Survival of the Fittest

 Focus  No Responses »
Dec 012011
 

Some weeks life is just survival and this is one of them for me. My work week has been one long string of meetings, one after another away from my office. I haven’t been able to do much more than process email. Home life hasn’t been much better. Obligations have kept me away from home every night this week, so nothing is getting done there, either. Life is constant motion, but little progress.

These are the times when I depend heavily on my Task Management System. Without it, I wouldn’t survive. I depend on it to keep me from getting buried in all the little tasks that are accumulating. Normally, these little two to five minute tasks are things I just do and get out of the way. Right now, I can’t. It is all I can do to get them captured in the system. Next week, when I finally get to come up for air (won’t happen until Wednesday), they will at least be sitting there waiting for me. That thought is what I hold onto to keep me sane.

Here are some tips I have learned this week.

  1. Spend time when you have it to get comfortable with a system. Crisis mode is not the time to play around with a task management system. An investment of this type can only be done while the world is behaving. Take time to mold your system to the way you like to work. I recently tweaked my system to only show those tasks I can get done in the next two to three days, while highlighting those I must get done today. This adjustment has been godsend for me this week. I’m not staring at twenty tasks that could get done today, just the three that must be completed.That is a huge stress reliever in itself.
  2. Have your task capture mobile and always with you. I use Toodledo on my iPhone. When time is short, it is critical to have it with you as all times. Tasks will come quickly and leave consciousness even faster. With just seconds to capture a thought, you have to be ready or it is gone.
  3. Use any available moment to process. When I have had a couple minutes to myself, like a bio break or lunch, I have spent the time quickly processing my inbox or a task list. Few things discourage me more than 50 unread email messages. Scanning and quickly deleting the many useless announcements and filing the rest for later has kept my email inbox to a manageable level. Since I know I won’t have time to catch up until next week, I use this in my judgement.
  4. Use an auto respond message to alert coworkers I won’t be around for a few days. This helps keep everyone informed that I won’t be as responsive as normal. This little effort helps them plan around my unavailability and keeps them moving without me.
The bus is nearing my stop and that’s all I have time for today. If you get in a situation like this, I wish you luck. Take time now to prepare for it. It will happen at some point and without warning. Spending a little time now can really help later when life turns to survival mode.
 Posted by Dan at 8:00 am  Tagged with: , , ,

How GTD Has Helped Me Overcome My… Squirrel!!!

 Focus  1 Response »
Oct 102011
 

I love the dogs in the Pixar movie, Up! The dogs, deep in conversation, will suddenly have their attention caught by something out of the corner of their eye, to which they instantly refocus and yell, “Squirrel!” There are days I am just like them – completely on task and then something grabs my attention, ripping it away. When I look back at what I was doing, I am completely lost and not sure what I was just working on.

For many years, I have suspected I had mild ADD – Attention Deficit Disorder. I skitter from interest to interest, never sticking to one thing very long. Some days I can’t concentrate on anything at all. However, once engaged in a task, I can lose myself in it for hours. Obviously, it was not  crippling enough to check into, but still I wondered if I should. I have a couple friends who had similar struggles who did get a diagnosis and the medicine helped them quite a bit. I continued to wonder and never quite got up the nerve to have it checked out until a couple of weeks ago.

After talking with the doctor, he came to the conclusion I do have a mild case of ADD, but he didn’t think it bad enough to consider medication. In his opinion, I had compensated just fine through my use of task lists. He felt the side effects would not be worth it. I had to agree. I still struggle focusing on most days, I know what to do about it.

It wasn’t always this way, of course. In fact, it is because of this frustration, I learned about David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD). Several years ago, I ranted to a friend about not getting anything accomplished that week. He suggested the book. It took me awhile to get through it, but once I did and started applying the practices, things began to get easier for me. I found it easier to focus on a single task because I could block out all the other thoughts that come crowding onto the stage of my mind.

Here are five steps I use to keep things moving in the direction I want.

