Aug 11, 2009
Posted by Mohammed Ali in GTD and Productivity | 1 comment
photo credit: be OH be
No matter what productivity methodology you use to be productive (GTD, ZTD etc), all of them involve making to-do lists. How well you make your to-do list is directly proportional to your productivity levels. Here are 2 key principles you need to know:
1. In in the task, identify the next action clearly.
I had a tendency to add Projects to my To-Do lists, as a result I would face a lot of resistance in taking that project forward. I had to learn to keep my Projects on a separate list, and only have Next Actions on my To-Do list. There’s a certain magic and a feeling of lightness that comes when you identify clearly in each task what the Next Action is to take. So ensure that you do not have any projects listed on your to-do list, but you have the next visible next action listed. If your project is “Prepare the report on impact of carbon emission on the environment”, your next action would be something like “Search Google for the latest news on Carbon emission”.
2. Always start the task with a ‘Verb’. Read, Email, Call etc
By starting the task with a verb it forces you to clearly define what you need to do to perform the next action. The more clearly you’re able to visualize the next action, the easier it will become to perform it.
Conclusion
Once of the main reasons why we procrastinate on our projects is because of the high resistance we face when confronted with huge projects to work on. But the reality is that we never work on the project, we always work on “Next Actions”. Any project that we work on, it’s always about making a phone call, drafting an email, meeting a person, installing software. Once the next action is clearly defined, it fizzles away the resistance allowing you to move forward on the project.
May 31, 2009
Posted by arif in GTD and Productivity, Personal, Reviews | 1 comment
Other than blogs and podcasts that I read/listen, there are quite a few enewsletters that I am subscribed to. Most are free, some are not. Below are the ones that I get most value out of and have survived my ruthless email filters and unsubscribing-trigger-friendly finger.
Business:
McKinsey Quarterly Top Ten Newsletter
The McKinsey quarterly emails me the best/most popular articles of McKinsey consulting for the past quarter. It’s something that I’ve subscribed to just so that I’m some what in touch with the best practices in the Corporate Circle. I have not got tremendous value from it yet. But since the newsletters are just once a quarter, it’s not that much clutter that I need to unsubscribe to it.
Verne’s Insights
I’ve found more handy information from Verne Harnish’s weekly newsletters. They’re shorter, punchy and let me know of what are the cool useful things that Corporates around the world are up to and if there’s anything that I can implement at Vakil Housing immediately.
Metaphor Minute
Some people are born with the Metaphor gene. The can put their point across to you in mere moments by explaining you what they mean with the most appropriate Metaphor or Similie. It’s a skill I have long envied. Anne Miller has written this brilliant book called Metaphorically Selling where she explains a methodology on how to come up with a Metaphor on the fly. I have read it and highly recommend it. In her monthly newsletters, Anne gives really good examples of metaphors that you can use and prods you to keep your eye open for them. This newsletter is probably one of my favourites and can be subscribed to here.
Entertainment:
Go Comics
It’s the Comics and the TV pages that enticed me as a schoolboy to begin reading newspapers. Unfortuantely the comics I enjoy do not always appear in the newspapers I read today. I have recently renewed my subscribtion to Ucomics, by paying $11.95 for the year. Now Everyday I get emailed to me the latest Calvin & Hobbes’s imaginative world, or Jason’s latest tiffs with Paige in FoxTrot or Diane make obvious the nonsense of the political world in Non-Sequitur.
Personal Development
GTD Connect
GTD Connect is premium membership service where one can get access to a whole range of Audio, Video, Text material to help enhance your personal GTD process. Click here to learn more about GTD. Being such a busy bee that I am, I don’t get much time to hand around the GTD Forums to see what conversations are taking place or what’s the latest Audio/Video material on GTD that’s out there. However, being a member of GTD Connect, I get an email of what’s the latest out there in the GTD World. If you are serious about implementing GTD, I highly recommend becoming a member of Connect, even if it’s just for a month or two. Give it a try, sample the Audio material that they have in store, specially the Tele-seminars by David Allen. It’s been worth my investment.
