Rhoneisms

As regular readers know, I recently switched my “Moleskine of Choice” from the Pocket Ruled to the 18 Month Weekly Planner. One of the principal reasons I wanted this planner as soon as it was anounced and eagerly awaited it’s release was it’s layout.
On the left hand page is a week laid out in blocks starting on Monday and running through Sunday. A large header space at the top of that page offers lots of room for writing “soft landscape” items like conference dates and such. The right hand facing page is just a plain ruled page with no header. What this layout allows me to do is have one easy place to glance at my calendar items for the week and have an easy space for next actions and capture.
My use of it is not much different than it was before. Because the planner is organized weekly, I use the ruled page for my actions and capture for just that week using the same dash/plus system as before. With no header at the top of the ruled page there are a full 28 lines available. This is more than enougfh for me. I do not tend to have enough to fully fill the page on any given week. In fact, I rarely fill 3/4 of it (yes, I am really busy – seriously). At the end of the week, as part of my weekly review, I process the carryovers (i.e. unfinished or unprocessed items) to the next weeks ruled page. Also part of that weekly review process is “syncing” my calendar items for the upcoming week with my Backpack calendar. Also, just as before, action items get synced with Backpack as well so I always have those available and easily portable.
Therefore, some of the tools have changed but my system remains pretty much the same as it was. There is a deeper lesson to be learned in this. The goal of GTD is to create a trusted system. If you trust and stick to your system then the tools are chosen to best support the system and not the other way around. Therefore, it was an easy transition between one calendar program, capture device, etc. to another because my system remained the same.

One of the things I have always loved about the idea of GTD is one that a lot of folks have the hardest times committing to – that the priority of a task is only one factor in deciding if a task can actually get done. As a matter of fact, I would argue that it is one of the last classifications one should use for any task. Today, Merlin Mann explains on the ever excellent 43 Folders exactly why this is:
“Unless you can always satisfy the big red letter commitments you’ve created for yourself — as well as the ones that are constantly being generated for you by others — an obsession with priority alone is pointlessly stress-inducing, unhealthy, and unrealistic. The truth is that sometimes you have crap days, pencils need to be sharpened, or maybe you just don’t have the tools or energy to do what you want the second you want. That’s life, pal. Deal.”

Read the whole thing. You wont regret it. Do it. Now!
GTD: Priorities don’t exist in a vacuum

Starbury is a new line of clothing from NBA Basketball star Stephon Marbury. The twist is that he is striving to prove that, unlike some of his peers, you can make shoes just as good as the ones that cost 100.00 at prices that regular kids can afford. The rationale being that most kids who grow up in “da hood” like he did could never afford a pair of decent shoes to play the game and will often resort to crime in order to get them. He plans on wearing the shoes from his new line in every game he plays from now on just to prove their equality with the other brands. The price for the shoes: .99. Most of the clothing items are similarly priced or less. Quite amazing when you think about it. They are available exclusively from Steve and Barry’s stores. Although not officially available online you can find them on eBay (at slightly higher prices) if you don’t have a store in your area.

I received a couple of comments on my post about Yojimbo putting forth Journler as a more feature rich and free alternative. I can’t argue against either of those points – It is a great app with an amazing feature set for the price (did I mention it was free). In any case, OK Scarfone has a great write up of how she has implemented GTD using Journler. I am pretty happy with my system but it might help others who are searching.

Do you ever have the need to create a quick little list or have a note, quote or piece of text that does not yet have a home? For instance, there are little text clippings that I like to keep in Yojimbo but, because I am on my Unbuntu box or otherwise at a computer but away from my main system, have to park them somewhere. Then there are the weekends when Bethany and I need to pound out a quick list of things we want to accomplish for that time – I just want to type it up, arrange it, print it out and take it with us. I think I have come up with a useful little Backpack hack that will solve these situations – The “Scratch” Page.
Here is the idea, create a page called “Scratch” and then give yourself permission to throw anything on there that wont fit anywhere else. This is not a place to keep these items. It is just a temporary parking space for those quick lists, text snippets and random files and images. And, just like a real scratch page, I delete them when I am done with them.

If you are one that finds yourself taking a lot of written notes, there are some pretty good tips at The Potential Blog. Although geared towards students, there are some real gems there for anyone. Here is my favorite:
“One of my favourite tricks is the use of square brackets ([ ]). If you get lost, bored or come up with an idea which could win you a Nobel Prize then stick it in square brackets. This works for stuff like “[I’m lost], “[NOTE: reread chapter 4]”, “[See lecture notes for quote]”, “[I don’t get this bit]”. This way your lecture notes will make more sense when you re-read them.“
The rest of the blog is worth checking out as well especially for students.
[via: Lifehacker]

