I am not implementing it slavishly, if I can tweak it to suit myself better, then I have done so. The main message that I am taking from the methodology is that it is okay to be like you are, we are inherently lazy and disorganised, but by setting up appropriate systems we can make life easier for ourselves. The two main benefits are
1 that by having an effective system in place, you do not constantly feel that you have a huge burden of worries hanging over you with an avalanche warning, waiting to launch themselves down the hillside at you. You know that you have noted down all the things to do, you will review them regularly, so you are effectively doing what you need to be doing at any one time,
2 you can capture the ideas that you have, I am certainly finding that I am generating vastly more ideas for things to do than I currently have time to implement. However I don’t always feel that I am using my time well. This way, I can capture my more creative or inspired ideas, and park them till I have time to do them. Also by using a notebook as a collation of my thoughts against various ideas, the ideas can and do cross fertilise, to produce even better ideas, combining various tasks, personal goals and outcomes.
One final point, I am starting to feel better about this being a process, I don’t need to get things right first time, adequate is fine, I can work up the important stuff when I need to. Not all ideas lead to productive avenues of further development, some do. The productive stuff gets better resourced.
Useful rules,
* two minute rule = if it takes less than two minutes, just do it, when you see it
* 50/80 rule = often for the first fifty percent of effort you get 80 per cent of the benefits, stop after the first 50 percent.
* don’t leave things hanging, a job half done, is more stress than one not started, so only do stuff you can complete realistically
* fight to reduce your stress levels, and demotivating factors, depressing intrays, half done jobs, do them, or shift them
* keep your work on hand to a realistic level for you, I usually have a couple of books on the go at a time, works for me, more than that does not, know what is a realistic amount of ongoing stuff, and if you have too much trim it back
* if I stack up more than three things in my head to do, it seems infinite and stresses me out, I need to write a list after three items
* make sure the first time you do something is not too rough, I always write to a reasonable first draft standard, my hand-written notes are adequate not gorgeous - I need to write them up fairly quick before I forget the details, both standards are adequate
* date everything, head it up in block capitals, so if I note down a voicemail in my working jotter, I note VOICEMAIL and date, in the margin, when it is dealt with, I score through it. A week later I could still find that phone number I jotted down, thinking I would never need it again
* avoid post its and scrawled notes, they can clutter up the place like unwanted snow and are more depressing than a neat list of work to do
* daily working list, I create a freeform daily list of things I will conceivably do, this is backed up by the neater more extensive task list. My Getting Things Done Jotter is neatly labelled by project/strand, my daily Jotter simply has daily brainstormed worklists. Always review work list after lunch and reorder appropriately.
* I look at the jobs list after lunch, and check the headlines if I have time, therefore I don’t need a tasklist entry for these, and it eases me back to work.
* I break up long dull tasks, with short fun ones,
* do the dullest job first, everything looks best after that
* the job you dreaded most is the most satisfying once done
* if it is never going to get done, just bin it,
* it is okay to be tired, or ill sometimes, don’t beat yourself up about it
* simply having a more strategic view of your personal priorities, and vision, is the first step to achieving them.
* if simple works, simple is good, it takes real brains to make things simple, leaving them complicated is the easy/lazy thing to do
* you don’t think in straight lines, sometimes something just simmers, and a solution pops up when you least expect it, proper systems let things simmer, and let you capture the ideas
* office procedures work at home too, does you work at home stall when you the ink cartridge runs out, do like you would in the office, order a pile of them, and reorder when they run low
* whiteboard, meetings, brainstorming, can work in the office, can work at home
* I generate vastly more ideas than I can use, find places to dump then, often ideas will combine, so one task uses quite a few of them
* find balance, my work is not very creative, I am, so I try and find ways to be more creative at home
* having children or staff is very nurturing, but often not very output orientated, my work can be, so this gives me balance, which my wife might lack if she were at home with the children all day
* it is okay to eat stuff that is not your favourite food sometimes, if I like ice cream I do not eat it all the time, but if I like writing reports, I might be end up writing them all the time, simply not wanting to do something all the time, does not mean you don’t like it, it simply means that you need more balance
* actively seek balance in your life, allow yourself to seek balance in your life
* lack of balance will make you unhappy
* you are a sailing boat, not a motor boat, though you can be sometimes.
* a sailing boat works with the tides, and the winds, it makes best use of them to get where it wants to go, it might take some time, and ingenuity, and you don’t know how long it will take.
