Nov 20, 2007
Posted by arif in GTD and Productivity | 4 comments
Which school would be best for my son? Should we invest in that new business venture or use the funds to expand our existing business? Hmm…Should I marry the girl my parents are suggesting or elope with my high-school sweetheart?
When presented with such emotional dilemmas, how do you make the best possible choice. You have not gone through this scenario before. You don’t have complete information on the issue.
Using what you know, is there a way to make a choice so that you are dead-confident? So, then you just march forward on the decision you made, with not even a thought of glancing back. Well, you know what…there is such a way, I’ve been using it all the time. And it’s got a geeky name like, ‘the Natural Planning Model’.
What’s this Natural Planning Model thingy?
It’s the genius creation of David Allen of Getting Things Done (GTD) fame. It’s basically a set of questions that you ask yourself when confused about any matter. The key words here are ‘Any Matter’. The Natural Planning Model can be used for an everyday task like going to a restaraunt or even something as deep as what’s your purpose on this planet. These questions are so apt and when asked in the right frame of mind they truly provide the solution you’re looking for.
And Here it is The Natural Planning Model:
1. PURPOSE:
- Why is this being done?
- This would be great, as long as…what?
2. WILD SUCCESS:
- What would it be like if it were totally successful?
- How would I know?
- What woould success look like for each of the parties with an interest?
3. BRAINSTORMING:
- What are all the things that occur to me about this? What is the current reality? What do I know? What do I not know? What ought I consider? What haven’t I considered? Etc.
4. ORGANIZING
- What needs to happen to make the whole thing happen?
5. NEXT ACTIONS
- What should be done next, and who will do it?
And here it is with an example:
I’ll run through a decision many of us may have struggled with i.e whether to buy a property or not? If we were to buy one, which one? And if we were to invest in one, which one to do so? There are so many choices available. What about the market which way is it headed? What about interest rates? blah blah blah.
What you’ve now got is a doozy of a decision to make and your stress levels have just begun to race Northwards. Let’s run through the Natural Planning model below and then let’s see where we stand.
1. PURPOSE:
- Why is this really being done?
Well there’s this really good offer that I saw in the newspaper today. I’ve not invested yet and it’ high-time I did so. Eventually I would need some home. Some friends are suggesting it. Would be great for my kids. Would need something eventually.
- This would be great, as long as…what?
The family is happy with the property. The builder has a decent reputation. Banks have approved the project. It’s close enough to the city/conveniences. I’d get a minimum 30% appreciation.
2. WILD SUCCESS:
- What would it be like if it were totally successful?
Me and my Family are really excited about the investment and are looking forward to it’s completion. Rates are increasing regularly. Don’t hear any disturbing news about the property.
- How would I know?
We feel like visiting the property often. I may get offers for me to sell it.
3. BRAINSTORMING:
- What are all the things that occur to me about this? What is the current reality? What do I
know? What do I not know? What ought I consider? What haven’t I considered? Etc.
Check legals, Bank rates, check online for opinions, ask around for advice on investing in property itself, ask about the builder and the project, ask elders for advice.
4. ORGANIZING
- What needs to happen to make the whole thing happen?
I’ll have to take some time out from my regular schedule to do have a look at the properties on offer.
5. NEXT ACTIONS
- What should be done next, and who will do it?
Well, my wife can call and take up appointments on weekends for the properties she shortlists. We can then keep ourselves free on weekends to have a look at it.
I hope you got to see that what started out as a complex issue, reeking with anxiety, within moments you are handed on a platter the next concrete actions that need to be taken.
The Two golden rules to make the natural planning model really work:
1. It doesn’t work by reading through the Natural Planning Model running the answers to the questions in your head. It ONLY works when you write those answers down. To quote David Allen,”I don’t care if you write it down on the back of your hand as long as you write it down.” That’s when you’ll see the magic happen.
2. It doesn’t work when you take a hypothetical situation to try it out. Take any matter that’s been bothering you. It’s got to be really bothering you. Not that it’s giving you sleepless nights, as long as you’ve been thinking about it. It could be something like which school to have your child enrolled to, or where to spend the year-end holidays, or whether to go to your inlaws or not. The simpler the matter the easier it is, the more complicated it may take longer, but you’ll arrive at a decision that’ll you’ll feel absolutely confident and excited towards.
A Final tip
I have found that Mindmapping is an even more effective way to use the Natural Planning Model with. But that’s a story for another post. For now have a look at the mindmap I prepared for the above example. I used the excellent mindmapping software Mind Manager for this. Click Here to open the enlarged mindmap in a new window.
