Second Annual - Power of Mud Room Management Session

GTDmw

GTDmw

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Hello all,

Happy holidays. Winter is closing in on us here in New England. We are supposed to get 12 inches of snow tonight! In my GTD Connect interview with David I discussed how I worked with our kids to "file away" their hats and mittens (this section of the interview starts 31 minutes and 41 seconds into the interview).

Well, a new season is upon us and I checked in on our mud room system. The good news - it is still largely intact. I find this impressive because it is largely managed by a 5-year old and a 9-year old. Some of the edges of the system have gotten a little fuzzy (no pun intended). We have some hats where there should be mittens. We have many mittens that have lost their mates. So...

This coming week I will be doing the Second Annual "Power of Mud Room Management" session with my kids. Please join me!

I think it could be a lot of fun to do this as a GTD community. I received so many positive comments about this section of the interview. Perhaps an excuse is all you and I need to get the ball rolling.

You need not have hats and mittens to do this exercise. It works just as well with toys and clothes.

Next action:
If you participate in the challenge, please post your story. I think this is a lesson that can help a lot of families within the GTD Connect community. I will post my results next weekend.

Best regards,

Mike

PS: For those interested, I've also started a blog to share some other thoughts, ideas and observations about personal and professional life. Stop by if you have a chance.

http://zonebyzone.blogspot.com/
 
Great Blog!

You are off to a great start with your blog. I like the look, the format, and how you share handwritten notes you've made on the topics. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts and experiences.
 
15 Minutes a Day

This may seem a bit off topic to anyone who hasn't taken the time to look at Mike's blog, but I was inspired to start decluttering my house after listening to Mike's interview (and subsequent time he spent with our GTD Study Group). I sectioned off my house in zones, and I spend just 15 minutes a day working on getting rid of things I don't need or want. I focus on the same room (and sometimes two smaller rooms at a time) every day for a week. After just one month, I'm AMAZED at how much stuff I've been able to get rid of! There is something about an cluttered environment that seems to also clutter my mind...and zap my energy level. I can now clean my house good enough to have company over in just one hour a week! Plus, I'm doing things like baseboards and windows during my 15-minute daily slots once the clutter is taken care of. Maybe this is "mudroom for people without kids".

Hey, Mike! You promised our little study group a follow up session...when is that going to happen?
 
Study group follow up

Barb,

Thank you for your comments and the follow up on the study group. Tara and I connected recently. We are targeting January for the follow up session. I am looking forward to it. Until then...

Happy holidays!

Mike
 
Session II - now complete

We completed our Second Annual Mud Room Management session. It was a great session. What is really cool is that it is still perceived as a game and not work. The kids continue to learn GTD without learning GTD. They are accumulating key behavior experiences and not getting GTD lectures from me (I learned that was not the way to go a long time ago). So what did we learn?

The concept of LABELS
- How to make them.
- They made them using images that are meaningful from their perspective.
- How they can help in the sorting process.

The concept of an IN BOX
- "This big pile of hats, mittens, scarves is like daddy's IN BOX."

The concept of PROCESSING
- "Let's see how fast we can put this STUFF in the bins you LABELED."
- "Ready, set, GO!"

The concept of DONE
- "Your done"
- "This is what success looks like!"
- "Great job!"

Here are some pictures from our label making step:
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DSCN2058.JPG


How did it go on your end?

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Separate note... with New Years and New Years Resolutions coming up I posted a note on personal change at my blog noted below. Check it out if you are interested. It brings the idea of the "next visible action" to some interesting levels - think small, really small. I think it may change the way you look at cookies. "What is he talking about?!" Click through to find out.

http://zonebyzone.blogspot.com/

Happy holidays!
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