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December 31, 2005
Another decade done...
Sitting enjoying the rain out my windows this New Year's Eve afternoon here in my office, catching up on the outer world stuff which had accumulated while I played serious hooky for my birthday this week. We went to Las Vegas for three nights, with total permission for sleeping late, room service, steam baths, exercising, massages, great restaurants, and being entertained (saw Cirque's KA and O, and walked away from the blackjack tables to the good!). Nice to step back and thank myself and the powers that be that I actually made it through sixty years here. Interesting and handy illusion to assume that one's 60th is any different than any other day in the universe, but what the heck - any excuse to wrap up the past, bring forward lots of positive experiences glazed with some sweet nostalgia, and jump into new beginnings...
Posted by David at 02:06 PM | Comments (9)
December 23, 2005
Power of the Someday/Maybe list
A recent e-mail from someone in our network - another great example of the more-than-meets-the-eye syndrome of GTD:
Hey David,Never underestimate the power of the Someday/Maybe List
A quick note to share with you something that happened to me a couple days ago. During my weekly review while reading through my list of someday/maybe items one of them popped-up crying for attention. Typically I breeze through this section but on this day for some reason I really focused on what I why this item was there.
The one liner read "SEAT Mary inquiry". Right there I sent a 12 word email (under 2 minutes) to a colleague of mine in Boston that read: Did Mary ever send the SEAT information we discussed back in August? A domino effect followed. He contacted Mary, she wrote back to both of us and now after a few emails I have a summer intern, a new tool to improve the direction of my program and the possibility of a nice fat grant down the pipeline. All of this because of a single item that kept waiting for its moment to shine. I am glad I caught it.
What I have learned is that things are not necessarily what they seem. This small pebble ended up doing a big splash in the pond - by the same token, big boulders might end up being small menial things hence the need to constantly evaluate our aim. I had a tendency to label the "someday/maybe" list as trivial and unimportant - now I think of it as an incubator of great ideas that are waiting to shine. You don't plant bulbs in winter, there's a time for everything. I digress. Happy ho ho, - Azur Moulaert - Burlington, Vermont
Posted by David at 12:00 AM | Comments (5)
December 22, 2005
Top Ten Signs You're a GTD Disciple
My buddy Eric Mack, who scans the GTD-centric conversation universe much more consistently than I do, found this great list of Top Ten Signs You're a GTD Disciple, that someone out there generated. (Thanks to the author, whoever it was!) Funny.
10. While driving home from work, you have to pull over three times to jot it down and empty your mind.9. You put your weekly review on a Someday/Maybe list. … NOT!
8. You go to McDonalds for lunch but – before ordering – you draw a mind map of what an ideal fast food meal would look and taste like.
7. You use a Brother P-Touch to label your kitchen drawers.
6. You actually know how to pronounce, "Moleskine."
5. You actually understand the workflow chart in GTD.
4. You know the difference between 40,000 and 30,000 feet perspectives.
3. You know that the "two-minute rule" has nothing to do with the conclusion of football games.
2. When you get together with friends, you say, "Show me you project list!"
1. After five minutes of foreplay, you pause and ask your partner, "What's the next action?"
Posted by David at 09:36 AM | Comments (3)
December 20, 2005
Blog spam stuff - FYI for regular readers and commenters
Just an FYI that my folks have installed the MovableType blog spam filters, which every once in a while park some real comments on the side until I can read and unlock them (esp if they include links). So, apologies to those every-one-in-a-while cases in which your comment might have taken a few hours to get posted. We'll just have to pay that price for now, to keep down the blog spam traffic that is even finding creative ways to bypass the key code entry gateway.
Posted by David at 12:18 AM | Comments (2)
December 19, 2005
Our sweetie...
Finally caught a photo, during our outdoor business meeting this weekend, that approaches a feeling/factor of our wonderful 9-yr-old yellow Lab, Molly - her incredible sweetness. Isn't it amazing how our animals can remind us of some of our priorities?
Molly, protecting our hearts...
Posted by David at 12:00 AM | Comments (5)
December 18, 2005
Bigger games, better frames...
Spent big part of this weekend with Steve Kowalski, a great "friend of the court" to us, leading Anne, Marian, Kathryn and me through discussions to upgrade our own understanding of how best to communicate and collaborate with larger organizations around the cultural and strategic issues that GTD supports. With the successes we've been experiencing in that arena, we're being asked more and more to help frame our work for larger corporate roll-out possibilities, and it's great to have people like Steve in our camp to better negotiate those often murky waters. (Steve's head of learning and development for a major biotech company).
Thinking at the fire...
Posted by David at 05:26 PM | Comments (9)
December 16, 2005
Fall colors in Ojai?
As I'm working in my office, couldn't help but be struck by the lovely iridescent afternoon light outside, bouncing off the fall colors of our Japanese maples, sycamores, and pomegranate... Yes, we do have seasons in here in southern California (you just have to fine-tune your perceptions a little!)
Posted by David at 03:06 PM | Comments (2)
The sport of "mind like water"
David Teten, co-author (with my nephew Scott Allen) of the Virtual Handshake, just sent me this Wikipedia link to Parkour. Pretty cool to create an art form of the most inexpensive and efficient urban navigation!
Posted by David at 08:58 AM | Comments (1)
December 14, 2005
To sleep, to dream, or...?.
Had a recent GTD seminar participant write me with this comment:
"Spent more than half the night awake as the next layer of lurking 'stuff' all came flooding to the surface once the first mass had been better organized! Didn't even know this latent demand was there - waiting to find a slot."
