Genuine Curiosity

Author Dwayne Melancon is always on the lookout for new things to learn. An ecclectic collection of postings on personal productivity, travel, good books, gadgets, leadership & management, and many other things.

 

GTD? Nalu it!

I've been using David Allen's Getting Things Done (GTD) for a few years now. I've never given up, but never felt I was getting anywhere near the "black belt" technique that David talks about, and have only gotten glimpses of the "mind like water" feeling GTD is designed to give.

One of the issues I've had is one David discusses in the book: You won't be truly successful until you create a "trusted system" where your mind trusts that, once you put something into your system, the item won't disappear into a black hole. For me the challenge has always been the infamous "context lists" that I first encountered with the GTD system. The idea is that you create lists that map specific contexts in your life: @calls for when you're ready to make phone calls, @computer-web for online activities, etc.

From day one, I've been good at putting things into these context-sensitive lists, but I have not been good at using those lists when I'm in a particular context (for example, I often sit at the airport where I could make a few calls but I seldom remember to check my @calls list). As a result, I found I'd fallen into the trap of not being willing to take things out of my inbox because my mind didn't trust me to work off the lists and get the items done at the right time. So, I've gone from an "often empty" inbox to a "sometimes empty" inbox to a "seldom empty" inbox over the course of time.

But something's changed. Over the last month or so, I've discovered a couple of things that have made a huge difference for me - and I've tweaked my GTD techniques to incorporate a couple of new things. The result? I've gotten my inbox to empty every day for the past two weeks (a first for such consistency) and I am actively managing my lists.

I'm in the process of writing up how I did it and what tools and techniques I am using, and will be sharing that with you over the course of the next week. Stay tuned - like any sustainable process, it involves people (or in this case, person), process, and tools.

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My powerful vision

I've had a few inquiries about how things are going with regard to my vision since my LASIK procedure back in June, so here is a quick update:

I just went in for my "final" checkup on my surgery, and my vision tested to 20/10 - much better than the 20/20 I was hoping for.

I am quite happy I went through the LASIK process, and would do it again without any hesitation. I have also received some oral and email questions in the past couple of months so I thought I'd share them here, along with my responses:

  • How's your night vision?
    • I've never had any issues with night vision either before or after the surgery.
  • Do you need reading glasses now?
    • No, I don't. They tell me I will, eventually, as part of the normal aging process but I can deal with that. There is no evading the march of time, I suppose.
  • Do you see halos or haze when you look at bright lights?
    • I did see a bit of haze for the first 45 days or so (most noticeable first thing in the morning and late at night), but it gradually faded. After that, I saw a bit of haze if I went too long without using my artificial tears (eye drops). I don't see any halos or haze any more.
  • What's your advice if I'm considering this?
    • Check out the doctor ahead of time. Ask for references, visit the office, and even ask to observe a surgery if you want to. If anything doesn't pass your sniff test, look elsewhere.
    • See if your insurance plan has any discounts available. Mine did - and I saved 20% by going to a doctor on the plan. I also used my company's medical "Flex" plan to make this a pre-tax expense (ask your benefits plan representative if this is an option for you).
    • After the surgery, do everything the doctors tell you to do for follow-up care. This is especially true of the regimen for keeping your eyes moist with artificial tears - that helps your eyes heal properly, and is one of the most important things you can do. I used a watch with a countdown timer on it to remind me to put the drops in on time.
  • Does this mean I have to put drops in for the rest of my life?
    • No, your tear production returns to "normal" levels over time. I still carry the drops, but I only really use them first thing in the morning now and when my eyes get tired from late nights.
  • Where did you have your LASIK done?
    • Teplick Vision, and I'd use them again. You can find them at www.oregonlaser.com, if you're so inclined.
    • In the interest of full disclosure, I don't (and haven't) received compensation for any of the stuff I've written about them on this blog. However, if you tell them I sent you and you get the surgery done there, apparently I'll get some kind of thank you gift from them. I'll gladly accept such a gift, should I receive one.
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ParetoMan - 21st century superhero?

Not long ago, I wrote my post on the value of improving your strengths by only 10% (see "Related items" at the end of this post). What a lovely coincidence that, only a week or so later, I happened upon Richard Koch's book, "The 80/20 Individual".

As you may infer from the title, this book discusses a personal improvement strategy based on the Pareto Principle, better known as "the 80/20 rule." (Koch wrote this book as a follow-up to his 1997 book, "The 80/20 Principle" which I've never read).

I've been pleasantly surprised by the depth, insight, and applicability of this book.

The power of "wealth-creating" individuals and small teams

Overall, this book is about how to maximize the impact of your individual wealth-creating capabilities by exploiting your top 20% most valuable skills, ideas, and activities. Even in large organizations, a lot of the power and growth comes from small teams and their ability to disproportionately exploit the resources of their larger parent. Koch tells us that, when companies enter the Fortune 50, their growth slows down dramatically. In fact, the research he cites found that 91% of companies entering the Fortune 50 never grew substantially again without acquisitions.

His techniques are all centered on creating a growth "engine" to create wealth and achieve wild success.

An energizing presentation

Based on the title, I was expecting this to be focused on individual strength development, and I expected to see a lot of the same kinds of "psyche yourself up" techniques present in many self-improvement book. Instead, I found a holistic approach to help you deal with and maximize individual strengths as they relate to success in business. There are exercises and advice in the book to help you tune your mindset to look for your strengths, as well as case studies to help you maximinze what Koch calls your "20% spike." The 20% spike is the "thing", in any endeavor, that provides unique, game changing differentiation for people who win.

Koch spends some time discussing people like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and others to discuss how they've maximized their "20% spike." Anyone who's able to win by maximizing their 20% fall into a group that Koch terms, "80/20 Individuals."

The "meat" of the book is 9 chapters called "The Nine Essentials of 80/20 Success." Each chapter has a philosophy, some examples, and advice to help you apply the nine essentials.

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