Weekly Review Challenge (March 2015)

[Jenn]

WR # 2 for March (#10 for 2015)

Today I was finally able to catch up on everything since I've been back from vacation. There was a lot to process and I've been running behind since I returned. It was good to clarify what really needs to get done this next week.

In terms of this months questions - my first point of "drag" in my system is my @agenda list. I know my next action is to schedule the discussions for each item on that list but somehow it seems to keep slipping. For this month I will focus on whether those agenda items are still relevant or not. If not - delete. If yes - just do it and schedule the discussion.

Jenn

 

[Jodie E. Francis]

Over the years I've had to switch to paper for a few months, just to get more clear with my system. I "over collect" as you do, always afraid there is some nugget of information I may be missing. I attribute that tendency to my love of learning--I'm a sponge, and always have been. And now I need to add "to a fault" to my spongishness. (it's a word now).

One clear sign that it's time for me to move my lists to paper: I am numb to my lists. I don't know whether the pen/hand/brain trio activates something different in my brain, but I do know I look at tasks differently when they are written rather than typed.

Barb, thanks for sharing, it's lovely to meet another sponge! And I do prefer 'spongishness' over 'sponginess'

I too have had to move my system to paper periodically, when my lists have become too unwieldy and I've begun to avoid them. I've always blamed the tool or my implementation, and not connected it to my desire to soak up everything - hmmm. It is interesting to know I'm not alone in reverting to paper to 'reboot' the system.

I do still think the key to controlling the indiscriminate absorption of info is to separate the focused learning from the leisure, but until I can figure out how to do that in my system, it is still creating drag. For example, this week I've been clearing out blog posts, and by being more ruthless & unsubscribing to some, have kept up with new input, but in the process have barely glanced at my NA lists. Meanwhile, each day I manage the 'must do' items on a 3x5 piece of paper I create each morning (admittedly, after a quick glance at my lists).

 

[Jodie E. Francis]

WR completed yesterday as planned. For ongoing drag issue, see previous post

 

[Jodie E. Francis]

Another drag is the 4-5 projects just waiting for the final review/archive notes to be written and filed.

I'm seriously thinking of putting the whole computer system clean-up on hold for 2 weeks, give myself a break and then start it up again later.

Oogie a cleanup of the magnitude you are undertaking must be terribly disruptive. If your energy is flagging and other items are now preying on your mind, then maybe that's a clue that you need a break from the cleanup. Perhaps it would give you the bandwidth to tidy up some of these other items, or give attention to those that are 'coming apart at the seams'... and re-kindle your desire to tackle the next piece of cleanup?

 

[Oogiem]

it's lovely to meet another sponge! And I do prefer 'spongishness' over 'sponginess' ...

I do still think the key to controlling the indiscriminate absorption of info is to separate the focused learning from the leisure, but until I can figure out how to do that in my system, it is still creating drag.

First off I also love the term spongishness.

One thing I am trying with my reading material is make containers. So the necessary reading material for my schoolwork or farm management lives in either a specific section of the paper book shelf for current stuff or in a specific folder on my hard drive or on my kindle or iPad but with a note in DEVONThink in the books read where I keep track of the ongoing items as to the reason I am reading it. I'm also playing with setting up 2 folders for blogs and news links in my browser favorites. One is labeled "Work Reading" and one is labeled "Recreational Reading". So far it's working however it is slow to decide what links/sources go where, at least for me. Probably because I like my work so reading about it can also be recreational.

 

[Oogiem]

it's lovely to meet another sponge! And I do prefer 'spongishness' over 'sponginess' ...

I do still think the key to controlling the indiscriminate absorption of info is to separate the focused learning from the leisure, but until I can figure out how to do that in my system, it is still creating drag.

First off I also love the term spongishness.

One thing I am trying with my reading material is make containers. So the necessary reading material for my schoolwork or farm management lives in either a specific section of the paper book shelf for current stuff or in a specific folder on my hard drive or on my kindle or iPad but with a note in DEVONThink in the books read where I keep track of the ongoing items as to the reason I am reading it. I'm also playing with setting up 2 folders for blogs and news links in my browser favorites. One is labeled "Work Reading" and one is labeled "Recreational Reading". So far it's working however it is slow to decide what links/sources go where, at least for me. Probably because I like my work so reading about it can also be recreational.