* a motor boat is quick, and reliable, but you cannot work like a motor boat for much of the time, save the motor boat approach for emergencies, don’t run it all the time, or you will run out of juice.
* understand how you like to work, what motivates you, how you need to break up your day, adapt to that
* if no one is having fun, things are unsustainable and won’t last for much longer
* sometimes ask - what would make this more fun for everyone? and then surprise everyone with it!
* work is an art, not a science. Your mind does not work in straight lines.
* it is not a sign of weakness not instantly knowing the answer, as long as you have processes to decide the answer. You don’t get to be boss because you know all the answers, but because you have mastered processes to arrive at good answers.
* capture all your ideas, in a notebook, or whatever works, they are your stock in trade, and what will differentiate you from other people
* be pragmatic about technology, if keeping your project list on a computer means that you can only access it after a fifteen minute boot up, just keep them in a Jotter you can access anytime.
* if a PDA is a pain to use, you won’t use it
* you learnt 99 percent of what you know by playing as a child, it worked then, it works now, let yourself play around with your computer programmes, it is more fun than reading the manuals, and quicker
* treat yourself, if you like a vellum notepad for noting your ideas, just buy one, a crappy pad from WallMart is depressing and will put you off using it
* what demotivates you, deal with it
* we lived with an out of focus television for years, it cost fifty quid to get the aerial tuned, the best fifty quid we ever spent!
* have the work you will deal with just now on your desk, find somewhere else for the remainder
* a big pile of work you are not doing is depressing, it is worth taking some overtime to blitz it, or failing that, put it in a cupboard somewhere
* travel time is good for reading, also good for looking out the window and coming up with ideas
* Sorry Goldilocks - there is no magic that says you will get enough work, but not too much work to do each week
* good staff will generate ideas and work, work will come to them, the best staff are the busiest, they can do most,
* you got hired because you were bright, you are expected to prioritise your workload and it is bound to include stuff you will never do, make pragmatic decisions on what to do with the excess, even if that is just flagging it to your boss
* no one else knows how much you do, they do form a judgement on the quality of your work, and your reliability.
* you can get away with very poor quality work if you do it really quickly. You send me an email, I email back immediately with - great tanks.
* after a while, even the Sistene Chapel ceiling is not good enough, leave work long enough, and no possible response is good enough to justify the delay.
* be very wary of taking on inappropriate work, just because you seem to be the only one who can do it. If your boss cannot operate their email, that is their problem, it does not become your job. If there are no support staff, don’t end up doing everyone’s filing for them. It is someone else’s problem, don’t become their solution.
* if you cannot make the decision, influence the decision
* you don’t get thanked or recognised for doing peripheral crap, do the peripheral crap you enjoy doing, ditch the rest.
* ask for overtime to do the peripheral crap, you will soon find out just important it is to management. I’ll come in at the weekend to tidy the stationery cupboard, and it will cost you fifty quid.
* be really nice to new starts, they appreciate and need it the most
* if folk remember you, it is useful. Consider wearing period costume to interviews where there will be a lot of candidates. It will make you stand out.
* everything is true. Accept everything as potentially true, you are smart enough to focus on what is useful to you.
* allow things to niggle you, sometimes you don’t have a solution to hand, but if you leave it to niggle, you might come up with the right idea.
* evolve your processes to suit you, I like reading, but my eyes get tired, now I listen to a lot of podcasts on my iPod.
* no one does wrong stuff because they are lazy and stupid. Just because some person or section seems ineffective, don’t just assume they are lazy and stupid. Assuming people are lazy and stupid generates no useful solutions. Understanding the problem does.
* ditto evil - assuming ideas or people are evil, is unlikely to help you work with them effectively.
* everyone is a rational human being.
* all decisions are rational, in the terms of the people making them. For them, at that time, with the information and resources they had, that was the easiest best decision they could make.
* you might need to change the resources or information/understanding to let them make what you see as better decisions.
* doing nothing is a decision of sorts, and very seldom the worst decision
* there is no user manual for your brain. You are the world authority on getting it to work most productively, but it may take a lifetime to figure it out.
* time out is seldom wasted, if it lets you clear your head a little.
* you need to develop your own vision of what is right for you, once again you are the world authority on this subject, but you might need to do a lot of thinking on it
* it is okay to take time for organising and thinking. Thinking and organising takes time to do properly, but it is worth it.
* you need to create the space to do what you need to do. Creative thinking hates interruptions, my family have all woken up and come down to the living room, so I’ll wrap up now and post this to my blog.
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