Nov 5, 2007
Posted by arif in GTD and Productivity, Personal | 8 comments
There’s spring cleaning happening at home, because of which once a while a a golden old memory in form a photograph await me, daddy and Ali when we return home from work. Have a look at the picture on the right. That was me 10 years ago, delivering a speech at a Toastmaster club (click here to see a complete picture). I was 76 Kgs+ in weight, with a 36 inch+ waist line and be it motu, fatso or fatty I’ve been labeled it all. The picture of the right is a much recent photo. Today I’m 67 Kgs, my 34 inch trouser falls off occasionally and now I get told again and again “Gosh Arif, you’ve lost so much weight.” and you know what…I can’t get enough of it ☺.
There’s magic in persistence. When the same mundane task of exercise, or learning or teaching is repeated over and over again, those are necessary ingredients of the potion of success being brewed by the gods in heaven.
Who’s a big shot? It’s just a little shot who keeps shooting. We’ve all heard of Edison’s tale of the 1453 times he failed to get the light-bulb to light up. Or you might have heard of Colonlel Sanders who offered his secret receipt to 343 restaraunts before it got accepted by one. Well, what’s your story? Do you have one? Which is the one boring, repetitive, traumatic task did you do over and over again till you were ready to puked; and then still did it once again. The moving of Tectonic Plates is slow. Really Slow. Painfully Slow. And so is the growth of tree, the development of a baby. But it’s truly before you even realise, time has gone by… and then you have a continent, a mighty oak, the smile of a beautiful child being returned to you.
Here are tools/tips/resources that have helped and are still helping me achieving many of my goals that involve same repetitive tasks. Each of this resource deserves a blog post of it’s own to do it justice. Some of them are so powerful that they’re would not just change your life but if implemented with the right goal they have the strength to change communities and generations for the better.
Power of Affirmations:
I don’t know how, I don’t know why, but just by repeating positive statements you actually do get to make HUGE habit changes in yourself. Yes it’s sound hokey-pokey silly, but blimey it’s effective. How do you make affirmations?
Step 1:
Well, just like an effective ad gets you for eg. picturing yourself driving that new car, in the same way, project a picture of yourself. Project a picture of youself after having made the habit change that you want and see how glorious it feels. Then write those feelings down. Eg.
- I feel Strong. I feel Mighty. Now that I am going to the Gym everyday in the morning.
- It feels wonderlful to be able to take full deep-breaths now that I my lungs are smoke and nicotine free.
- I’m the darn best salesman in the world. Just watch me make my next sale, baby. I rock!
Step 2:
Then keep it with you in a place, so that it is always with you or in the place where you are bound to read it everyday.
Step 3:
Attach reading of your affirmation to something that you do everyday without fail. For someone it would be their morning cup of chai, for others it would be waking up. Then just read through all your affirmations just once, picturing yourself in each affirmation. Do it day after day. That’s it.
Here’s the affirmation that got my teeth to sparkle more:
Wow, what a gleamingly clean feeling it is to have sparkly flossed teeth.
Since I’ve been repeating this, I’ve rarely missed a day of not having flossed my teeth for almost 6 months now.
Becoming a fitter me, having a fresher breath are just two of the many benefits I’ve experienced through affirmations. I was just as an unbeliever as you are now reading this. But try it out. Do it right now. Grab the closest pen and the closest piece of paper and right that affirmation that occurred to you when reading this and then stick that piece of paper in your wallet, so that it’s with you always. Go on, it’s alright to be a skeptic, as long as you are a healthy one. If it works good, great, super. If not, toss it out of the window and carry on with life. It requires no great length of time, no superman type effort, just a little discipline with tremendous results.
Ps. If you still don’t like making affirmations, make an affirmation that goes like, “I Love making affirmations and I love reading them every morning.” That’s the first one I made.
Tools to track your progress:
Once you’ve identified the activity that you need to do regularly, you would need a way to track how regular you are either to celebrate your progress or to get you motivated to buck-up if you’ve slipped. Here are 4 tools to help you stay on course. Any one of the below would be fine, see which fits your bill.
1. Online Web Solution:
In my opinoin this is the best tool I’ve come across to help keep track of habit changes. It’s a website that called Joe’s Goals. You can download a screencast here that explains how to use it. But it’s so gosh simple, just click here, open an account on the home page and start tracking your goals.
2. Offline Software to Track Tasks:
If you prefer an offline version to track your goals, and not in the mood to tinker around with Excel, then Sciral Consistency has a solution for you. Similar to Joes Goals, you put in your Goals in the left hand side coloumn and place a dot once you have done your deed for the day, everyday. That’s it. It has got some pretty good reviews too.
