What's the next action

How the loss of technology helps me

When me and my girlfriend moved in together in 1999, the first thing we bought was a dishwasher. We hated doing the dishes, thought that we could use our time on something better than doing those dishes. We had the dishwasher untill 2005, when we moved to our new house. There was a built-in dishwasher and still functioning pretty good. Untill a few weeks back. It just stopped working. And I don't know why. I am not a mechanic, so I just looked at the thing very interesting, nudging a few hoses going in and out of that thing. And then started Googling for an answer. Which, ofcourse, I didn't get.

During those days we both were very busy with all sorts of projects so we didn't really have time to look into the dishwasher problem. And we  don't want to waste precious money on a mechanic to fix it for us. So I started doing the dishes by hand again. And after a few days I realized that doing the dishes by hand wasn't so bad at all

Better yet, those 10-15 minutes per day when I stand in the kitchen, it gives me time to look back on the day, reflect, think through some running projects and tasks and actually get things done. Just by doing the dishes. The Daily Saint also wrote about this in a recent article, where he discusses the various forms of multitasking.  The great thing with doing the dishes is you really don't have to think that hard about it. So it is a clear-multiple activity. I can do something mindless and stimulate the brain at once.

I am also an editor of a dutch weblogmagazine and I was struggling with an article. Finding the right tone of voice, structure. When I was doing the dishes tonight I had some time to think about the article and a few ideas came into my head which made the writing a lot easier. Also, during the same dishwashing-session, I came up with the idea for this article. I had read the article of The Daily Saint and while doing the dishes, I reminded myself of it.

The dishwasher is still not fixed. But we decided to have it removed from our kitchen and make more shelfspace for all the stuff we have in the kitchen. I decided to do the dishes from now on, my girlfriend still hates it, and with it I give myself time to think about more important stuff than those dishes. 

(Photo courtesy of Jono Rotten)

31 03 07 - 22:38 - Permanent link - seven comments

The Friday 5ives: How to deal with tedious tasks

30 03 07 - 12:33 - Permanent link - one comment

There are only two problems in life

I recently listened to some parts of the GTD Fast seminar again and I must say, there are some true pearls in them. Great quotes, stories and hidden little stuff which give you some food for thought.  One revelation in those series is the next line: Do you know that there are only two problems in your life?

No matter how though it gets, no matter how swamped you are in work and you have bad days with a big honkin' backog of things to do. There are, really, only two problems in your life. Want to know which one and how to deal with it?

28 03 07 - 22:38 - Permanent link - six comments

What do you want to be when you grow up?

24 03 07 - 18:41 - Permanent link - one comment

Getting things done without getting it done

David Allen often talks about the firehose of events that's coming at you when you leave your comfortzone. You could be planning and renegotiating your agreements, but when you get out there in the real world, that's when the real deal starts. I've had that sort of week the past 7 days. I've been working like crazy to get some projects on the road both personal and professional. Since Tess is born, I work one day less to be at home with her. But even that day I got swamped in telephones and emails. Ofcourse, I could shut them off. But sometimes you just can't because other parts of the projectplan start to fall apart. I could really relate to Cynicalgeek's story on working 86 hours a week...

But enough sobbing about the past week. What I realized is that even though I worked my behind off, I still had lots of fun and I could see new opportunities, read some magazines I've had lying around and yes, even visit some friends and had some amazing conversations. You know why? Because I knew that everything I had to do was in my trusted system and everything that would come to mind, I would capture that one way or another and it would end up in the trusted system. I could decide to Not Do a Next Action.

Did I get anything done last week that is in my system? Nope. Lots of other stuff came running in between and I had to make the executive decision every time "What do I do now?" Yes, the executive decision. It is based on knowledge I have on the different actions and projects and it made it a lot easier to say "No, not now" to some Next Actions. It was not a decision based on some gut feeling. I could make the decision to not do something, but I know that I will do it some other day. It will come back to me. 

