What's Everyone's Profession Part II What's Everyone's Biggest Challenge?

[troy]

http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5327
In the above thread everyone discussed their professions. In this thread I would like to talk about what everyone's biggest challenge is at work / personal / both.
Be it interruptions, organization, etc.

Hopefully through communicating our challenges and hardships we can come to a common consenus as to solutions that maybe we haven't thought of. One person's challenge might be another person's victory. I'd like to see if we can get this thread as big the other one.

Someone start off, please.

 

[vatark]

Procrastination

Title says it all really...

...the desperation I feel when I realise that I have put off, through simply wanting to do something more exciting, something (probably several things) that now needs to be done last Friday!!

GTD's helping, but I have a long way to go.

 

[StuGib]

Didn't reply in the professions thread, but I'm a software requirements analyst (amongst other things).

My main challenges with GTD is keeping track of the sheer number of little things that come my way, and deciding what needs to be shared with colleagues and customers.

For one big project of 'define requirements for feature X' I'll have to keep track of cusomer requests, my own ideas, design suggestions, problems I need to resolve, questions to ask other people, changes to documents, status of those issues, plans, answers to pass on to people, as well as the tasks I need to do. All of these change all the time as I work on resolving issues, customers pass on info to me, developers raise problems or missing requirements etc. This is what I find hard to keep up to date in a system.

Added onto that is the fact I need to keep track of what I need to do personally, but also communicate the status of the project and issues to customers and colleagues and keep those status systems up to date. It's difficult to know where to draw the line between a personal and public system and to avoid duplication or inconsistencies.

I can identify where in GTD all these issues should go (e.g agendas, project support) etc but haven't really found a system that solves my challenges for long. I've also had problems trying to fit everything into projects, sub-projects, sub-sub-projects, ... (e.g. every issue or problem could be a sub-project) in my main action lists, but am trying to simplify.

 

[Brent]

My biggest challenge is in "finding the time" for the cool, important projects that I want to do.

 

[mcogilvie]

http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5327
Hopefully through communicating our challenges and hardships we can come to a common consenus as to solutions that maybe we haven't thought of.

I think my biggest challenge is to maintain an "everyday mind" attitude. The water heater is leaking all over the basement. What's the desired outcome? What's the next action?

"To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders"
Lao Tzu

 

[Vramin]

I think I'm in the "capture" camp...

I think I'm in the group where just capturing all the minutae can be a bit daunting. I have these little thoughts and I think, oh I need to capture that. Then I think but if I capture I'll actually have to do it, so then I don't want to capture it. But then I think that if I capture it I might not necessarily have to do it, just knowing it has been captured, or at the very least my mind will remember that I didn't capture it and start tracking that, so then I capture it. I would like to advance to where I just do the capturing and get to avoid the mental arm wrestling match.

 

[Scott_L_Lewis]

Organizing

My biggest challenge is balancing functionality vs. simplicity and capacity in my system. I tend to create systems that are very functional, and as a result, tend to be complex. As a result, the systems can be overwhelmed by the amount of stuff I need to keep track of.

Like StuGib, I work in information systems, and the decomposition of projects into sub-projects and sub-sub-projects is a key problem area.

 

[flexiblefine]

Another vote for procrastination

I've become fond of saying that GTD is not a motivational system. Once I got over the novelty of having complete, updated lists of the things I should be doing, I saw that they weren't actually getting done.

I did (and do) get great organizational benefit from GTD, and I have stuck with it much longer than any other organizational/productivity system I have ever tried. But GTD brought my procrastination into sharp focus.

For the past 6-8 months, I've been fighting procrastination much more than I've been fighting disorganization. GTD works well for me, and now I've moved on to the next roadblock on my path to stress-free productivity.

If it weren't for GTD, and the models of useful GTD discussions I have found online, I never would have started my procrastination group -- see link in my signature.

 

[Brent]

I've become fond of saying that GTD is not a motivational system. Once I got over the novelty of having complete, updated lists of the things I should be doing, I saw that they weren't actually getting done.

I did (and do) get great organizational benefit from GTD, and I have stuck with it much longer than any other organizational/productivity system I have ever tried. But GTD brought my procrastination into sharp focus.

Yes, same here.

 

[altruologist]

My biggest challenge

My biggest challenge has been largely internal. I am always struggling to juggle the computer with the paper planner and frankly the pda has always been a real problem for me. I like to catch my thoughts and ideas and in reality I was most productive when I was able to plan completely in a paper system. Now I work with a Filofax and Outlook with the Franklin Planner add-in. Despite some horrific stories about Franklin Covey (Agilix) software, the Franklin Planner Outlook software is working without a single hitch. I can use the GTD methodology with tasks and projects in a way that links the two perfectly. The Filofax is my duplicate and 'out of office' tool for journalling, brainstorming,note taking and all the other things I could not perform well on a pda.

 

[DStaub11]

Procrastination! I'm great at capturing and processing. The problem comes with actually doing. Sigh.

Do Mi

 

[Frondu]

I work as an internet marketing manager and my biggest challenge is making our affiliate campaign successfull at present.

 

[Mindi]

Processing

I still can't seem to process some of the big picture items into small, doable chunks.

 

[tulipcowgirl]

professional: My challenges currently are external. Interruptions, my disorganized boss who prioritizes only by what is screaming at him the loudest and lack of adequate staffing for a large project that I am working on. My internal response to it all is to teach myself how to only take responsibility for what I have control over and do the best I can with the limited resources that he passes on to me. Everything else, I will diplomatically dump back in his lap.

personal: Mostly internal. I am constantly learning how to prioritize all my projects from 50,000 to 50 feet and be ok with everything that I am not doing at the moment. What is most important right now?

 

[Vramin]

I must chime in on this one as well

But GTD brought my procrastination into sharp focus.

What I have noticed is that, with everything captured and categorized somewhere so that the mind considers it "handled" for the most part, the one most onerous item I am procrastinating on seems to screem with a louder voice than ever before.

 

[troy]

So a lot of folks are having problems with procrastination. Hey atleast that's the first step is to realise you have a problem.

 

[kewms]

Troy, could you elaborate on your connection to ClockManager.com, please? I guess I'm a little confused because you first introduced yourself as a restaurant manager, and now you're promoting a time management site.

Thanks,

Katherine

 

[Vramin]

So a lot of folks are having problems with procrastination. Hey atleast that's the first step is to realise you have a problem.

I've known for a long time, but I've put off admitting it.

 

[StuGib]

Troy, could you elaborate on your connection to ClockManager.com, please? I guess I'm a little confused because you first introduced yourself as a restaurant manager, and now you're promoting a time management site.

From their contact us page:

We are strong believers that no one person is smarter than a group of people. Please send in your feedback to help us pass along helpful ideas for time management. If you are a webmaster and want to contact us, please use this form to do so.
ClockManager.com
Troy Robinson & Staff

Maybe Troy's just a busy man with restaurants and websites to run

 

[Treetops]

Troy, could you elaborate on your connection to ClockManager.com, please? I guess I'm a little confused because you first introduced yourself as a restaurant manager, and now you're promoting a time management site.

Thanks,

Katherine

From their contact us page:

Maybe Troy's just a busy man with restaurants and websites to run

Over on the 43folders forum:
http://board.43folders.com/showthread.php?t=646&highlight=troy

My name is Troy. I'm new to the boards. I'm a time management fanatic. I hope to contribute to these forums in a postive way and learn a lot about time management I didn't already know.

I'm a web developer and I have a small network of sites mainly about personal productivity.

This time no mention of being a restaurant manager.

I think Katherine has asked a valid question. Lets see Troys answer.