Thursday morning...Red Sox win....Boston is over the top.
Room is packed and everyone at the ready. David just kicked off with a cute joke, and here we go.
To save your mental health, don't leave anything in your head. Trying to have your head do it, just doesn't work. Thinking process to define your work, need to get more out of control to be more productive. Lot of work has to do with cleaning up, and getting back to be ready to work. Key part is where you focus.
General Reference Material
One A-Z general reference filing systems, within reach.
Brother P-Touch type touch labeller...mystical result when you label stuff. Brother PT-15, cheapest re-fill tapes.
< 60 seconds to create store a new file.
Drawers < 3/4 full
Fun and easy to use (you're willing to make file for anything) That clear, that fast, that instant.
Purge yearly...think about the shelf life.
The Tickler file
Mail stuff to myself. Using the 43 folders...idea. Note the 43 folders blog. It is written by Merlin Mann, great guy.
Filing receipt to remind you that you have mailed to your self.
Big point is that you don't need to over-organize. Get there first, then worry about backing up?
Birthday list in weekly review....
Four in boxes
Read and review
Action Support
IN...
Out
Review...
Put the stuff in front of the door.
Get certain music to get you in the mood for weekly review. We need all the help that we can get.
How to build the reinforcement mechanism.
Going to need everyone else's help.
Give your self some time and stick around.
Schedule the time with yourself, i.e. meeting with yourself. Give your self simple rules and stick to them.
Trend is for people's home office is to become the mail office, the office office is the satellite office.
Doing with excellence and completion that which I set off to do.
Resolution is also about fulfilling personal desire.
Biggest barrier to entry is understanding
Work space needs to be attractive to you.
All dies a sure death if you don't do the weekly review!
The Critical Success Favor-The Weekly Review
Look at Page 21 of work book.
Look back over two weeks of calendar... Very good idea!
Gather and process all your stuff
Review your system
Review becomes just going through the list.
When doing the weekly review, don't stop and do tasks, unless maybe they take 2 minutes or less.
Update your lists
Get clean, clear, current and complete...
"You need to spend quality time, detached from the gaily grind, thinking about, getting control of, and managing the daily grind.
Procrastination:
Causes Cures
Apathy Objectify, review, do it or feel OK for not doing it.
Anxiety
Too big or complex Decide next action
Physical discomfort /Focus on successful outcome
Emotional discomfort
Bottom line...fear of loss of control
You need to think about your stuff more than you think, but not as much as you're afraid you might.
Criteria for Choosing Action
Context ...first limiter of options...
Time available...watch and calendar
Resources...
Priority...which will give me the greatest benefit, this is where strategic thinking comes in.
The Three-Fold Nature of Daily Work
Doing pre-defined work
Doing work as it appears
Defining work
Weekly review..
Avoiding the busy trap..
Know what the surprise is..
Levels of Work
The priority Hierarchy
Horizons of levels....
Runway and 10k feet
Current actions and projects
Complete inventory of action reminders.
Complete project list...
20,000 ft
Identify key areas of responsibility/focus/interest in your job
Intensify key areas of focus/responsibility/interest in your life.
Identify projects to appropriately fulfill the above (add to Projects list)
Future...
Identify any longer-term goals and visions for job/carer/life...
Test is the real ability to look at these ideas from the bottom up.
Levels of Work
The priority of hierarchy
Lunch Time... Lots to think and talk about...
Wild thing about lunch. One guy works with my great friend Marc Orchant, another uses ActiveWords, and a couple from Denver were delightful.
General Comment on the day summaries. Wouldn't it be great if you could blog to me a mind map? Would be way easier to parse than the text outline.
Posted by: Fred Fenimore | October 29, 2004 at 11:43 AM