 

[ArcCaster]

I've always resisted using timers unless absolutely necessary but I think I'll give it a shot with this project, it's taking forever, going on 3 months now.

Thanks for the reminder -- I have resorted to doing a 'tomatoe' or two to whittle down a task. It works. But I had forgotten it. (Yes, my timer looks like a pomodoro

 

[Barb]

Thanks for the reminder -- I have resorted to doing a 'tomatoe' or two to whittle down a task. It works. But I had forgotten it. (Yes, my timer looks like a pomodoro

I have the exact timer! In fact, a fellow Connect member sent it to my for my birthday years ago. Although he's no longer with Connect, I still love the "tick-tick-ding" of that timer!

 

[Jodie E. Francis]

One is labeled "Work Reading" and one is labeled "Recreational Reading". So far it's working however it is slow to decide what links/sources go where, at least for me. Probably because I like my work so reading about it can also be recreational.

Yup - my problem exactly. And reading feels justified because it is 'work related'... just not the most productive use of my time :/

 

[Barb]

Weekly Review #3-ish for March

So, Jodie. First I must tell you I put a sticky note near my desk that just says "SPONGE". It's to remind me not to be one, at least for a while. And I can't stop thinking of spongeworthy--but that's another discussion entirely.

I let this review drag on and on! I left only my calendar review undone when I started my review Sunday and finally did that today. I think I'm repelled by it because I have so much to do before a brief trip and my dad's visit coming up. At least I'm grounded in reality again. Must get myself some telecoaching soon!! (maybe I'll win the quarterly prize--you never know!)

Hope everyone is starting to see signs of spring (or change of season) wherever you might live.

 

[MarkRust]

Weekly Review #1 for March done!

Part of my drag on this one has been some health issues - I actually started this WR last week, and just finished it today. Food poisoning symptoms Another area that is dragging is that I have yet to do a WR for work. Next action: get my buckets sorted out for work so that I have better places to park things. Rules at work require me to have a very separate system.

 

[Jenn]

WR # 3 for March (#11 for 2015)

Did a quick review today and made sure I wasn't "doing" any of the actions. This kept it short and sweet. I know I have a solid day of work to do this weekend so I'd rather keep it contained to that day than work on it now!

 

[Hrlakat]

WR #3 March (11 of 52)

Howdy from down under! Quick WR over the past two weeks since I'm on vaca

Glad I did it though - I forgot to book a hotel for my last leg!

Have a great week!

Heather

 

[Jodie E. Francis]

WR done yesterday as planned, but it was a quickie. 'Inbox sponge' is still dragging me down and since I'm sick this week I just didn't have the energy to get it completely clear. But I am starting to unsubscribe & unfollow various lists/individuals, opting instead to add them to my 'Someday' list in case I want to follow up again in future.

It is interesting - over the past couple of years I've become quite efficient at processing my inbox into my NA lists, so have felt comfortable allowing more and more into my Inbox.

But as I've mentioned, where the system keeps breaking down for me is getting the items OFF the lists again. I know the answer is to allow less in, but it is a slow process... so Barb, my question for each item this week is: "Is this spongeworthy?"

 

[Oogiem]

WR #3 done I guess

While I managed to really look at active projects and ones that didn't't have a current next action or are coming up to start soon my someday maybe got glossed over completely. Finished a couple of last action remaining ones though which is a win.

The sheer volume of inputs had me overwhelmed this week. I spent a solid 4 hours !!!! processing just my paper inbox and the pile that had accumulated over the last 3 days and STILL have about 2 inches of papers left in there unprocessed!

I have to admit I resorted to pulling the pile out and doing a quick scan, found 2 bills that hadn't made it into the to pay folder that were going to be iffy to get there given our terrible post office delivery schedules so I really did need to do the scan but it felt icky. I usually am ok with some stuff in the paper inbox that is totally unprocessed but I hate the partial processing of a quick scan to find critical/urgent/late items.