  1. Get everything out of my head and onto a list. I do a mind sweep, where I write lists of things I need to do as quickly as possible. I don’t think about prioritizing, categorizing or calendaring them. I just get them onto a piece of paper. Once I slow down, which doesn’t take very long, I go back and do all the other things to put them into the correct list. I do this several times a week. I find that when I make the effort to do a mind sweep, I can only do it for about 5 minutes before my mind vapor locks and I have to do something else. That’s okay. Several short sessions each week keep things pretty clear. If it is on a list, my mind doesn’t feel like it has to keep reminding me constantly.
  2. Spend a few minutes each day prioritizing the high priority items to accomplish. I have built a discipline of taking 10 minutes at the beginning of the day, quickly looking over the lists to see what is critical for the day. Undoubtedly, something new pops up while doing this and I add them to the list. I use Toodledo for my lists and employee the ‘star’ to emphasize these tasks.
  3. Put the few critical items on a special list, away from the hundreds of others. By having a critical task list for the day, I have less distraction and can focus on just what I need to do today. The smaller list also helps me feel less overwhelmed. Having that list of five to ten items helps with rewards, too. I give myself a treat once I power through this list.
  4. Every time you find yourself off task, pull out the critical list and refocus. There are times I find myself doing something totally unrelated to the critical tasks, like surfing the net. I can’t even figure out how I got off task. Going back to the list reminds me what I was supposed to be doing and I can quickly jump back on task.
  5. Strive to check off at least one item each day. There are still days I am too scattered to get the list done. It isn’t even my fault sometimes, as unplanned meetings and drive by requests take their toll. On those days, I tell myself I still have to get at least one item checked off the list before I leave the office or go to bed. I have found this commitment keeps a little momentum going. Last night was one of those nights. I ended up staying up too late, but once I got going on checking off one item, I kept going and checked off six. Then I slept peacefully with a good conscious.

Next time you feel scattered and struggle to get something, anything done, try making a short critical list. See if it helps you focus and get at least one thing done. Good luck!

 Posted by Dan at 6:30 am  Tagged with: , , , , ,

Staying in Touch

 Focus  1 Response »
Sep 022011
 

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Once you start a network, you need to keep in touch. After all, what is the point of going to all the work of meeting people if they slip back into the obscurity of memory. It is the easiest thing to let happen. We are busy and it seems we hardly have time to keep up with our current friends and family. Isn’t it insane to add more to the list? Nope. It is easy. It is important.

A professional network doesn’t take a lot of care and feeding. What it needs is a good reminder system, a phone or a computer and a few minutes.

As I have said before, I use Toodledo for managing my to do lists. It also manages my network. I have a folder set up just for this. When I meet a new contact I want to stay in touch with, I add a recurring task. The title of the task is “KITW – John Doe”. KITW means Keep In Touch With. I set a start and due date about two weeks apart and a repeat frequency of one to three months. A task that will pop up regularly to remind me to reach out and reconnect with a friend.

Setting up the automation is worth the few minutes. It will take all the effort out of remembering who you haven’t talked to in awhile. As you develop relationships, you will find you already talked to that person recently when the reminder appears. Simply check it off and it will come back at the appropriate time.

The next question that scares a lot of people is “what do I have to do to reach out?” After all, I haven’t talked to them for a long time. Will they think I am a lousy person for not talking to them sooner? Probably not. They didn’t talk to me either, and I don’t think less of them. The truth is, we are all busy. What would you think if a friend you hadn’t talked to since high school sent you an email or called on the phone? Most likely, you would be thrilled they reached out. It only takes a few minutes. It pays huge dividends when someone responds.

Screen shot of my list

All that needs to be done is send a quick email or make a short phone call. A simple, “Hi, how are you. Hope all is well. This is what is happening with me professionally right now. How about you? If you need anything, please contact me. I’m happy to help” is all that is needed. You don’t even have to talk directly to them. Call late in the evening when you know they are out of the office and leave it on their voice mail or send it in an email. Depending on the relationship, you may add a few more details. Honestly, though, that is all you need to keep a professional contact up to date. Remember, it is all about Give, Give, Give. You just want to remind them that you are there to help them if they need it.

Will they respond? Maybe not. Many of my contacts don’t respond. I don’t know if they think I am a nut job or not. It doesn’t matter. They have a delete key. However, if there is ever a time when they need something and my email shows up, I hope they call. I won’t berate them for not replying sooner. I’ll be thrilled they thought enough of me to call. I will do everything I can to help them, too.