Productivity Principles Newsletter
For those who are not ready to be members of GTD Connect, but still want to gain traction on your practice of GTD, you may subscribe to the newsletter of David Allen himself called Productivity Principles, where he writes tips and reminders for all to stay strong in the GTD Wagon.
Emails by Vital Smarts
Crucial Conversations and Crucial Confrontations are two brilliant books by the Vital Smarts team. Infact I’d say they almost the next best thing after GTD (and you all know how much I love GTD). One of my personal challenges in life is to be able to hold a Crucial Conversation and/or Confrontation with skill so that both parties come out as winners. What’s a Crucial Conversation? Well, common examples are possibly when there’s something you need to tell your collegue but he’s highly sensative about it, or you have a difference of opinion on an important business issue, or possibly even dealing with a customer complaint. etc.
In all the above conversations the common elements are that:
- Both parties have conflicting opinions/interest
- Emotions run high
- Stakes are high.
Observe yourself it’s when these three elements are in place that you get a crucial conversation. When faced with a Crucial Conversation, there is a roadmap on how to get from tongue-tied, raging emotions scenario to a cool, slick, dialogue smart situation. The Roadmap is long, and that’s the topic for another blog post, however, to get started you may subscribe to the newsletter by Vital Smarts Team. In each edition they address they demonstrate how one can talk one’s way through seemingly impossible highly sensitive topics. Examples of Crucial Conversations addressed in their newsletters are:
- Conversation with an employee over mediocre Performance
- Conversation of a Parent with her daughter on being overweight
- Conversation with a sibling on a difference of opinion on a certain matter in their family business
You can access the above and further past newsletters in their archive here.
Continuing Education:
Learn Out Loud free resource of the day email
It’s been a really long time that I was meaning to blog on the excellent material that Learn Out Loud has. Do browse this website. There is amazing education I have got from many of their Audio programs. In addition to those, you may also subscribe to their daily newsletter where they are continuously scanning the web to find inspirational/motivational/educational audio/video content.
BBC Breaking news alert and Documentaries:
BBC, is the best International news site there is. Period. They hit you with just facts, no exaggeration, as less biased as they can be, and provide you with sufficient analysis and history so that you can make your own opinion. To stay upto date on the latest breaking headlines round the world, I’ve found the BBC Breaking news alert really handy.
Furthermore BBC’s documentaries are also the most insightful in the world. To stay abreast of the documentaries coming up on BBC World in the coming fortnight I’ve subscrived to their BBC World New enewsletter here
Quotes by Dr. Mardy
I’ve recently subscribed to this quotation service, by Dr. Mardy. I’m generally quite conscioius of the number of emails I receive and if a newsletter I’m subscribed to doesn’t really add value to the subjects/topics I’m interested in, I’m quick to unsubscribe to it. The weekly quotes that I receive from Dr. Mardy have held my attention for the last couple of weeks. I admit I don’t read every single email I receive from Dr. Mardy. The days I have my inbox flooded, I am quick to delete the email without giving it a second glance. But the days that I have the time, I’m glad I have I subscribed to Dr. Mardy’s service. Here is an excerpt from his weekly email for the week ending 2 May 2009:
“I want to be thoroughly used up when I die,
for the harder I work the more I live.
I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no ‘brief candle’ to me.
It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment;
and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible
before handing it on to future generations.”
George Bernard Shaw, in a 1907 lecture
“I would rather be ashes than dust!
I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze
than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow,
than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The proper function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time.”
Jack London, a remark made to friends in 1916
Misc.
Baby Centre
As soon as my Sunshine gave me the “good news“, I began scouring all over the net for books, websites on pregnancy, babies etc, till I came across Baby Center. Baby Center provides this terrific service with their weekly updates, that let you know just the information that we needed throughout the pregnancy. Which was emailed to us just in time. It really saved me immense amount of time in researching the same online or in books. Furthermore the service continues till date guiding fledgling parents on the little nuances in bringing up children. I highly recommend parents and parents to be to subscribe to this service. The best part is that this service is also personalised for India, so get tips specific to the Indian context.