Been squashing LambTracker bugs. Got all but one fixed but that one is baffling me. I needed it working by tomorrow for the federal vet inspection, didn't make it, so I have a backup plan of monking (i.e. hand enter the data, think monks and manuscripts ) in the fixes and we'll go with it. A kludge but I can't fix it in the few hours left before it has to run.

Spring work is moving apace, husband is working on irrigation, fire mitigation is proceeding well and ewes are getting really, really fat. Fortunately looks like no oops lambs, we are at 150 days gestation, 3 more days and I can call it good.

 

[Hrlakat]

What 2 different systems are you having to manage your GTD system in?

Your digital organization sounds like my system clean-up in many ways. Maybe we can come up with a creative way to share/cheer each other on?

G'day Oogie!

I have my personal system in OmniFocus for iPad (all my PCs are Windows), and this works really well for me! I'm forced to use Outlook for my work system, so I have everything in Outlook tasks & folders - tasks so they can sync with my iPhone for work.

Yes, my digital org project sounds like your clean-up. When I get back next month, maybe we can schedule a group Google hangout to plow through some of our "digital stuff"!

 

[Oogiem]

Yes, my digital org project sounds like your clean-up. When I get back next month, maybe we can schedule a group Google hangout to plow through some of our "digital stuff"!

Yes, let's see what we can do. From now until the 10th of April I am totally swamped but after that I have almost 3 weeks until lambing starts. I have only 1 major task that has to be completed then, finish my 3 research projects for school, but I'm well on the way and hope to knock off one of them tomorrow and get the other 2 ready to record the voiceover. Once lambing starts I'm totally at the whim of the ovine taskmasters.

 

[Barb]

G'day Oogie!

I have my personal system in OmniFocus for iPad (all my PCs are Windows), and this works really well for me! I'm forced to use Outlook for my work system, so I have everything in Outlook tasks & folders - tasks so they can sync with my iPhone for work.

Yes, my digital org project sounds like your clean-up. When I get back next month, maybe we can schedule a group Google hangout to plow through some of our "digital stuff"!

I have had the same setup for years now. Early this week, however, my OF database somehow became problematic and was "frozen" for over 35 hours. I got little help from Omni Support, which shocked me. They ended up pretty much telling me "oh well" and that their app is "problematic" with older Apple products. Umm...my iPad mini is 1-1/2 years old. Oh and they did tell me I could buy a Mac and then maybe they could help me further. So I am forced now to make a change...and not on my timetable. Hope you'll think about how you go forward with Omnifocus.

 

[Hrlakat]

I have had the same setup for years now. Early this week, however, my OF database somehow became problematic and was "frozen" for over 35 hours. I got little help from Omni Support, which shocked me. They ended up pretty much telling me "oh well" and that their app is "problematic" with older Apple products. Umm...my iPad mini is 1-1/2 years old. Oh and they did tell me I could buy a Mac and then maybe they could help me further. So I am forced now to make a change...and not on my timetable. Hope you'll think about how you go forward with Omnifocus.

Barb - thanks for the heads up. I have always been concerned about the iPad Omni's database size as there is no way to archive without a Mac. In working with support I understand there is no size limit to the database - which seems not likely to me.

In posting in their forums and chatting etc with the folks there, I finally decided to purge my database two times a year. Not optimal but should help minimize database issues. Time will tell.

Will be interested in what system you move to ....

Heather

 

[Barb]

Barb - thanks for the heads up. I have always been concerned about the iPad Omni's database size as there is no way to archive without a Mac. In working with support I understand there is no size limit to the database - which seems not likely to me.

In posting in their forums and chatting etc with the folks there, I finally decided to purge my database two times a year. Not optimal but should help minimize database issues. Time will tell.

Will be interested in what system you move to ....

Heather

Heather, my issue isn't related to the size of the database. Support pretty much just shrugged and said "Oh well" and that they don't know and have a nice day. So I have moved to Evernote. There will be advantages too, like reference and system all in the same place. I'm sure there will be things I don't like too but I'll get over it. I am NOT one to change from system to system looking for Nirvana.