Thanks everyone for your input! Great coaching session as usual. I will try to summarise your thought making some conclusions and answering your questions. And hi to an old-timer Cpu_Modern!
Great questions from Folke! Are you sure that there is really anything wrong with what you are doing? If you focus on your job and your children, then maybe this is exactly right for you? You're 100% right that my children when at home is my number one priority. Though some of those tasks can't be delegated or done at work time. For example, I have to pay taxes. That sits on my @House action list waiting for me to devote time. As for reading - that is definitely is not so important at work as meet with a client or staff. Reading is a source of new ideas or problem fixes: how to manage better, how to overcome stress pains, how to motivate people, how to create new money flows and how to read that faster. I can always skip reading but for me it's a so called "saw grooving" that provides me with inspiration, motivation and new instruments I can try. So it's nice to read to get all of that though reading can't be compared to tax payments that sit at my @House list.
Is each end every phone call really equally important? And is every book or article equally important? Is a phone call always more important than a book, regardless of what the phone call or book is about? In my business a phone call or a meeting is always more important then reading a booking. A phone call or a meeting provides fast tracks to contracts when the reading is not. Reading is more of want to category that allows for future improvement in business or self-development. And because of this for me it's quite difficult to read at work. An internal voice says it's not directly leads to money.
Nice suggestion from Mcogilvie to take the right verbs for reading: skim, scan, review, browse, take notes on, whatever speaks to you. I just think that will not make the reading more important then calling, meeting or emailing someone. I can live with "Read Chapter 1" next action quite nice when I know that this is the highest priority in the moment. And it is never so high comparing to any business projects when at work and any children stuff when at home. The same thing applies to home actions inspire of their granularity.
As Roger suggested, you may not be giving these projects as much planning as they might benefit from. With my 10++ years of GTD practice I could say I did
Several times I know the importance and benefits of tax projects. I know the next physical action I have to do. All of that is clear and still I don't want to look at my @House list when at home. Everything on the list seems so unimportant and small comparing to the problems of the Universe
Folke was wandering why reading is a project for me. That's easy. I can't do it in one sitting so I put all the books I read at one time on my project list. Some of them are in paper, others are electronic. But on my project list they are all in one place. That's just a question of convenience for me. Of course, there's no strict need in using it.
Gardener was asking how I structured my reading. I think the essence of her/his proposal is 'If you don't block off some time, or set up a habit, for a low-urgency activity, odds are that it's not going to happen.' That what worked for me before as well as blocking off time for my action lists. The only difference between @Action lists and @Reading is action lists stuff is directly connected to the business and money when the reading is not. The internal voice says let's skip reading and do something off your action lists because you are at work
Great suggesting from bcmyers2112: brainstorm reasons why I'm not getting reading done. That what I did before that post appeared. I thought what could work for me and published that post to get more ideas.
Great questions from Folke! Are you sure that there is really anything wrong with what you are doing? If you focus on your job and your children, then maybe this is exactly right for you? You're 100% right that my children when at home is my number one priority. Though some of those tasks can't be delegated or done at work time. For example, I have to pay taxes. That sits on my @House action list waiting for me to devote time. As for reading - that is definitely is not so important at work as meet with a client or staff. Reading is a source of new ideas or problem fixes: how to manage better, how to overcome stress pains, how to motivate people, how to create new money flows and how to read that faster. I can always skip reading but for me it's a so called "saw grooving" that provides me with inspiration, motivation and new instruments I can try. So it's nice to read to get all of that though reading can't be compared to tax payments that sit at my @House list.
Is each end every phone call really equally important? And is every book or article equally important? Is a phone call always more important than a book, regardless of what the phone call or book is about? In my business a phone call or a meeting is always more important then reading a booking. A phone call or a meeting provides fast tracks to contracts when the reading is not. Reading is more of want to category that allows for future improvement in business or self-development. And because of this for me it's quite difficult to read at work. An internal voice says it's not directly leads to money.
Nice suggestion from Mcogilvie to take the right verbs for reading: skim, scan, review, browse, take notes on, whatever speaks to you. I just think that will not make the reading more important then calling, meeting or emailing someone. I can live with "Read Chapter 1" next action quite nice when I know that this is the highest priority in the moment. And it is never so high comparing to any business projects when at work and any children stuff when at home. The same thing applies to home actions inspire of their granularity.
As Roger suggested, you may not be giving these projects as much planning as they might benefit from. With my 10++ years of GTD practice I could say I did
Several times I know the importance and benefits of tax projects. I know the next physical action I have to do. All of that is clear and still I don't want to look at my @House list when at home. Everything on the list seems so unimportant and small comparing to the problems of the Universe Folke was wandering why reading is a project for me. That's easy. I can't do it in one sitting so I put all the books I read at one time on my project list. Some of them are in paper, others are electronic. But on my project list they are all in one place. That's just a question of convenience for me. Of course, there's no strict need in using it.
Gardener was asking how I structured my reading. I think the essence of her/his proposal is 'If you don't block off some time, or set up a habit, for a low-urgency activity, odds are that it's not going to happen.' That what worked for me before as well as blocking off time for my action lists. The only difference between @Action lists and @Reading is action lists stuff is directly connected to the business and money when the reading is not. The internal voice says let's skip reading and do something off your action lists because you are at work
Great suggesting from bcmyers2112: brainstorm reasons why I'm not getting reading done. That what I did before that post appeared. I thought what could work for me and published that post to get more ideas.