Weekly Review Challenge (June 2014)

[Barb]

It's time to turn our calendars to the middle month of the year--can you believe it?

Staying on top of our game should mean we have more bandwidth to relax, spend time with friends and family, or pursue creative pleasures however we might define them.

Our challenge this month focuses on FUN. Specifically, tell us something FUN you did each week when you check in and how your GTD practice supported it. For example, tell us how you planned a fun outing or trip, used a context just for FUN, etc. Just make sure you're not "all about the work" this month! Consider posting a picture of yourself in FUN mode too, just to help us with the visual.

The June prize is:

Any item from the Books category, which includes hardcovers, paperbacks, productivity cards, and even a couple of bundles.
https://gettingthingsdone.com/store/home.php?cat=3

Let the good times roll!

 

[Barb]

#1 for June

Odd that I'm the first to post in my own thread, but here goes. I guess that means I'm talking to myself!

I just finished my review and recalibrated a context I have called "Entertainment". Within it, I have a list of restaurants to try, TED Talks to watch, movies I want to see, etc. I'm making a point of actually DOING some of this stuff this month as well as taking a meditation class and yoga classes. And because I work at home and start talking to myself if left to my own devices too long, I'm hitting a new coffeebar or lunch place every week. I also have a road trip June 13-16 and, while not exactly fun, I'm looking forward to turning the music up HIGH and singing at the top of my lungs.

Have a great week!

 

[vbampton]

You're not talking to yourself!!! I've been procrastinating on a proper review as my paper inbox was overflowing. I cleared that yesterday so I should get to a 'proper' review soon.

I love the entertainment context idea. I have one called 'relaxing' for ideas of things to do that don't include sitting and watching tv.

 

[mommoe436]

WR#1 for June - went smoothly and was more in-depth since I will be on vacation next week....always the best excuse to delegate and/or move items to SDM. Fun will be spending time with my Mom and family for the week, without my laptop!

 

[Jenn]

WR # 20 of 2014....# for June

First review of the month done. While doing the review I was listening to the first mp3 of the Weekly Review audio set. It was interesting to hear that it is more important to simply do the review, wherever you are at, then to focus on In to Zero before starting. I was tempted to power through all of my notes from a conference I was at last week before starting my review but upon hearing this, I simply added an action to complete that later. So....that means I can focus on FUN for the rest of the day!

I have actions on my list for incorporating FUN into my schedule (exercise, plans with friends, travel and vacation planning) - they have always been there but I like the renewed focus on FUN this month. In keeping with the theme, I am ending the post now and getting outside!

 

[Oogiem]

WR #1 for June finished

Got my e-mail inbox down to 2 items and have managed to keep it there for 36 hours, a new record!

Paper is getting sort of under control. I managed to catch up and create a new checklist for processing one type of on-line bill yesterday and got all caught up with it. Still have several more to do but making progress.

Currently have 153 active projects with another 67 that are pending, waiting for start dates to arrive, so very busy.

The fun one was to go take new posters with our farm tour hours and shop hours over to the wineries and down to the brewery tasting room. Yesterday we got the poster to the brewery and to one of the wineries. Of course we had to test the brews and so had a pint there and did a mini wine tasting as well. I've got 3 more wineries on the list today, I may not get to all of them but that's my fun event, combine a wine tasting with delivering advertising materials.

 

[MikeP]

This Weekly Review got stretched out over Friday afternoon and Monday morning. I really prefer the all-in-one-sitting WR but I'll take what I can get. One reason I didn't complete it Friday was my boss moved our regular update meeting to 4:30! It was actually a win-win as I had an agenda prepared to go over with him and he was to worn down from the rest of his day to add anything to my plate.

I have a backlog of some smaller projects / tasks as well as a few projects with just one or two more "clean up" next actions needed to get them off my list. I plan on focusing on them to reduce the size of my lists as my boss will be in town next week and that usually results in new projects.

