Weekly Review Challenge (July 2014)

[Barb]

OK, I'm taking my cue from several postings this month and some struggles I seem to have periodically too. This month's Challenge is about:

THE YUCK FACTOR

What is "the yuck factor"? It's whatever you are avoiding because it's unpleasant or stale or maybe just boring.

But we can't have negativity bombarding us, so how about we do this each time we post a weekly review:

What Yuck Factor item do you pledge to clean up for the coming week? and
How will you reward/treat yourself when you do it?

In case you missed John's fun post, this quick clip should help you get in the mood:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=RDZsABTmT1_M0&v=ZsABTmT1_M0

And it seems like nothing motivates THIS base more than a free month of Connect so that's what our lucky winner will receive! Let the games begin!

 

[vbampton]

Phew! Finally managed a decent review yesterday. I'm in complete overload at the moment, with masses more to do than I can actually accomplish, so looking through my lists was somewhat depressing, but they weren't as out of control as I thought they were.

I did manage to clean up one yuck factor yesterday - 400 emails that needed notes made before filing - and treated myself to a G&T while watching Hell's Kitchen.

For the rest of the week, I've been procrastinating on putting weed killer/lawn feed down, as it means keeping the dogs off for a week or two (I don't trust this supposedly pet-safe stuff that much!!!). And since the sun is shining, the reward has to be sitting in the garden with a good book for half an hour.

 

[Jenn]

WR # 1 for July (# 24 of 2014)

I completed my review a day early this week in preparation for a busy day tomorrow that I knew would not allow me to get to it.
I really like the challenge this month and have identified my "yuck factor". I'm going to tackle the oldest task on each of my lists and determine why it is stuck so I can either remove it, redefine it or complete it. As a reward I will enjoy some outdoors time - hopefully the weather will cooperate!

 

[mommoe436]

WR 1 for July

June was very busy, with some vacation time, so I got reviews done in pieces and mostly getting things into my system and working on urgent/high priority items. I did not spend much time on my project lists, especially someday maybe so I'm not trusting these lists.

I was able to focus on my projects yesterday and intend to make this a priority for the next few weeks, cleaning up someday maybes. The YUK factor is the old stuff that I am just not getting to because of new urgent items that have to be dealt with immediately...I expect July and August to allow for catch up.

 

[SiobhanBR]

WR for July

I decided to switch up my weekly review this morning and used an old version of my weekly review checklist. I reviewed Projects and then Next Actions (I've been going Next Actions and then Projects for a couple of years). The switch up was interesting, although I like my usual way better... I also decided to try to assess my Next Actions in an attempt to slow down by determining if they were single actions or related to a project. I found this very interesting:

For work, it was about even. I have 53 projects and 26 next actions related to the projects (the rest are in Waiting For). I had 29 next actions not related to a project, but about half of these were related to a standing commitment or committee (which also sometimes generate projects....). Also, I had several Next Actions related to projects on my someday/maybe list (whether it is activated or not will depend on some outcome - I classed these as standalone actions for now).

For personal, I have recognized a problem: I have 55 projects and only 4 next actions relating to them. I have 50 standalone next actions.

My YUCK factor for this week is to sort out my personal lists!!

 

[MikeP]

I had the best of intentions to do a thorough Weekly Review, in one sitting, before the long weekend. Unfortunately a power outage forced me to go home early on Thursday and the lesson I learned is I can't focus when my family is around! I did manage my usual pattern of email and calendar review Thursday and list review Monday.

I got a lot out of the Areas of Focus webinar last week. During the webinar I was able to flesh out a mind map I had started a month ago. I was hoping to spend some time during my WR using this to clean up my Projects and Next Actions but between the family and the lure of working outdoors over a very pleasant weekend this didn't happen so...

Yuck item to clean this week: Complete clean up NA from 6/15 estimated income tax project
Reward: Spend an hour cleaning my Projects / NA based on snazzy new Areas of Focus mind map

Mike

 

[Oogiem]

WR # 1 for July done

Got it finished yesterday.

I reviewed my AOF focus webinar notes and made a few much needed changes. Have more to do but need to think some.

Biggest yuck item to clean up is finish writing 2 research papers due tomorrow and one assignment, also due tomorrow for class. It's yuck because I am supposed to only write 1.5-2 pages and I've got about 30 pages worth of stuff I want to say so have to edit severely.

 

[hikerpa]

Weekly Review #1 for July

Just finished my weekly review and did some work on my AOF. After last week's webinar I had many things to add. I also cleaned up one of my YUCK factors. I have a drawer that seems to collect all my junk. If I don't know what to do with it I just throw it in the drawer. So over the past weekend I cleaned up that drawer and found it's almost bare now. I really didn't need much that was in there.

So next week I'll tackle my cable drawer!!

 

[Barb]

#1 for July

Looks like everyone has lots of yuck! There's a reason I picked this idea this month--I have so MUCH yuck I hardly know where to start.

I just had a big project get cancelled. This is not a good thing and doesn't feel good, but I think it's a blessing in disguise because it is forcing me to admit that I haven't really been myself for several months now. I have an issue I can't do anything more with and I just am having trouble wrapping my head around that. I'm afraid to admit I've let that kind of paralyze me in many areas of my life--and I need to get that figured out fast! YUCK!!!

So once I figure out HOW to move beyond this, the reward becomes obvious--I move beyond it!! And that will feel like the weight of the world coming off of me.