It only takes a few minutes every few weeks. Stay in touch. Offer assistance in whatever they need. That is what networking is all about.

Postscript: As I was finishing up editing this post, one of my best friends I haven’t heard from in nearly a year popped up a video chat window. He had to go all the way to Costa Rica to find time to call, but I am so glad to hear from him. I probably woke the whole house up with my shout of joy. I’m telling you. Keep In Touch with your friends. 

image source: The Digital Scratchpad

 Posted by Dan at 6:00 am  Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,

Tools of the Trade – Take 2

 Focus  1 Response »
Apr 132011
 

After my little tirade on contact managers, you may be wondering what I use. Since I haven’t found the ‘killer app’ yet, I have had to cobble together a bunch of different things.

Contact Information

I use Gmail’s Contacts for keeping track of names, phones and email. I know I should use more fields to store information, but I haven’t taken the time to add the necessary custom fields. Another fear is that I won’t be able to get the data back once I do find nirvana in a package. Every now and then I try weeding out the duplicates I inherited from Microsoft. I think I am down to the G’s.

Events

I try to keep as many birthdays as possible in my calendar. It is the most obvious day to keep in touch with someone. I use Google Calendar for this task. I use it for tracking many different sets of events, including family, work, personal, and my wife’s besides birthdays. These calendars sync to my iPod Touch. I can either see all the calendars overlaid or each individually. I have set the birthday reminders to come up two days in advance to give me enough lead time to prepare. On the special day, I make sure I send the person a personal email or a phone call. I learned about the phone call from Keith Ferazzi in his book, Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time. He explains how every morning, he calls the people on his birthday list and immediately bursts into singing Happy Birthday as soon as they answer. It is a great way to start the day. I like it. I also use Google calendar to keep track of appointments, although I admit I also track them in my office Outlook calendar so that I don’t miss anything. I hate duplicating efforts, but until I get an iPhone or some single device, that is where I have to live.

Network Progression

Who introduced me to whom? In the past, I used Microsoft Excel for this. It is a lousy way to do it, too. But it works. Tonight, though, I had the idea of using Mindjet’s MindManager. It would show that hierarchal view I have been missing. Each node can have multiple leafs which in turn can have many of their own. The more I think about it, this tool makes sense. If  I were using Microsoft Outlook for contact management, it would also be able to link the contact information directly into the mind map. That has potential. I will have to think about this one some more. I add the missing tags and attributes to the mindmap as well. That would allow me some interesting possibilities as well to sort people into groups. There is another tool out there called Personal Brain that really could make this powerful the way it links nodes together. It is worth checking into it again. I’ll do that and report back.

LinkedIn

This tool / site bears mentioning. I have been on LinkedIn for many years and have a lot of contacts through it. I haven’t done a good job of using LinkedIn to keep the contact vibrant. That is a failing I need to rectify. Some friends at work and I are learning more about LinkedIn and how to make it work better for us. This also has possibilities for a contact management system. If you aren’t on LinkedIn, you need to be. Unlike Facebook, it is geared to the working professional. They have a nice way of vetting contacts by having you list the method of connection and verify it with the other party before that connection is listed. Their focus on professional contacts is what makes it attractive to the business world. They aren’t trying to sell the experience of Farmville or some other social experiment. Be careful what is up there, though. It is there for the world to see, including your current and future employer. More on social media and network building at a future date.

Mobile devices

I have used many organizers over the years. Most don’t cut the mustard and have been discarded. I don’t even like to think about the amount of money I have spent on them. Currently, I use an iPod Touch and love it. If I were willing to pay the cost, I would carry an iPhone. I am holding out for a company provided iPhone because I am too cheap to pay for it myself. If I bought one for myself, I would still have to carry the company phone and I find that ridiculous. But I digress. The iPhone syncs my contacts with Gmail, my calendars with Google and has other tools I use, such as Toodledo. I have to have my iPod. I am very dependent upon it.

That wraps up my tools. What do you use? What do you like or dislike? Please share your experiences. I would love to hear how you keep track of your network. I just got an invitation to gist.com. Anyone use this? It is supposed to consolidate all your contacts from different sources into a single list. Sounds interesting.

image credit: relenet.com

 Posted by Dan at 6:00 am  Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,
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