3. Tips on how to track Habits in Microsoft Outlook:
Michael has explained how he tracks his “Daily Disciplines” in this useful post. Quite handy for those who are on Microsoft-Outlook environments. Michael also explains how he automates the appearing of his “Daily Disciplines” into his Outlook tasks here. I use Microsoft Outlook to track habit changes and use the “Regenerate Task 1 day after completion”. That works for me well.
4. Paper based Solution
And if you would want nothing of this tech stuff, Productivity501.com have a prepared a sweet looking pdf that you can print and pin up on a softboard or slip below the glass sheet on your table-top. This pdf is available to those who subscribe to their RSS feed (which I have in my NetVibes account too), instructions on the best way to use this habit-tracker are available here. Here’s a small screen shot of the PDF:
Two really great books
The Dip. The War of Art. Enough said. Two of the best books (the best. No exaggeration) on overcoming your resistance and sticking to what you do & quiting what you don’t till you become the best.
These books are nothing short of being a hard kick where it’s deserve most (ie your backside) to drop all excuses and get down to business. For now I’m just giving a double-thumbs up recommendation for both. Looking forward to do a review of these in the coming weeks, stay tuned on this blog for it.
So, what is the one activity that you found too boring or painful to repeat yourself to do? Look back in your life. Was it exercise, learning a new art, some skill that you always admired in someone else, maybe it was to groom yourself to be able to speak well in public or maybe it was just to learn a language. Sure it’s boring, you bet it’s painful, but do realise that anything worthwhile achieving always is. Time flies. If you have been even half-motivated when reading this, don’t waste that boost. Get to making your affirmation immediately and make use of the first tool that your heart set upon. Good luck and see you tomorrow at the Gym.
Nov 5, 2007
Posted by Mohammed Ali in Reviews | 0 comments
I often get asked from friends to help them troubleshoot their PC problems. It’s not a problem if they’re sitting in front, but more often than not they’re communicating from somewhere far and that’s when you wish there’s an application out there like Yuuguu!
Well here it is! Yuuguu is a free service allowing it’s users to share each others’ desktops. It means you can view/use your friend’s PC as if you were sitting right next to them. Imagine the uses:
1. Work remotely:
You’re at home and need to login to your Office PC. With Yuuguu you can remotely logon to your PC, and interact with colleagues as though they’re next to you.
2. Web Conferencing
I’d recommend using Yuuguu with skype. It’s a great combination to give anyone a presentation remotely and also speak to them live.
3. Troubleshoot PCs
IT Admins of small businesses can trouble shoot PCs in their offices which may be in their premises or somewhere else. All you need is an internet connection.
Any more uses of Yuuguu you can think of ?
Signing up is as simple as signing up for Yahoo Messenger or Gtalk. A user can control what level of permission and share your desktops with as many users as you want!
Oct 30, 2007
Posted by arif in GTD and Productivity | 2 comments
Wouldn’t you like to have a system in your organisation so that:
- if a commitment is given (to submit a report or to complete any task within a given time) it’s achieved within that time?
- if anybody files a note, receipt or printed email it is retrieved within 30 seconds or less from the time you think about it?
- everybody is four times more productive than now but also with significantly less stress than they’re facing currently?
- all get to experience the other tons of benefits, mentioned at the bottom of this post?
Hey, but you are already there. Practicing GTD? Hell, no more practicing…you’re perfect. Papers filed, Project List is upto date, you’re constantly living in this blissful meditative state & experiencing mind-like-water. You’re the man. The GTD stud. But now you would like to get all those around you to experience the benefits of David Allen’s justifiably popular and successful Getting Things Done model. How would you get more people in your office to embrace this system?
Here are 10 points that will go a long way in implementing GTD at the work place:
(If you’re reached this far and don’t know what GTD is, you can to read my introductory post to GTD by clicking here. Or read this excellecent set of FAQs on GTD for beginners by, clicking here)
1. Set a high GTD standard for yourself.
Be super-passionate and set a high GTD Standard for yourself. Once you have done that and all those reporting to you and maintain that standard. Keep that standard measurable, so that you shall be able to know where you or your office stands as per that standard.
2. Set high commitments to the customers of your department or office :
To help you do that you can have a high level of commitment to outsiders of the organisation. Hence to maintain that commitment, your systems have to be really good to deliver that commitment.
3. Coach every opportunity that you get.
- In meetings, have an oh-oh signal that goes up in your head each time someone doesn’t write something down.
- When you undertake tasks assigned toyou, show the person you are with how you are capturing in your collection tool, to be put in your inbox, to be processed later.
- If somebody is passing by your desk, while you are doing a GTD activity, call them in and explain, how and why you are either, defining your work, clearing your inbox, project planning using the natural planning model etc.
