by Sunny Lam on February 11, 2010
Trying to coordinate 2 organizations (FoodCycles more, Sunny Lam & Associates Consulting less at the moment) takes a lot of work. There’s a ton of things to keep track of. Having this level of commitment requires a high level of task management.
There are 3 things that I use to keep on top of things: the back of recycled business cards, Omnifocus and constant review. Yes, the last one is a murderous juggling act I can assure you.
THE BACK OF THE CARD
What Does This Do For You?
Focus and Remind You of Your Daily/Big Priorities
In a previous post on recycled business cards I told you how you could turn it into a really small PDA. The other great use is a solid priority task list right beside the computer.
What I do in the morning or at night on a regular basis is figure out what the most important tasks or projects are in the next little while. If it’s not important anymore (or finished) I cross it off and transfer it into Omnifocus.
This is my nod to the human love of being able to touch something real.
OMNIFOCUS: THE SWISS ARMY KNIFE
The Quick Entry Box that Omnifocus Uses
What Does This Do For You?
Clear Your Mind, Forget Nothing, Feel Confident
Unfortunately to handle the thousands of action items that are on the plate I’ve got to use an electronic system. I’ve tried a lot of productivity management software (this includes Things, using MindJet MindManager mind maps, Evernote documents, etc.). There is definitely one that stands out among them: that’s Omnifocus (available only on the Mac).
With it I can easily enter thoughts and actions that come up in my brain during a workout, on the subway or during other computer projects the moment they happen. I jot it into the Quick Entry Box, assign it to a project (i.e. FoodCycles membership), context (i.e. how or who is doing it) and due date to review it and hit enter.
How does this help? It means that while I’m working or doing something else I don’t feel like I have to work on the new and important task that comes to mind. I can leave it to later and I won’t worry about forgetting. It also means I empty my mind of distractions.
CONSTANT REVIEW
What Does This Do For You?
Stay Confident in Your System, Stay Disciplined by Practicing Constantly
For any system to work you have to stick with it. You have to be comfortable with it. You have to trust it.
You’re not going to finish every task that comes into your brain. Trust me, it’s insane to think you can. What you need to do is to make sure that the tools I mentioned before are working, that you are checking the important tasks on a regular basis and that you are finding ways to improve the system.
The goal is to have an empty mind that has space to handle anything that comes its way. To do that you have to keep it empty regularly. In the philosophy of the Tao, everything comes from nothing because only in nothing does space exist for something.
Or even easier: a clogged pipe in your toilet is a bad idea. Keep the system working right. Be smart about what goes through the drains.
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Technorati Tags: focus, getting things done, GTD, Life, management, omnifocus, Productivity
by roxineplummer on February 11, 2010
(Photo via Smarter)
There is this old analogy that goes something like this:
Two guys are hiking and they see a grizzly bear that starts to chase them. The first guy starts running.
“What are you doing?” shouts the second guy. “You can’t outrun a grizzly!”
“I don’t have to outrun the grizzly,” the first guy yells over his shoulder. “I just have to outrun you!”
Perhaps this isn’t the type of story that models a strong bond in friendship between two individuals and upon reading this, one might think it is rather selfish of the first guy to try to outrun the second guy and not try to save him too. But if we look at it from the perspective of our own pursuit to achieve success, we will see that we need to help ourselves before we can help others.
In her blog called Compassionate Selfishness, Sonia Simone tells us there is nothing wrong with being successful. We should cast away our fear of success and our guilt of being successful so that others benefit from it — there’s nothing selfish about it. We can’t help a blind man to walk if we’re blind ourselves. But what we can do is get a guide dog that will help both of us to “see” where we’re going.
I’ve often found that people will help those who try to help themselves. The inaction of the second guy in the analogy probably didn’t help him much as the bear might’ve mauled him in no time. I’m not saying that we mustn’t help our fellow neighbour when they ask for it but there is only so much we can do when we’re not fully prepared. We owe it to ourselves to enrich our lives with the knowledge and skills to equip us with the armour to succeed and propel change. Finally, we should share in each other’s success so that everyone will have the opportunity to be successful. We help each other succeed by succeeding ourselves.
“We help each other succeed by succeeding ourselves”
Marianne Williamson’s poem is a true reflection of our merit to succeed:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
If we want to save the world, we need to be the best we can be.
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Technorati Tags: Education, Life, Personal Development, psychology