Top 5 ads from Adforum.com
Advertising. An old crush of mine. I used to be a subscribed member of Adcritic and keenly track the latest TV spots being released all over the world. Now I quench myself with the Top 5 Adforum weekly email that email me the most popular 5 TV ads over the week.
*Phew* that’s one hell of a long list.
I had no idea I was subscribed to so many enewsletters till I began compiling them. Any of the above enewsletters that you are glad you got to know about? Is there something else that you are subscribed to which you think I and other fellow blog readers would enjoy and look forward to. Do leave a note in the comments if so. Happy reading.
May 8, 2009
Posted by arif in GTD and Productivity | 4 comments
Note: This post has many references to jargons that would be familiar mainly to implementers of David Allen’s system of productivity called Getting Things Done or GTD. To Learn more about GTD, you may read this post, 5 Steps to Begin Learning GTD – A Guaranteed way to Save Hours from your Workday.
What made Einstein an Einstein or a Newton a Newton. It was their amazing capability to look at what everybody is looking at, but see at something different. The world sees an Apple falling from a tree, but Newton notices there’s something greater at work here, it’s Gravity. The world sees sunrise, sunset and umpteen other relationships with time and light throughout the day. But Einstein looks and realises that hey it’s not time that’s a contstant, but it’s the speed of light. Similarly the whole world is involved is busy getting stuff done anyway, but David Allen sees through the clutter and comes up with best-practices called GTD.
Below I’ve made a list of some amazing observations that give GTD it’s chutzpah. The brilliant thing about all these observations is that everyone one of us were coming across this at least several times every single day of our lives and any one of us could have figured it out. Be it psychologists with PHd degrees, masters in other fields but nobody noticed the below peculiarities. However David Allen did and gosh how life changing they have been.
The Next Action:
What an remarkable observation. That to move forward on any item, all you need is a Next Action. That’s it. One can only do a Next Action. We have no choice, we can only make Calls (@Calls), Complete Errands (@Errands), Speak to people (@Agenda), Do stuff on our computer (@Computer) etc. and all through our lives we’ve always been doing Next Actions only, but never figured out to think in terms of Next Actions.
Furthermore David takes his observation further. The fact that Next Actions can most be categorised in approximately 5 categories or so is an amazing piece of insight. And top it all off to notice also that there are so many Next Actions that don’t take longer 2 minutes, is pure genius.
(Note: David has often given the credit of the Next Action thinking to Dean Acheson.)
There is stress as soon as we commit to do something:
You can’t see it it’s so very subtle, but it’s there. As soon as an email, voicemail or a piece of paper (even if it’s a cute little greeting card) enters my life, so does stress. And I never noticed it. Ever. It’s when I began practising GTD and began either completing or renegotating my commitments that I realised oh the burden I was under . I always had it. Hey, c’mon we all always had it. But never noticed it. But thank God David did and man life has been rosier since.
Writing down stuff, gives instant relief:
So how do you get rid of stress in life by the various commitments. Is it by doing them? Not necessariy. Why take all that trouble. Just write it down. That’s it. Imagine that. Just by writing down you begin to feel so much better. Once again through out lives we have at some point or the other have written stuff down and immediately felt that instant relief, but never questioned why that happened. David did, and realised that stress comes because of our agreements with ourselves (another brilliant observation) and the simple act of writing it down we’re actually renegotiating our agreement with our self and that’s the key to eliminating stress from our lives.
Priorities are at six different levels, three fold nature of work and the limiting criteria:
Finally since we the day we have been hungry or felt the need to poop we have been prioirtising, whether it’s sleep we want now or milk. Ofcourse our needs got more complex, but our prioritising system never changed. We kept on putting one task over another
There are probably more gems in GTD that I’ve missed. Have you noticed something in GTD that is so simple and obvious that anyone could have figured out, but hasn’t and David Allen has. Do mention it in comments below.