Because I am staying on top of my game I was able to not look at my lists at all over the weekend and focus on a large project (my privacy fence) and some smaller ones (gardening and some other outside work). Being a desk-bound knowledge worker by day I enjoy doing this kind of work on the weekends.

Mike

 

[OF user]

WR #2 finished. Was a very good weekly review. I returned to paper and begun to take a strong look at things that have been on my list too long. Two items were deleted, one went to S/M, and one is earmarked for this week...very good weekly review.

 

[Barb]

Finished my second review for June over the last 3 days--that wasn't fun. But I have a road trip beginning tomorrow and a new playlist! I plan to sing--LOUDLY!

I'm also not bringing my laptop and going with just my iPad mini. I may go into withdrawal, but I need to be a bit more present and not quite so busy all the time.

Have a great Father's Day everyone!

 

[MikeP]

WR #2

Today's Weekly Review went well, wrapping up before the end of the business day so I could go home and relax with a good (bad) movie: Super Agent Super Dragon. I continued to keep up with my in boxes which makes a big difference when I sit down to do my WR. I caught myself putting a few next actions not associated with a project but that need to get done on my calendar and instead blocked off a few hours Monday morning to knock them out and put them on my Next Actions list where they really belong.

I had the pleasure of moving one of the older backlog projects to the completed bucket. I need to do that with a few others that have been lingering on my lists but my boss is in town most of next week so I don't think that will happen. Oh well, at least I have a solid system to remind me of them after he leaves and to hold all the additional stuff I am sure he will add during his visit!

Mike

 

[Jenn]

WR # 21 of 2014....# 2 for June It has been a while since I was able to complete my weekly review on a Friday! I was able to check off some actions that were done during the week and deleted some others that are no longer relevant. I still struggle with my home email. I'm wondering if there are any good tips on GTD in Gmail? My main system is in Outlook at work and will stay that way but I need to get Gmail's under control. Now for some FUN this weekend.....a few birthday parties (errands tomorrow for gifts), climb a mountain and play some squash! Have a great weekend everyone!

 

[hikerpa]

Weekly Review #1 June

Spent the first week of June on vacation. Was great to unplug for the week. Upon my return spent the week cleaning up all that I had missed. So today I was able to get back to my weekly review and it felt really good. I felt so much more in control than I have on previous vacations. Everything was always a mess when I returned. So my conclusion is I should have been doing regular weekly reviews for a long time. It would have made my life so much easier.

Every year I have a project called Vacation. I have to say it's one of the most FUN projects each year. I keep track of all the plans, tickets, places to see, where to go to take good photographs, and many other things. This year the vacation wasn't too far from home, so it didn't involve airplanes, just an easy 5 hour drive to the Delaware Shore area. We traveled all over the area, spent time in Assateague and Chincoteaque Island. If you're not familiar, there are wild horses that roam on the beaches, so it was a great place for photography.

So for me vacation was all about FUN!!

Ellen

 

[ArcCaster]

First weekly in a while! Everything was stale! Threw out half my action items and projects, moved most of the rest to SomeDay Maybe. And -- best of all -- tried something new in Outlook. My major project is creating a new three-day workshop -- my action items were scattered across half a dozen contexts and mixed in with tons of stale stuff -- so, I created a new context (MyWorkshop) and put ALL those action items (23 of them) in that context. The major project is still 'release the workshop', but, when I wonder what the next action item for it is, I simply look in the MyWorkshop category, and change the category of the relevant action item to an active next action. This seems easier than cutting and pasting from the notes section of a project, where is where I HAD been keeping many of my possible next actions.

 

[Oogiem]

WR # 2
Got done and I've got a good start on my quarterly review too.

I knwo it sounds odd but the fun thing I got to start is a genetic analysis. I got data back on a genetic diversity analysis done on the North American Black Welsh Mountain Sheep population and I also got my EBV data back from Australia on our flock so my fun thing this week is going to be to interpret those 2 data sets and use them to decide which sheep go to butcher.

I love looking at genetic data so figuring out what the data are showing in relationship to looking at the real sheep is actually fun. My only real problem is I can spend hours playing with various ways to slice the data and never get any other work done.