I've noticed over the years that when people get the first real GTD "hit," they either sleep better than they have in a long time, or they don't sleep at all, because of all the pent-up creative energy it uncorks. What's amazing to those of us who coach people with GTD one-on-one, is the wide range of effects this process can have. I'm sure at some point the science of attention will be much further developed, and this will all seem rather mundane. Until then, tally ho...!
Shed, as you do your garments,your daily sins,
whether of omission or commission,
and you will wake a free man,
with a new life.
- Sir William Osler
Posted by David at 08:25 PM | Comments (4)
December 13, 2005
Urban sprawl
Just read stats quoted in Eric Utne's Urban Almanac (from US Dept of Agriculture, apprarently) that the average heights for men and women in the U.S. has remained contant (5'9" men and 5'4" women) from 1890 to 2002, but the average weight has gone from 130 to 170 pounds (men) and 110 to 146 pounds (women).
Wonder what difference that has made in things of our culture other than our butts...?
ps: just noticed Utne's Cosmo Doogood's Urban Almanac... no time to surf much, but looks cool.
Posted by David at 11:59 AM | Comments (3)
December 12, 2005
Asilomar
My retreat last week was at one of the lovelier retreat grounds in the U.S. - Asilomar. It was originally built and used in the early 1900's by the YWCA, and has some buildings done by famous architects. Now it's owned and run by the state of California. Right on the Monterey peninsula, the air is fresh, the grounds are stunning, the atmosphere is serene. Good place to re-treat oneself.
Our group about to go on a meditative walk on the beach, observed by the local fauna...
Posted by David at 08:22 PM | Comments (2)
Free GTD seminar in Ojai in December is sold out...
My previous blog entry created quite a rush to Wayne's upcoming GTD seminar. No more room, unfortunately, given the takers. Looking forward to seeing those of you, esp. who decided to travel to get to it...
...and I'm back in the material world, here in Ojai, spending at least a day whittling down my in-basket.
Posted by David at 03:10 PM | Comments (5)
December 05, 2005
Off to see the Wizard...
Kathryn and I are unhooking from our outer worlds, as we usually do about this time every year, to spend a week in retreat in northern California. So nothing here until afterwards...
Posted by David at 11:02 AM | Comments (6)
A free 2-day GTD seminar in Ojai
Wayne Pepper, a new addition to our full-time staff, is completing his training with us as a coach and seminar faciilitator, and he's conducting a complete two-day seminar (Getting Things Done: Managing Workflow, Projects, and Priorities) in Ojai, December 19 & 20. It's free to the general public, as long as space is available. If you or anyone you know might be interested, please have them contact Anne Gennett in our office at 805-646-8432 or anne@davidco.com. Wayne is great - he's already a major talent in presenting self-development educational materials, and will be jumping full bore into working with our clients in the new year. (I'll be there too, as much to steal his jokes as anything else...!)
Posted by David at 12:51 AM | Comments (2)
December 04, 2005
Thinking on the Mac...
Jim Fallows is ahead of me on this one - his article today in the NY Times about Mac-based thinking tools. Robert Peake, our CTO, has also written some stuff about GTD and the Mac. I have to admit to Mac envy - I've wished for a while to be bi-digital (PC/Mac) and just haven't had the real need or carved the time to hop in yet. But I can feel it coming - there's thunder on the horizon. I've been interviewed by Stephen Cass for upcoming issue of Spectrum (the association rag of IEEE), and he assures me that the new Apple operating system might finally have the power to become an engine for some of the real GTD methods I know could be digitalized from the ground up (though no one I've seen seems to have really come close to the potential yet).
Posted by David at 11:02 AM | Comments (11)
December 03, 2005
Paying attention to attention...
My attention to atttention deficit (AAD) factor got a boost this weekend, catching up on some reading and surfing on the topic. I finally got some time to re-read Clive Johnson's NY Times article on Life Hackers with some leisure. He had mentioned me and Getting Things Done, but I wanted to pay more attention to some of the research about attention he was referring to. He's got a nice blog entry with the full article and some interesting comments below it.
I also received an email from our friend Jeff Tidwell, who pointed me to an essay by Steve Pavlina which describes his personal productivity techniques for getting a college degree in record time. It's good stuff, actually. Reminded me of the value of three-month goals, which I used to teach more than I do now. It reinspired me to start working more with my own. I'd put 3-month goals at the 10,000-ft horizon, much like bigger projects would be. But there is a little bit of a different spin in thinking about "desired outcomes" than just thinking about the projects being completed. Brings in a little more of the "why" about the projects, which might instill more juice. Also Steve's piece reflects probably the only cure for the distraction syndromes so popular to decry these days - ruthless focus on where you're going. It does seem a little more Type A than most of us would be attracted to, but it does make quite a point.
Posted by David at 02:41 PM | Comments (4)
Midwest cold and fun mention of GTD in a blog...
Catching up on email this morning in very cold Dayton, Ohio, where I finished a seminars for the U. Dayton's Executive Development Program. Earlier in the week did an IMS (Institute for Management Studies) session in Detroit, with 170+ people, including lots of Daimler Chrysler folks. Now I'll be off back to Ojai, which one always appreciates after being in the cold Midwest (little moron?) (That's a joke, folks, please don't send hate mail from the Midwest - it's really a lovely place).
One of my staff forwarded me this link to Bill Peschel's blog. I don't know Bill (I don't think...but you never know!) but I like his style...
Posted by David at 06:47 AM | Comments (6)
