As promised (OK, so I decided to spend the weekend with the family without my computer, so this is later than expected) here is my take on Laura Stack's book "Leave The Office Earlier." The premise of this book is very similar to lots of others you may have read: organize and prioritize your life, and you'll get more done and have more time for fun.
What set this one apart for me was that it reads like a "best practice" collection from a bunch of other sources. I recognized tips and tricks that were similar to those found in David Allen's Getting Things Done, Steven Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, and various other books I've read. It also has some of the self-assessment and energy level awareness aspects found in online tools like ThinkTQ.
If you are like me, you like to have various perspectives on things like productivity, and end up "rolling your own" by mixing and matching the parts that work for you.
Whether Laura Stack meant to or not, her book happens to bring together a lot of the aspects I really liked from the various sources I've read. And she's added a lot of practical exercises and different, insightful twists on those things. That's why I classify this work as a best practice collection.
Why don't you give it a try? Let me know how it goes.
Read MoreGood perspective on "falling off the wagon" with GTD over on "Open Loops", particularly with regard to assessing where you are. I find that you're never as far off as you think, but that doesn't always make it easy to get back on the path.
The advantage of following these methodologies is that there are a lot of kindred souls to learn from.
I'm reading yet another couple of books that I think can add to the "community of practice" on this. Will be finishing them up on a cross-county trek tomorrow, so look for a summary by the weekend.
Read MoreI work with a lot of companies who are changing how they operate because of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. These companies are being asked to do a lot of things to hold them accountabe for how they use company resources to maintain and increase the value of shareholders, then report accurately on the results.
On my latest cross-country flight, I was wondering what it'd be like if I were suddenly forced to be scrutinized by an independent auditor. If I were held accountable for attesting to how I've been using my time and energy, then report accurately on the results of those efforts, how would I fare?.
OK, so maybe that's kind of an odd way to look at it, but it sure helped me take a different view on life management.
I think, like the companies I work with, that I'd really struggle to get there. And, like those companies, I might be tempted to look for a quick fix to the problem.
How about you?
Read MoreI'm noticing a proliferation of blog posts (for example, Punkey alludes to it, as does Steve Pavlina) in which people talk about how they are "stuck" with GTD (David Allen's "Getting Things Done") or have some fundamental issue with keeping it going. What's up with that?
I've had my own challenges with this. I started out loving the GTD system, then got a bit "stuck" and started to feel like I had gotten a lot of things done, but wasn't feeling all that good about them because they didn't feel focused.
I think it's partially about rigor and consistency around GTD - that's hard to maintain sometimes. I also think the Weekly Review is a big part of making it work, and that's one of the first things to go when life gets hectic.
Without a Weekly Review, items get stagnant in my lists (and they begin to repel me, so it feeds on itself).
Another aspect of this challenge: I think you have to inject the higher calling into your processing of your lists and planning of your week. I totally neglected this for a while (David Allen's "50,000 foot view" is part of this, as is the Covey Mission Statement). That's so touchy feely and introspective, I figured I'd get to it later. Trouble is, it wasn't even on my Someday / Maybe list.
The price of freedom is eternal vigilance - and that applies for GTD, too. I am not giving up - just continuing to try to learn and improve.
What's your experience been like?
Read More
