GTD - 6

And the final wrap-up....

He says that all of us could be doing more planning, more informally and more often, about our projects and our lives. And if we did, it would relieve a lot of pressure on our psyches and produce an enormous amount of creative output with minimal effort. 

I think that if we took advantage of the moments wherein we have dead time (waiting for an appointment, driving down the highway, etc) to brainstorm, we'd take some pressure off of ourselves.  We wouldn't feel like we're racing against the wall.

He talks about trusting people to do things they say they’ll do (and they never write anything down).  For me, the issue of delegating is a MAJOR matter of trust.  If I know that they're writing down detail, I feel better about their commitment to the task.

Overall, this book was certainly helpful for suggestions in organization.  It also had wonderful ideas for helping to organize thoughts in order to allow the brain to "rest" without stressing over things that have to be done.   While there was much that wasn't applicable to my line of work, there was much that was insightful!

GTD - 5

In this part of my reading I was intrigued by his example of viewing things from an altitude point of view:

• 50,000+ feet: Life 
• 40,000 feet: Three to five-year visions 
• 30,000 feet: One- to two-year goals 
• 20,000 feet: Areas of responsibility 
• 10,000 feet: Current projects 
• Runway: Current Actions

For me, right now the 50,000 is things dealing with my personal life and desires (marriage, family, etc).  The 40,000 deals with the ministry wherein I feel I'm called and where I want it to be in the next five years.  The 30,000 deals with the ministry and different projects I'd like to be working.  The 20,000 deals with overseeing things at the church and in my itinerant ministry.  I'm overseeing my booking agent and also dealing with the choir, worship, and band at church.  The 10,000 is the album that I'm facing and the arrangements I'm writing.  And my runway is my bills, household chores, homework, practice schedule, etc.

GTD - 4

The next three posts will be a list of some things that I thought were great from the book and my thoughts on each one.  Originally I posted this all as one big blog (before being assigned the final THREE blogs).  So, I'll break it up a bit into three blogs!

• I got it all together, but I forgot where I put it! 

For me, things absolutely MUST go in their place or my whole system is thrown off and I get behind. 

• If you put reference materials in the same pile as things you still want to read, for example, you’ll go number to the stack. 

My stacks have to be organized.  (i.e.  things to be filed, things to be paid, calls to be made)  

• “The Actions that Go on Your Calendar”    --- Calendared action items can be either time-specific (e.g., “4:00-5:00 meet with Jim”) or day-specific (“Call Rachael Tuesday to see if she got the proposal”) 

I'm constantly using my calendar for reminders (and setting the alarm) for events and to-do's. 

• You need to trust your calendar as sacred territory, reflecting the exact hard edges of your day’s commitments, which should be noticeable at a glance while you’re on the run. 

His point is that if you begin to fudge on your calendar and the commitments on it, you'll begin to not be able to trust the calendar as a place for reminders.

Overall, this chapter again helped to give practical advice for the organization of the "stuff" we have to oversee in our daily lives.

Through 51% of "Getting Things Done" (Chapter Six)

So, this last reading was more of an application/practicality reading.  As stated in my last two blogs, I kind of felt that maybe there wasn't enough work in my life!  At home, my stacks of things are generally up-to-date and those that are not, take about an hour of my time.  For my things at the church, I spent a day listening and planning the next five months.  I listened to choral selections and put them on my worship calendar.  I also made a "back-up-and-punt" list of favorite octavos "just-in-case" selections weren't learn as fast as I thought they should be or (in the case of the severe weather a few weeks ago) if we had to miss a rehearsal.  Because my pastor doesn't plan his sermons according to a lectionary, choral anthems are sometimes a "hit-and-miss" with regards to his sermons.  And I'm finding that oftentimes, since he knows my intended selections, he'll base his sermon off my selection!  (Yes, backwards I suppose!)

The one thing that this section of reading did make me want to accomplish was to go through the former minister of music's file drawer to purge any outdated materials.   As for my house, with this current move, things were drastically purged and things refiled in proper places.