 

[ArcCaster]

building on Oogie's high-intensity low-intensity task post.

I think one of the reasons I have trouble making time for the weekly review is that I regard it as a high-intensity task, I only have a few high-intensity hours each day, and am reluctant to give any of them up for the weekly review. I wonder if the weekly review could be fragmented into low-intensity and high-intensity tasks -- possibly, the high-intensity part of it could then become smaller and easier to jam into a day.

 

[mwinn]

I''ve just come off a very long, very intense work assignment, and this is my first post to this forum in ages! My YUCK factor is I haven't done a complete, thorough Personal review in I don't know how long (work reviews were constant...). So I look forward to posting back here once I'm done with my first weekly review for July. It feels great to be dipping my toes back into the Connect waters!

 

[MikeP]

I managed to complete yesterday's Weekly Review in one day! There were a few interruptions and some next actions knocked out between steps but this feels much better than my usual routine of doing part Friday and wrapping up Monday morning. Key to accomplishing this is keeping my in boxes clean. I struggled with this until my company had a 14 day GTD Challenge where I made that my goal. Now it feels so good to drive them to zero once a day or so that I can't let them go longer than 2 days.

One of the interruptions was a regular update meeting with my boss. This typically goes smoothly as I keep an agenda memo in Evernote for this that I update as the week progresses. I guess this is also a form of journaling as it tracks progress on projects and issues that I am directly responsible for or that my direct reports are responsible for.

I didn't make any progress on my yuck item (clean up NA from 6/15 estimated income tax project) but I'm not going to let that stress me over the weekend as I think I got the right things done. Therefore, my reward will be doing yard work, cleaning the pool, and playing with my youngest daughter in the pool! Monday and Tuesday are blocked off for a project that I need to complete by 7/28. Maybe if I can get that wrapped up early I will feel better about working on some of the low hanging yuck items!

Mike

 

[Jenn]

WR # 2 for July (# 25 of 2014)
Completed my review tonight while watching some soccer on TV. I followed through on reviewing my oldest items on the list to determine why they are stuck and succeed in deleting quite a few that are simply no longer relevant. My other focus for the month is to improve my Project list by reviewing actions that aren't currently linked to Projects. Most of them are not stand alone actions - they just haven't had a project created. As a reward - since I can see what I'm NOT doing - I get the day off tomorrow

 

[Barb]

I''ve just come off a very long, very intense work assignment, and this is my first post to this forum in ages! My YUCK factor is I haven't done a complete, thorough Personal review in I don't know how long (work reviews were constant...). So I look forward to posting back here once I'm done with my first weekly review for July. It feels great to be dipping my toes back into the Connect waters!

Great to have you back!!

 

[SiobhanBR]

I did not do my weekly review on Friday but I benefitted from knowing my system was almost clean. Work as it appears can take many forms.

Friday morning I had to take my beloved cat to the vet and say goodbye - it was unexpected and hard but I know it was the right thing to do. I was able to take the day off work, knowing that everything could be handled by others or would wait. These are the moments when the value of GTD is so apparent, when you can just be in the moment and do what you need to do because your brain trusts that everything else is less important right now.

I'll be sure to get a nice, thorough weekly review in this week.

 

[hikerpa]

Weekly Review #2 for July

Siobhan, So sorry to hear about your cat! It's always so tough to lose a family member.

Just finished up my weekly review. Was able to clear out some next actions that have been around for awhile. Continuing with the YUCK factor theme. I have been wanting to give my floors a good cleaning but just kept putting it off and this morning decided to wipe it off my list for now. So thanks Barb, this theme has helped me out!!

 

[Oogiem]

Siobhan, I am so sorry! The hardest thing about loving animals is when we have to make those hard decisions.

Take care

 

[Oogiem]

WR # 2 done
A somewhat abbreviated one as I'm cramming tasks in to finish before I head out to a major industry meeting this week for a couple of days. Not much yuck other than dealing with a color printer that died at the most inopportune time. Forced me to head in to town to print some stuff out for this meeting and I'm still trying to finish some tasks related to that.

Also still have to pack, normally I like to be packed a day or 2 before I leave and this is stressing me out that I'm not even started yet. I guess I'll get to see how good my packing checklist is.

 

[ArcCaster]

Did my first weekly in a while -- took half a day -- the yuck factor was my next actions -- a mix of relevant, stale, outdated, vague, and miscategorized actions -- glad to have cleaned them up -- want to try again to be creating next actions that are so clear they can be understood and acted upon by a tired hungry person short on oxygen.

 

[jkunk]

I've been much better about clearing my ins to empty, but when it comes to reviewing my lists, I get overwhelmed by the amount of thinking I'd have to do & not tackle any of it. ArcCaster, if you discover any tips on the process of clarifying next actions, I'd love to hear it! My review was in 2 parts: yesterday was purely getting clear, and today I set a timer for an hour-whatever I was able to review of my lists became today's Get Current part of the review. My reward based on completing this is reading a chunk of a novel I just got. Based on the recent Areas of Focus webinar, I want to go through my AoFs one at a time and really delve into NAs and do some regrouping & defining, but that will happen more gradually over a longer period of time. It feels great to get rid of a bunch of the staleness in my system.

Preventative yuck: because I'm keeping more current with my ins, I caught an email regarding an erroneous charge for a car rental I had used (Zipcar) and now have an @ Waiting for to confirm the refund arrives back in my account!