posts -> 14 seconds/post

Test 2

#    : 81 posts
avg  : 26 minutes / 81 posts -> 19 seconds/post

Test 3

#    : 242 posts
avg  : 43 minutes / 242 posts -> 11 seconds/post