Recently, I have found myself in the market for a new way to manage all the little info bits that come ones way in this great big digital world of ours. For years I have been using Notetaker for this purpose. It has basically functioned as a “digital commonplace” for me and I have written about my use of it before. In recent months, I have found myself growing away from it. I have begun to outgrow it’s “notebook” metaphor as it is not as flexible as I would like. In addition, it’s outlining capabilities are far outshined by OmniOutliner Pro so using it in this way feels redundant and is often confusing when switching between the two. Don’t get me wrong, it is a wonderful program and has served it’s purpose well for a long time. I think I have just grown away from it.
I think I have found what I have been looking for in Yojimbo. First off, this app is just plain beautiful. The very Apple like interface makes it a joy to use with very little learning curve. Everything just plain make sense. It allows me to quickly and easily dump information into it in a iety of ways. It allows me to search that information very quickly – even via Spotlight and Quicksilver. Notes default to plain text but invisibly and intuitively become rich text if you apply formatting. It can store URLs or archive whole web sites for offline viewing. Organize it all by grouping items into iApp style “Collections”. There are even some predefined “Smart Collections” that will auto sort your data based upon predetermined criteria. You can even encrypt individual items in your database. As for now, I have taken everything I had in Notetaker and several other places and dumped it all into Yojimbo and have been very happy in the few days since.
There is not much more I can say about this app that has not been said better already elsewhere. Check here, here, here and here for some excellent reviews. These reviews also mention several of Yojimbo’s shortcomings which, while a little frustrating, I can live with for now. Especially because the developers, Bare Bones Software, seem so committed to making it better. I mean, it is a young application (currently at version 1.2) that needs a little time to grow. I am willing to give it that time and hope that it will grow with me.

Leon Ho of Lifehack.org has honored me with being the first interview of a new series they are starting posing four short questions to productive people. I guess they are starting with the least productive and working their way up ;-).
Productive Interview Series: Patrick Rhone

As regular readers may know, I recently got married to my best friend and love of my life Bethany. What many may not know is that we did nearly all of the planning, setup and coordination ourselves for not only the wedding but also a reception of about 300 invited guests. Needless to say, between that and our regular life commitments we were swamped for months and had very little time to socialize with friends. Our friends are very important to us and it really does pain us every time we have to turn down a dinner offer or request to hang out but we just did not have a moment of free time for months.
In order to make sure that we got caught up now that the dust has settled, I put these requests on my Someday/Maybe list and treat them just like other tasks on that list (i.e. “Have dinner with Rodney”). During my weekly review I take a look at the friends I need to catch up with on the list and, if there is time open for the following week, move that request to a project or next action as appropriate (i.e. “Call Rodney to schedule time for dinner next week”).
There are still several folks on the list so, if you are one that should be, I promise to get to you… Someday/Maybe.
😉

Those of you who are familiar with Backpack know that it already had a feature called “Reminders” that let you set alarms that you receive via SMS and/or Email for ious things. Now that Backpack has a calendar, I bet many of you are wondering what the usefulness of the reminders are outside of the calendar. Lets take a look at what types of things should go on the calendar and what sorts of things reminders are good for that should not go on the calendar (which is crucial).
Use the Calendar only for calendar items. David Allen often refers to the calendar and calendar based data as “The Hard Landscape”. He even goes on to say, on page 41 of Getting Things Done, “The way I look at it, the calendar should be sacred territory. If you write something there, it must get done that day or not at all”. In other words, one should be highly selective about what goes on the calendar.
Why is this? Well, your calendar is filled with little contracts between you and yourself or you and someone else. If you schedule a meeting with someone, or lunch, or a vacation, or a daily workout, you have made a “contract” to be there at a certain date and/or time. Don’t show up and you essentially breach that contract – especially if another party is involved. You should really treat these items with that high level of importance.
So what should go on the calendar?

• Time-Specific Actions (Appointments) – Things happening at a specific date and time that you must attend (i.e. 3.7.2008 @ 12:00PM: Meet with Bob re: Strategy for Project X).
• Day-Specific Actions (Events) – Things happening on a specific day but not a specific time (i.e. 8.14.2008: Buffy’s Brithday).
• Day-Specific Information – This is information you may need to know on a specific date and, sometimes, may be tied to appointments or events mentioned above (i.e. directions to location of that meeting with Bob, notes for that project meeting, etc.)

These are all “hard landscape” items. Things that are happening at a specific time or are needed for specific appointments and events.
But there are some more “soft landscape” things that you might want to use the reminders for and should not disrupt the “sacred territory” of the calendar.
Reminders are meant for exactly that, just a quick little alarm to remind you of something. That is the reason that, by default, the reminder times are nebulous and not exact (i.e. “Later Today”, “In a couple of days” etc.). These include, things you need to get done later in the day like “Pick up milk on the way home” or in advance of an event but not by a specific time like “Make dinner reservations for birthday dinner” or maybe just a little nudge like “Don’t forget to pack your charger”. Sometimes, some action items that are time sensitive may benefit from a little timely kick in the pants.
Here is another possible use for the Reminders feature in Backpack – Future Options. In Getting Things Done, David Allen states, starting on page 171, that this category of items can exist on the calendar as well. I would argue that the Reminders feature is better suited to these sorts of items and more protective of the “hard landscape”.
Future Options are:

• Triggers for activating projects – If you have a project that you don’t really need to think about now but that you should revisit at a time sensitive date in the future (i.e. product launches, yearly reviews, what Buffy wants for her Birthday, etc.). Make a reminder for them and then put them on your project list when it pops up.
• Events you might want to participate in – Time sensitive events like conferences, seminars, etc. that you may want to wait to make a decision about until they are closer to the date (i.e. GTD Roadmap Seminar coming to town next month, “Bon Jovi Tickets go on sale today“). Set a reminder for it and if you purchase those tickets or book that conference it will then (and only then) become part of your hard landscape.
• Decision Catalysts – There are decisions that are significant and may need to made by a certain time but you are not, for whatever reason, ready to make them yet. Things like hiring a new employee or changing a job or career. Place a reminder to bring focus back to that choice and review it for action at a time where you are more prepared.

In other words, the Reminders feature allows one to be a little more creative with the sorts of things that are time related but flexible. Use it that way and guard the hard edges of the calendar with everything you’ve got.