Weekly Review Challenge (February 2015)

[Barb]

Hi, Connect Members!

I hope everyone is surviving the start of the year, which takes off like a rocket for so many of us. I often ask myself, "What did I ever do without GTD?" and I cannot imagine keeping up with life without it! Weekly Reviews help keep me on target and I don't feel right if I miss one. But not everyone does them weekly. David's advice these days is "as often as you need to" to stay current.

And that's our topic this month: Every time you do a review, check in on this thread and tell us what part(s) of the review you feel great about (getting in to empty, for example) and what part you felt you didn't pay as much attention to as you'd really like. As always, if you see a fellow member struggling with something you are good at, offer some peer coaching!! That's why we have this Forum!

Announcing an additional prize: A 1st quarter (January-March) 2015 drawing will be held from all submissions during this period. The winner will receive a FREE VIRTUAL COACHING SESSION! Do those Weekly Reviews and increase your chances! The fine print: You need to still be a Connect member on March 31, 2015 in order to qualify.

The monthly prize for our February drawing is: any audio program https://gettingthingsdone.com/store/home.php?cat=252. Love that!

 

[Hrlakat]

WR #1 February (5 of 52)

Completed my WR today after working on backlog (clearing clutter) this week. Down to 725 action items and 100 projects.

I feel great about reviewing my projects via OmniFocus (iPad). I don't feel as good about the next action item review - specifically relating to my @Online list. I've got over 200 next actions here, and I don't really see a lot of headway. I need to split this list further, but I'm at a loss on how to further divide - unless I pull out skype calls that I need to make onto a separate list (interesting idea!). If others have any other insight on how they split their @Online lists, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

I hope all of you have a great week - go Seahawks!

Heather

 

[Oogiem]

#1 for Feb done.

Faily straightforward except ythat I'm notgetting anything done in the get creative arena at all. I'm drowning in a sea of re-filing, decliuttering and reorganizing and creative just isn't happening.

 

[CassRussell]

#1 Feb done (#2 for year - goal is 34 for 2015)

I only did 1 review in January and I was starting to feel uncomfortable about what was in my system so I had to do this review today (and have spent the last few days processing my various in boxes and capture systems). I reviewed all the next actions and projects really well and am happy with that.

I didn't look at someday maybe or do a mindsweep today - figured it was more important to do the other steps.

 

[Jodie E. Francis]

#1 for Feb done yesterday - my streak continues

I feel particularly good about releasing the need to do 'perfect' Weekly Reviews. I resisted doing them for 2 years because, since I could never get 'In' to zero, it felt like I couldn't get past the first step so there was no point in even starting! Yes, there are a few things still in my inbox today, but I've still gone ahead and refreshed the rest of the system, which feels great!

 

[Barb]

#1 for February

I'm with Jodie on feeling great about the less than perfect review. What I'm not feeling so great about is circling back to my higher levels often enough to really feel like I'm on cruise control. This isn't new for me, but it is vexing.

How do others ensure this gets attention? How do you actually make it happen? If I win the coaching prize, this is what I'd spend my time on. I may not wait that long to schedule a session!

 

[juanc]

My weekly reviews are now a combination of capturing all and executing shortly after. I run two weekly reviews and seems to be working. My inbox has been down to zero since early 2014.

 

[Jenn]

WR # 1 for February (#6 for 2015)
Completed my first weekly review for February while returning from a business trip last night (an epic 20.5 hr - 3 flight journey). I had a lot of new In Box material to process before starting the review and the multiple layovers and flights let me get through it all. It was also really good that I had done a review before leaving and took only the materials I would need to work on with me. After reviewing all of my papers, I was able to recycle everything except the expense report receipts.
Back in January I had committed to reviewing my Horizons of Focus as part of my weekly review to ensure my actions are aligned and I found it to be a really good check in. There are a few new actions to take care of at home this weekend as a result of that review.

 

[Barb]

#2 for February

I finally finished my goal setting for this year. I set fewer but more impactful goals this time. I have a couple of really big things to get done and I decided not to distract myself with things that could wait. So I feel good about that.

I still find myself thinking about the latest In Conversation (with Andreah Churchill). I hope everyone found time to listen to it.