 

[Jenn]

WR # 22 of 2014....# 3 for June

Completed my review this morning. I've scheduled some time on my calendar first thing Monday morning to setup meetings and clear my @agendas list. It has grown a little large and I just need some dedicated time with each of the people on it.

FUN - part of my weekly review is looking at my fun activities in the past week and the coming weeks. I make sure I schedule in the things I enjoy doing while still leaving some time at home for those dreaded chores.....

 

[MikeP]

Last week's Weekly Review started Friday afternoon and concluded this morning as I had a pretty busy weekend. Professional stuff is humming along but I seem to be having trouble with the personal things. Part of the issue is that it is summer so I am outside doing chores (mowing the grass, etc) and helping family members with their construction projects so there is less time for the items on my lists. I'm good with that as helping my father-in-law and bonding with my son at the same time is more important in the big picture than cleaning the van or putting up the new blinds we got for Christmas. I just need to remind myself of that when I do my WR so I don't get frustrated with the lack of progress!

The recent Difference between "Areas of Responsibility" and "Areas of Focus" got me to thinking and looking at my lists a bit more critically. I have several projects listed that should really be on my AoF / AoR lists such as "I read at least 6 books this year to improve myself." In my mind it was a project as it is something I want to accomplish in the next twelve months but on the other hand, whether I accomplish it or not I will have a similar goal next year. I decided to start an AoF / AoR mind map to help me flesh these things out that I will add to my WR (monthly?). That will be the trigger to ask myself "what book should I read next?" or "what else can I do to make the back yard a better place for my family?"

Maybe regular review of this mind map will also help me understand when I am doing things that aren't on my lists but are more important.

Mike

 

[hikerpa]

Weekly Review #2 June

This week's weekly review got me back on track with some work projects I've been putting off. As a Respiratory Therapist we are required to complete 30 hrs of CEU's every 2 years and the hospital where I work also requires that we complete their 12 educational credits every year. I always seem to put this off until it's crunch time. They showed up on this week's review so I knocked off a few of those and will continue to do so until completed.

 

[Barb]

#3 for June--I think!

I had a great RAINY Monday to work on my review today. Steady rain this time of year is pretty rare and it made me want to do my review (I was overdue, so that worked out!) Just a routine review, but planning some little fun things for this week--a dinner out at a great new Mexican place, another movie next weekend. I'm working at adding more fun little things into our lives--not always easy when both of us are so busy and distracted.

 

[Oogiem]

WR#3 for June

Most of the quarterly review got done. Changed the order of a few of my AOF sections. I find that when choosing what to do next I just start at the top of the action list for that context and stop at the first item that I have both time and energy to do then. Changing the order of the AOFs changes where those actions show up in my lists. It's a quick hack to make sure I spend a bit more time on those areas that may have been neglected a bit.

Regular weekly review going well, I am keeping my e-mail inbox under 15 messages at the end of the day which is far better than normal. Paper inbox is not getting cleaned out as often as I'd like but part of that is a combination of school work and adding lots of genetic information to LambTracker so lots of papers scattered all over my desk.

Our sheep associaiton flock book is back from the printer so a big project is to get them in the mail this week.

 

[SiobhanBR]

My first really thorough review for June but I've done reviews throughout the month as I can. It has been a crazy few weeks, that is for sure! But knowing I've got everything captured really gives me freedom to put out fires knowing things won't get dropped.

This review I really whittled down my lists and particularly my support materials, which had got rather stale. I am trying to get focussed on a few major projects that can pick up steam over the summer and get to completion but there is just so much else going on that requires time... (sigh)

For fun I am looking forward to an unstructured summer of activity - biking, reading, drinking wine on the patio, building sandcastles, playing cards, doing jigsaw puzzles. These are the kinds of things that live on my "Gives me JOY" list and I always check in during my weekly review to see if I'm getting enough of them. Usually not a problem, even in the hustle and bustle of life except for the previous few weeks so this is definitely on my radar for this long weekend.