So concluding, I think I had another milestone in my GTD Mind Like Water-state. I know I can get things done without getting them really done. But just by capturing them in an easy way (digital or analog), processing them, organizing them and best of all, reviewing this list every week, I know I will get them done eventually. As long as I put them in a Trusted System. This system is with me. Not 24/7 but I know I can get to it really easy and see what Next Actions need to be done.

Sounds simple huh? It actually is, you just have to see it and well, just do it.

11 03 07 - 22:04 - Permanent link - two comments

Fileflag could be a good product...

I received a small package a month ago with a new product called the Fileflag. This is a product developed to make it easy to put your files back in the right folder. Check out the website for an excellent explanation. I received a FileFlag to try out for myself. I did so the last couple of weeks and I have mixed feelings about it.

It is a nice and small gadget. It is well constructed and feels comfortable. But the use of it is not always that handy. I use a filefolder a couple of seconds, minutes or a few hours. Depends on the work I am doing. But to put the FileFlag in place where the folder should be takes more than a few seconds. I have to really squeeze it in the openings of the filefolder. Sometimes it takes me longer to put the FileFlag in place that to use the contents of the folder all together. Furthermore, I know there are some folders on the market that don't have the cut-outs on top where you can insert the FileFlag. So if you have those kind of folders, the FileFlag is of no use to you.

Conclusion: While this is a nice idea and certainly fills a need for some people, to me the FileFlag takes too long to use sometimes and it doesn't always fit on all filefolders we have.

Update: Neil gives some more information in the comments: "The user permanently installs one fileflag on each hanging folder. It stays on the folder and never gets removed. so there is no need to "install" it when you want to remove a folder."
OK, so that gives it some more perspective.

05 03 07 - 08:47 - Permanent link - four comments

Join the GTD-Feedburner network

A few months back, while clicking through my Feedburner statistics, I discovered a new service called the Feedburner Network. It gives you the opportunity to create a network of sites and webfeeds with the same sort of content, or covering the same topic or theme. I found out there wasn't a GTD network yet so I created one. I dropped a few emails here and there for others to join the network but quickly forgot about it. Until recently when I got some questions about it and I started looking into it some more. There might be some nice potential in this network to extend the already big community of GTD blogs into other areas.

What is this network exactly and why is it different from other networks? Coming from their own FAQ: "FeedBurner Networks empowers publishers to create their own communities. This kind of freedom to organize can be a powerful way for publishers to leverage the power of many to increase their reach online, attract more subscribers and potentially more advertising opportunities, if they so choose."

Check out the GTD Network's homepage and you will see four GTD blogs side by side. The great thing is, you can pick up one webfeed, covering all 4 the blogs. Pretty easy huh? Personally I am more and more into the aggregated feeds where I can see everything at once. The GTDIndex is a great webbased initiative, but the Feedburner network is RSS-based. So for instance, you can check it on your mobile RSS reader. Or you can add the feed to Netvibes and see it all as a "River of News". There is also a possibility to advertise on this network. I think there might be a market for software companies, gadget-makers and personal coaches to reach a very niche but very active audience.

If you have a GTD/personal productivity blog and want to be part of this network, drop me a line in the comments of this article and I will send you an email invitiation as soon as possible. There is no cost to join a Feedburner network and there are no exclusivity requirements associated with this service. So feel free to join in and let's create a big network of GTD blogs through RSS. And yes, perhaps make a little cash out of it. I am figuring out how the flow of the buckets of money will go once this thing starts rolling, but I am already thinking about donating percentages to a good cause. I am thinking in the direction of building schools, giving education, rebuilding local communities, small initiatives. Thoughts on this are also welcome in the comments.

WHat are your thoughts on this network? Good? Bad?

04 03 07 - 21:02 - Permanent link - 51 comments

A community service message for readers of Matt's Idea Blog

02 03 07 - 23:39 - Permanent link - one comment