 

[Hrlakat]

WR #2 February (6 of 52)

One of those chopped up WR's between distractions / doing things before I head out on another trip tomorrow. There were 4 projects on my SM list that needed to get re-activated, since there are folks who will be progressing those projects while I'm away - I love it when SM projects get done without too much intervention from me - thank you Universe (again)!

Slightly up to 735 items with 112 active projects. Crazy because this was one of those weekends where I "closed open loops", so it's crazy that there are MORE action items than last week! Anyway I feel good about closing little things, so that's my win for the week.

One thing that I struggled with was my @ online list again. I broke it up into three, but for some reason the main list (with 150 items) is still repelling me. I haven't been able to figure out what exactly about it is repelling me. Has anyone else had a similar experience with a list that they couldn't quite figure out what was "off" about it?

Anyway, have a great week and stay dry. I'm diving in Key Largo so I'll take one for the team

Heather

 

[SiobhanBR]

WR #1 for February

I completed this last Friday morning in my usual time. It was great to get through all the lists and clean some things up. I have managed to hit zero on my email inbox a few times in the past week so I'm feeling better about that. However, my paper pile has some things in its from a month ago that need processing. So that is my goal this week - get both email and paper IN to Zero.

I am making progress on some important projects so that is good.

 

[Oogiem]

WR#2 for February

I had a very interesting observation this week. During our year end review my husband and I sat down over the course of several days and we each wrote out on paper by area everything that was bugging us about the house and farm or everything we wanted to do or change. We haven't really talked much about any of it since then. I set up projects to deal with the security and file clean-up of my computers, I've been working diligently to sort, purge and clean up the physical filing cabinets. We bought some nice rolling carts and started dealing with new places to store tools so they are handy and we sorted and reorganized the office supplies and have a box to be donated.

With the new car we decided that we had to clean out space in the garage for it to live. So this weekend we managed to completely clean and sort out the junk from one whole segment (of 4) in our garage. We have a 3 car garage with a workbench area and we've decided to tackle each section in sequence. It was really hard for K, he decided to throw away lots of old stuff, some of which he'd had for decades and hadn't unpacked for 25 years or more. In many cases it represented projects he originally wanted to do and things that were inheirited from other electronics hobbyists that he thought he'd finish. He ended the weekend depressed yet I ended the weekend refreshed and ready to move on to sorting more stuff.

I got the Julie Morgenstern book on SHED and started reading it over the weekend too. For me releasing the old stuff is a way to make space for some of the new hobbies and things I want to do. This book really emphasizes that part of the process.

I really am looking at rebooting my life this year and I'm finding that as each little segment of my physical space gets cleaned out and the junk removed I am more appreciative of the treasures that are left. K seems to see a loss but not the possibilities the letting go represent. I'm going to suggest he read the SHED book or at least a few chapters of it and see if makes as much sense to him as it does to me.

However, last night he said we needed to go over the lists we had made and see what had been done and remarkably a lot more was able to be checked off as done than I thought. He too felt better about it when he could see the progress.

Still not much in the get creative part of my review but I'm down to 161 projects active and only about 375 available actions. This is a new low for me.

 

[Jodie E. Francis]

WR #2 for Feb done yesterday (6 for 2015!)

Feeling good about getting the week's residual items in 'In' to zero. Feeling not so great about how long it takes to process 'In' each week - this week it definitely took time away from refreshing my Next Action and Project lists. Things are getting a bit stale there, so this week I will focus more on keeping up with 'In' as I go, so I can do a 'deeper clean' on my NAs at my next review.

 

[Jodie E. Francis]

WR#2 for February

I got the Julie Morgenstern book on SHED and started reading it over the weekend too. For me releasing the old stuff is a way to make space for some of the new hobbies and things I want to do. This book really emphasizes that part of the process.

I really am looking at rebooting my life this year and I'm finding that as each little segment of my physical space gets cleaned out and the junk removed I am more appreciative of the treasures that are left. K seems to see a loss but not the possibilities the letting go represent. I'm going to suggest he read the SHED book or at least a few chapters of it and see if makes as much sense to him as it does to me.

However, last night he said we needed to go over the lists we had made and see what had been done and remarkably a lot more was able to be checked off as done than I thought. He too felt better about it when he could see the progress.

