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February 27, 2007

Is it really procrastination?

I'm not saying procrastination doesn't fly its flag on plenty of occasions, but I don't think it's always the cause of why things don't get done.

When something starts to repel me on my action lists more than attract me, it's usually because:

1. I don't have all the information I need to take the action

or/

2. It's not my very next action

For example, I've got a list about a mile long right now for my home-related next actions since we just moved. One of the first ones that was added to my list was to "buy new fluorescent lights for the kitchen." They flicker and it's annoying. So off we go to the hardware store to buy new lightbulbs. Whoops, what size? Back at the house, I've gotta shift gears into something else and can't finish the light project, so I change the action on my list from buy new lights to measure for new lights.

It sits there for a few weeks and doesn't get done. At this point, I could either change my standard about the flickering light or get more specific. The flicker still annoys me, so I'm still committed to doing this.

I take a good look at it and consider why is this still on my list? Oh right, need to get the stepladder to pull down the screens to measure the lightbulbs. Where is the tape measure? Can't measure without the tape measure.

See where I'm going with this? What started as "buy new lightbulbs" was really "find tape measure." You may not take things down to that kind of microscopic next step, but for me, it can make the difference between getting something done with the least amount of effort and attention....or not.

I challenge you to go back to your action lists and find the most repelling thing you can find that feels "stuck." Is what you captured as your next action really what comes first and next? Do you need more information before you can take that action? If so, that's not your next action. Back yourself up and capture the very next physical, visible step. Make your lists work better for you and I bet you'll let yourself off the hook that you're procrastinating on some things. It may just be some mislabeled next actions dressed up like procrastination.

Posted by Kelly at 09:39 AM | Comments (5)

February 24, 2007

Keeping the simple things simple

I pride myself on being a little tech whiz when it comes to gear & systems. So when my new broadband and VOIP phone system at home went down yesterday I moved into problem-solving mode. I started troubleshooting the IP address of my wireless card. No luck. In fact, my laptop froze and I had to reboot to bring it out of trying to release/renew the IP settings. I checked my firewall settings. No difference. After spending about half an hour checking my settings to see why things were not working I decided to call my wireless provider to have someone come out to look at it. Before doing that, I decided to check the cable modem box. I noticed a tiny little button on the back of the device called "Reset." So I grabbed the ubiquitous tech tool the push pin, reset the button, and as if by magic the cable modem and VOIP are back online and working perfectly.

This is one of those funny examples to me of making something more complicated than it needs to be. It's a good reminder for me to keep the simple things simple. Those of you who are in GTD Connect might have heard a similar story in the recent interview David did with General Fullhart about training Air Force pilots. He tells the story of teaching pilots to check the obvious stuff first, like 'Is the lightbulb on the dashboard burned out?' before taking the plane down. The solution may be easier than you think.

Posted by Kelly at 08:37 AM | Comments (2)

February 16, 2007

Decide before you Organize

I was one of the lucky few that seemed to make it out of Chicago on Wednesday, despite a blizzard. I started my day at 5am with a view of the city covered in snow:

By the afternoon, I was in San Diego enjoying a walk along the beach with my Valentine:

I worked with two high-tech companies this week. Both have huge email volume, lots of meetings and rapid growth. My theme this month seems to be about the key difference between Collect vs. Process Vs. Organize. Lots of people seem to have bottlenecks in their systems trying to do all 3 of these phases at once.
Collect is really where stuff is coming in (email, voice mail, paper, your head etc.). Process is when the thinking and decision making happens asking, "What's the outcome and next action?" Organize is where you park it in a place you trust. The key distinction I try to make is that nothing gets into the organize phase until it's been processed. By the time it's organized into my system, the thinking has already been done so that I can just do.

If I'm starting to get stuck when I go to do something from my lists, it's usually because I haven't done enough of the thinking and clarifying about my outcome and next action.

Posted by Kelly at 09:48 AM | Comments (6)