Apr 21, 2009
Posted by arif in GTD and Productivity | 0 comments
Spending too much time at Office, but not getting a lot done? Here are Five questions that works towards fixing that. Ask yourself:
1. Am I being Productive or Busy?
2. Am I inventing things to do to avoid the important?
3. What 20% inputs causes the 80% of my productivity, satisfaction and happiness?
4. What 20% inputs causes the 80% grief?
5. What tasks would I do if I had 2 hours/day to work?
(This last question is a killer. Truly think about it. What if one find day the Doctor told you that buddy, I’m sorry but if you’ve got to live, you can only visit work two hours a day. No more. Beyond that, your body and mind would not be able to take the load.
Just imagining that scenario starts gearing the mind as to how we can maintain our current work load within that time frame ie just two hours a da. And you know what, it seems doable too.)
Source: The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris
Feb 19, 2009
Posted by arif in GTD and Productivity | 2 comments
There are just a handful of books that I can say have dramatically changed my life for the better. War of Art by Steven Pressfield sits way high on that list. It is an outstanding book, crafted to help you may hear your life’s purpose like never before and then soar away to living it.
All of us have whining nagging voice in our heads. You know that voice, it’s the one that says,
“Oh it’s so early, you’ve had a late night, get some rest you can always exercise later.”
“You? Start a business and take all that risk…c’mon you’ve got a family, don’t be foolish.”
“Want to be more spiritual? It’s such a noble goal but oh, the sacrifice, why don’t you wait till tomorrow…”
That’s not the voice in your head, but the voice of a real being, a living, breathing lifeform who’s sole purpose is to get you from achieving your life purpose. It is the voice of Resistance.
What is Resistance?
Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance. Are you a writer who doesn’t write, a painter who doesn’t paint, an entrepreneur who doesn’t start a venture? Then you know what Resistance is.
Any act that rejects immediate gratification in favor of long-term growth, health, or integrity. Or, expressed another way, any act that derives from our higher nature instead of our lower. Any of these will elicit Resistance.
Resistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work. It will perjure, fabricate, fasify; seduce, bully cajole. It will assume any form, if that ‘s what it takes to deceive you. It will reason with you like a lawyer or jam a nine-millimeter in your face like a stuckup man. Resistance has no conscience. It will pledge anything to get a deal, then double-cross you as soon as your back is truned. If tyou take Rsistance at its word, you deserve everything you get. Resistance is always lying and always full of shit.
If you believe in God (and I do) you must declare Resistance evil, of it prevents us from achieving the life God intended when He endowed each of us with our own unique genius.
Steven Pressfield has recognised Resistance for what it is and described it so starkly, it’s as if he’s stripped the devil himself of all his hides and exposed the blood-thirsty rasping wolf that lay beneath.
So, once you’ve recognised Resistance, how do you get the better of it?
How do you stay strong and don’t get allured by it’s seductive sounds. The solution is really quite simple. Infact we’re acting out every single day at our jobs. It’s simply by becoming a pro, i.e. a professional at what we wish to do. And That’s what the second part of the book is dedicated to. What does it mean to turn pro?
Pro means treating our ambition, just the way we treat our jobs. How do we treat our jobs?
- We show up every day. We might do it only because we have to, to keep from getting fired. But we do it. We show up every day.
- We show up no matter what. In sickness and in health, come hell or high water, we stagger in to the factory. We might do it only so as not to let down our co-workers, or for other, less noble reasons. But we do it. We show up no matter what.
- We stay on the job all day. Our minds may wander, but our bodies remain at the wheel. We pick up the phone when it rings, we assist the customer when he seeks our help. We don’t go home till the whistle blows.
- We receive praise or blame in the real world…
This book is a must for everyone’s and anyone’s library. It’s quite short and not too wordy. I’ve picked it up several times and gives me a kick where I need it and when I need it most. And incase the book is difficult to get, the audio book is available for purchase here. It’s read out by Steven Pressfield himself, and in my view packs more of a punch than the book itself.