I loved SHED, as well as Organizing from the Inside Out - we used the latter with our 10 year old to completely redesign her room according to the activities she wanted it to support. You have a lot on the go, and change can be unsettling, so I'm glad your husband is coming around. I agree Morgenstern has some great ideas that may help him continue to see the benefits.

 

[Oogiem]

Feeling not so great about how long it takes to process 'In' each week

I'm running in to issues with that as well. I decided to start timing some of my inbox processing and it's disturbing to say the least.

For example, I had an e-mail to go get the latest cell phone bill. We are on paperless billing so I need to go get it from the web site, download it and file into my electronic filing cabinet. I figured that was a less than 2 minute task so instead of just leaving it in the inbox until I could handle it I decided to go do it. But this time I had a stopwatch so I measured the actual time it takes to do this task. End result a bit over 5 minutes! Another was a notice from the ditch lawyer with a bill. I have the ditch company checkbook within arms reach and figured it would be simple, write the check, put the check & notice in the included envelope, add a stamp and put in my purse. File our copy of the notice in the expenses folder. Nothing was out of arms reach to perform this task yet it still took over 6 minutes!

In both caases I was sure that the tasks were 2 minute tasks that I could do and get back to processing quickly. I suspect that a lot of my "2 minute" tasks really aren't and that it's taking a lot longer to process inputs than I believed.

 

[Jodie E. Francis]

I'm the same. Even before watching the 'breaking the rules' podcast(!) I had modified the '2 minute rule' to a '10 minute rule', both at home and at the office. I find it generally more effective than putting these quick items on a list for later processing. But you're right, it does affect the time it takes to process 'In'.

 

[Oogiem]

WR # 3 done

Down to 149 projects. Got to check off a bunch more this week.

Did a bunch more cleaning in the garage, didn't get another segment done but made a good start.

I am managing to keep my e-mail inbox to 1-2 messages at most and the paper inbox got down to about 5 papers before I ran out of steam to process. I did a quick review of what was left in it to be sure there were no lurking disasters and hope to catch up tomorrow. Not ideal but better than just leaving it in there.

Getting more and more worried about the weather, no snow and high temperatures mean we are in drought and that means that grass and hay will be in short supply. I'm starting to really worry about having enough to feed the sheep next summer. I can't get slaughter dates even if I could get all the sheep ready to go. Not to mention that our freezers are full now and no room for more butcher sheep. I'm seriously thinking of taking a batch to the auction just to get them gone. Not sure if I am overreacting or whether I am just being proactive….

 

[Hrlakat]

WR #3 February (7 of 52)

Another chopped up WR between distractions / doing things before I head out on another trip at the end of the week (for work this time).

Slightly down to 725 available next actions still with 112 active projects.

I feel good about getting a net of 10 next actions done even though I was traveling - whew! The thing that I found challenging this week was processing "in". As I was traveling, a lot of "stuff" went into my digital inbox in OmniFocus. It took what felt like a Herculean effort to clean up that digital inbox. I got through it, but it wasn't pretty and it wasn't fun!

Hope everyone enjoyed Valentine's Day - have a great week!

Heather

 

[Jodie E. Francis]

WR #7 for 2015 done

It was a a quick one yesterday, as I had the kids at home for Family Day holiday in Canada, but I'm on a roll and didn't want to break my streak!

I'm loving getting 'In' to zero, and reviewing my goals on my year-at-a-glance calendar.

I'm not so positive about my Project and Next Action lists - they are getting a bit fuzzy. When I'm busy I find I will tuck in little status updates rather than processing the items through to NAs, so I need to do a deep clean to return the lists to a more pristine state...

 

[Jenn]

WR # 2 for February (#7 for 2015)

Friday's weekly review quickly slipped into the weekend and then somehow made it all the way to today. I stayed later at work today to get it done as I was starting to feel out of control. It was good to see how much I was able to check off as done in the past week and also to find a few waiting for's that needed follow-up. I didn't work on my project review this time as I have a solid few hours this Friday ahead of me to focus on that.

My lists are definitely expanding again so it's time to take some actions to either delegate, delete or defer.......