Through 38% of "Getting Things Done"

Again, while I felt like I was reading a commentary on a corporate workplace, I was able to find some "nuggets" that I felt could be applied to my place of work.  (It was though I felt like I'm the blue collar reading about the white collar worker.)

He mentions at the beginning of Chapter 3 that "the key ingredients of relaxed control are (1) clearly defined outcomes (projects) and the next actions required to move them toward closure, and (2) reminders place in a trusted system that is reviewed regularly.  For me the reminders being in the trusted place has been implemented some time ago; however, the "next actions" idea was new for me.  As an interim minister of music without a formal secretary, I do rely on the volunteers and other secretaries to help me accomplish some tasks.  I think that this week I'll try to not just list the goal, but the "actions required to move them toward closure."

Other "nuggets" I found were:

"But as a general rule, you can be pretty creative with nothing more than an envelope and a pencil."

"In my experience, when people do more planning, more informally and naturally, they relieve a great deal of stress and obtain better results."

"Have you envisioned wild success lately?"  I love this one.  This goes hand-in-hand with another statement he made, "You often need to make it up in your mind before you can make it happen in your life."     It actually reminds me of a phrase my pastor used to have the church say as we were preparing a massive building project of a 1,000 seat sanctuary:  "If you don't see it before you see it, you'll never see it." 

While I remember brainstorming in high school as a part of a class project, it's not been something that I've implemented much in my life.  Don't know why!  As I read his thoughts on it, I found myself eager to try that again in terms of worship planning.

Because I spend MUCH time in the car (driving to each concert venue), I have a lot of ideas that pop in my head -- concerning many areas of my life -- and often times they're gone by the time I get home because I don't have anything with which to capture them.  Allen states, "You increase your productivity and creativity exponentially when you think about the right things at the right time and have the tools to capture your value-added thinking."

His dialogue on setting up an office space was, again, one of those things that I read, but felt didn't necessary apply to me -- at least not entirely.  There were good suggestions, but many of the things he suggested are not tools that I need (or want to need) in my day-to-day routine.  However, I loved his comment on the Brother labeler as I have one on my desk to simply label my filing cabinet folders wherein I keep my bills.   Good call!

He also busted me on the suggestion of keeping extra folders on hand -- and yes -- I'm still using HANGING folders!  ;-)   But I do run out a little more frequently than I should and things get piled.  So, score one more for Allen!

Let's see if he gets any more in the next chapters! 

First 21% of "Getting Things Done.."

In earlier years, my "stuff" was pretty easy to manage.  My schedule was the same everyday and responsibilities weren't as demanding.  To top that off, my memory used to be like a steel trap!  I suppose that with more years of living and more events, memories, and future plans, there's more to track?!

My former professor became a very close friend of mine.  I used to tease her about all the lists she kept around the house.... and now I find myself relying on my lists!!

Mr. Allen discusses these lists and their importance, but he goes beyond just the shopping cart type of list.  While my "business" of being a student, interim minister of music, and concert artist (in addition to keeping up my home and relationships) don't seem as involved as the corporate person he appears to be defining, I still find myself agonizing over things that I may or may not have forgotten to do.

He makes a statement, "You don't actually do a project; you can only do action steps related to it."  I loved this way of thinking! I think sometimes that I tend to procrastinate a project because of the time it'll take to complete it.  If I understand Allen, my biggest concern should only be the next step in completing it -- not the finished work."

I also loved his analogy of the human brain to RAM on a computer!  How often my mind gets 'filled' to capacity with the small junk!  It's at that point that I find myself walking around in circles not knowing where to go next!   I actually made the statement yesterday at my church office, "There's so much to be done, I don't even know where to start!"  It was at that point that I began making a list of things that were crowding my mind and even distracting my mind.

Was a bit apprehensive about this book, but am getting some useful information and reassurance (hope) that I can be productive!