GTD Report
I am happy to report that we spent many hours at the Container Store. We are redoing our closet as I've mentioned, and this a very big deal. The 'inbox" from the closet has been covering the living room, dining room, and entrance hall way. One couldn't say we were inefficient in our use of space; having seen it all outside of the closet, we can't understand how we ever managed to get it into the closet. Of course this great traditional use of space meant I could never find anything. One goal here, on top of having a "mind like water" is to be able to locate anything in 1 to 2 minutes, max.
I am only now realizing how much the clutter was effecting me. After the shopping trip, I spent the afternoon reading books about how to give a top notch presentation on PowerPoint, bypassing the old bullets method. I also analyzed data that had just come in, and discovered we have "significant results." I am using a statistical word when I say "significant." To put it simply, it means one wouldn't be likely to find these results in a crap shoot. Ultimately it means the study is publishable and this makes me happy. Its a real drag to spend months working on a study only to have it turn out to have no significant results. I have to say that rarely happens to me, I have a great capacity to know ahead of time what is going to work, and I generally avoid studies that my sixth sense tells me "Don't waste your time." Nevertheless every time a study turns out to have significant results I get excited and almost jump up and down with pleasure.
Loose ends, filing, and the mail
But I have been procrastinating on several big jobs. For example, I need to carry through on all that filing and finish the job by putting the labeled files in file cabinets. I need to deal with the mail. I have yet to do a really thorough review every Sunday, gathering all the "loose ends" of the week. By now the loose ends are a full month of loose ends, all dropped into a growing inbox that is a real inbox, instead of the living room floor. Until I do a thorough review, I don't think I can say I'm doing GTD. Half measures will get me no where. Earlier in the week I re-read Steve Pavlina and Merlin Mann of 43 Folders discussing procrastination, then procrastinated another six days.
Finally last night while lying in bed, working on my upcoming presentation, I decided to follow the 2 minute rule. Out came the Brother's labeler and right there, it must have been 1AM and everyone was fast asleep, I labeled and filed some loose papers. It took five minutes all together. This morning I marched down to my living room, went right to the mail table, grabbed a pile and began sorting and mainly tossing. When I attended the Allen seminar, Allen asked the audience if we had any chronic problems that needed some effort put to them, and I raised my hand and confessed what I do with the mail. Nothing. It can sit there piling up for months, and I don't look at it, I don't see it. I said I seemed to be afraid to open my mail. After this big confession I continued to do absolutely nothing about it, until this morning. I think the fear around the mail is that I will have to make a decision and I don't think I can do it, decide what to keep and what to toss. Its simple and yet I have never done it routinely. I hope I am going to make a real change, implemented for the first time this morning
Backtracking.. four days earlier
I have to give myself credit, cut myself some slack here. This week a dumpster came and was filled up within 24 hours. It will probably take us two more dumpsters before we have any semblance of order in the house. But we are one dumpster closer. Carpets were put in this week, on our stairs and and in one hallway. The closet was built with Elfa materials and some of the chaos that happened when everything came out of the closet has returned to normal as clothes went back into the space designed for them. The carpets on the stairs make me feel like I'm living in a "grown up" house and I don't know how I stood that painted soft wood for all of these years. GTD is creeping up on me and maybe I'll do a real Sunday review this week.
I am not happy with my lecture
I am trying out a new way to develop a lecture for my large class that begins next Thursday. I'm using a book "Beyond Bullet Points" written by Atkinson, on the recommendation of Matt Cornell in his blog some time recently. Its an interesting experiment, but still feels very awkward to me. The idea is to imitate the way Hollywood writers construct a screen play or TV show script. I'm going to be lecturing on something I've lectured on many times in the past, so trying this method might be foolish, but I love experiments. So far I don't like what I've written; it seems jumbled and instead of achieving greater clarity, I feel I'm heading into the opposite, confusion. Today I have a few more appointments, and then I am focusing on this project intensely. If I don't have something more coherent to show by Sunday, I'm going back to my old method.
Moving into transition
A few more weeks and I think I will cross over the line to real GTD heaven, and a mind like water will replace a mind like mud.I think I am approaching the period of serious transition, as I feel more confident that I am not forgetting important things and that I have a good chunk of my life moving in the right direction. I am beginning to plan, a serious weakness in the past. What I don't get done in a day moves onto the list for the next day. My lists are fairly up to date, despite having to move to another system for the umpteenth time --but more about that later. I am optimistic about the growing sense of order at home and in my home office. Making the decision to throw everything out was long overdue; that moment of decisiveness marked the move to a real transition in my life. Its the oddest thing but I feel like I am taking over my own life, and I can't figure out why it took me so long to do this. I ask myself "Does implementing GTD have this effect on everyone?"
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