4. Follow-up on everything
In GTD terms, to Follow-up means to put it in your Waiting For list. Some GTD-ers have only the important items on their “Waiting For” list. But when you follow-up on everything, sometimes even the mundane tasks that will 99% get completed the same day, the benefit is:
- An additional part of you psyche gets to relax and hence creating a greater “mind-like-water” feeling.
- When it’s everything that you’re following-up on, you don’t then need to ask yourself the question, “Oh do I need to put that in my Waiting For list or not?” Because it always goes on the list.
- Truly no task gets missed.
It goes a long way in coaching GTD, because when you follow-up on everything that one day you will be bound to be asked, “gosh, how do you keep up with everything.”
5. Formal Coaching Sessions on GTD
Begin a regular formal coaching session on GTD. You don’t need to call the expensive (but so worth it) trainers from David Allen Co. You can take the GTD coaching sessions yourself. Hey, if I can do it, anyone can. It seems time-consuming at first, but the rewards are well worth the effort. Getting those around you to read the book is not sufficient. Once the see the concepts in practice through you for you and then when you explain it in a training session, it’s then a no-brainer and a strong motivator to implement the GTD principles.
6. Use the below Syllabus for your Coaching sessions
So far we have had several sessions and in each session we have covered:
- Initial Concepts: Relaxation = productivity, Knowledge-work, Cranking Widgets
- The workflow chart to get ins to empty
- Effective filing system
- Doing a mindsweep with everybody
- Getting the email inbox to empty – We sat through and got one individuals entire inbox to empty.
- Weekly review – The process, hurdles, the do’s and dont’s, best practices.
7. Set targets such as during the coaching sessions
Each session can end with a target for all to acheive, which could be:
- Everyone is to practice capturing 100% of the items that come into their life for 1 week
- Everyone’s to get their ins to empty over the next week.
- Everyone’s to sit and identify all their projects in their life over the week.
- Everyone has to get the email inbox to empty.
8. Set up a GTD-buddy system
Pair up people in the organisation, so that one is to check-up on the other if he’s practicing what’s been coached the week before.
9. Perform one on one coaching
This is the single most effective and rewarding coaching exercise of GTD or anything else in the world. There’s no learning like On the Job Learning. People get-it immediately when they see GTD happening to their own stuff live. When they see their papers disappearing into folders in seconds and their Next Actions identified while being neatly categorised into lists, they become instant converts.
If you’re a GTD practitioner and have not sat with somebody and gently guiding them to get their ins to empty, or have their filing done, you’re missing on severe instant gratification.
10. Insitutionalise the weekly review.
Take commitments from everybody when they’ll do their weekly review and at regular weekly staff meetings, do a simple show of hands exercise if a weekly review was done or not. Once they start practicing weekly review, the benefits are so enormous it doesn’t take long to get addicted. And the weekly staff meeting checks will ensure that it sticks during those difficult weeks as well.
I’m having the time of my life, implementing GTD in Vakil Housing. We started with no intrays, no filing system, a culture of constant interruption. To all senior deparment heads now have their intrays in place, each their own respective general filing system and as of yesterday all emails ins were empty.
Well all this sounds like a lot of work Arif, man, is it really worth the effort?
Gosh, yeah it’s worth it! Before you know it, you will have a team that will:
- be completely clear, focussed and determined to achieve their life’s objectives and the organisation’s objectives.
- stop looking at work as work but being looking at as a game where it actually becomes fun
- become control of their work, rather the work being in control of them.
- whistle more often while having a constant smile on their face.
- work with the confidence that they’re doing what they’re dong because it’s the exact, most important, just the thing that they need to be doing to achieve their own as well as their organisation’s purpose.
Go ahead try it out and feel free to check with me for any inputs or feedback.
Oct 18, 2007
Posted by Mohammed Ali in General | 3 comments
It’s that time of the year again at Vakil Housing, where everyone in the office is busy & excited about the launch of a new Project! This time we’ve got something very attractive to offer, and what’s even more exciting is that if you book a site before the launch you’ll get the advantage of booking it at the pre-launch price! Please read below fore more details about the project. If you’re interested to book a site, please call +9180-41193293 or email: info@vakilhousing.com
About Vakil Townscape:
Set in 25.79 acres, Vakil Townscape a BMRDA approved project is located in Bangalore’s quiet and green suburbia, Jigani. It will be a fully developed residential layout offering plots of 30×40, 30×50 and Odd size dimensions. It is close to the popular schools and offices, with Electronic City being just 12 Kms away.
Amenities include:
Club house – Swimming pool – Tennis court – Basketball court – Floral Parks and 24 hrs security.
Links:
Booking Form
Site Map
For Pre-Launch bookings call: +91-80-41193293
Page 2 of 612345...»Last »
