Random Traffic Through Nick's Brain

Just finished reading Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen. I quite liked the book. So much so that I’m going to re-read it when Dina is done with it. What did it teach me?

• That I should collect more, not less. I already am fairly anal about collecting tasks and projects in my Palm. Pushing myself to collect the remaining few percent of tasks that fall through the cracks is good. Actually, the most important thing this has taught me is that I don’t have to feel guilty about being this anal meticulous.
• Having everything collected, as he says, has helped me free my mind in two ways.
  1. I don’t have to track of miscellaneous things in my mind that can be better tracked with my Palm. Frees up storage, and the mental current needed to keep the storage live.
  2. If I feel that I’ve tracked everything, I don’t have to worry that I’m missing something.
• Breaking up my list into categories based on where I need to do things (computer, phone, home, work, etc.) is good. I don’t have to review my complete to do list all the time.
• Renaming my ‘Long Term’ list to ‘Someday / Maybe’ was quite liberating. Sure, semantics. But semantics are powerful… otherwise why would we have the word in our language?
• The difference between project and task is profound. Forcing myself to think of the ‘Next Action’ for each project is great. Realizing that “Baby Registry” is not a task, but a project is important. Forcing myself to think and realize that “Register for Baby Registry on OhMyGhodWeAreHavingABaby.com” is my next action makes the project that much more tractable.
• Forcing myself to think is good. I knew that. But it’s still nice to be reminded from time to time.

As alluded to above, I think the main benefits, at least for me, are not with the system, but with how it makes me feel. It gives me permission to be the way I am. Yes… it’s just a book, and I shouldn’t need permission… but it’s nice to feel validated at times, especially given how much ribbing I take for my organizational habits. More importantly, I’ve been ratcheting up the effort to be organized for years now, but concurrent with that is an increase in stress. This is the first time in recent memory that my efforts have reduced my stress levels. The ‘Stress Free Productivity’ part of the title is what’s caught me.

If any of my readers use David Allen’s system, I’d love to hear implementation details / discuss our meticulousness over coffee / supper.

Note to domain speculators: OhMyG[h]odWeAreHavingABaby.com isn’t registered.

So far, not a bad week.

Day By Day

Tuesday: Ran 5 miles in about 60 minutes. Good news: it wasn’t that hard to do. Bad news: none really. The pace is a bit slow, but I figure that’ll pick up.

Wednesday: Yoga. Good news: I’m getting more flexible. Bad news: I’m nowhere near my goal of being able to touch my toes (without bending my knees, yada, yada, yada).

Today: Ran 2.5 miles in about 25 minutes. Bad news: I wanted to run 3.125 miles, but was just too tired, probably because I was experimenting with a 6mph pace. Good news: I now consider ‘only’ being able to run 2.5 miles a bad thing.

Tomorrow: Pilates. First time in a while. My abs will be killing me come Saturday.

Sunday: Doing a 5 mile run in New York with someone who challenged me to put my money where my mouth is. I’m actually looking forward to running through Central Park, not having seen much of it before. Surprising that I’m doing this before running a 5K with ECB.

Goal Notes

Why do I publicize this? Hmmm. The more people that mention it to me / comment / make fun of me, the more motivated I get. I’m also trying to cultivate a healthy addiction to running and exercise (just like my now-faded addiction to squares). If I say I’m going to do something, I have everyone I’ve talked / boasted / bragged to to keep me honest… I have to live up to the inane crap that I spout. Besides, every-so-often I get great tips from people like Ain’t I Hip. It also leads to people challenging me to do 5-mile runs in NYC.

Health Notes

I’m getting old. My lips are chapped. I noticed while doing yoga that the skin on my calves is dry. I’ve never had dry skin. I itch in the oddest places (yes Jim|Smooth|Dan, icy gnomes). Slightly vexing. Maybe one of the reasons I like the idea of reincarnation is that it means I get another chance, and that this isn’t the only time I have to ‘get it right’ / enjoy my life.