Tag Archives: GTD

New Day, New Week, New Month…Now What?

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If you’re like me, there are probably a lot of projects and next actions that you’ve put off until “tomorrow,” “Monday,” “next week,” or “next month.” Well, time for celebration! Those moments, all of them simultaneously, have finally arrived! How exciting! The moment we’ve been waiting for is finally here! At last, I can start Getting Things Done!!! Oh, Boy!!!

I ask myself this question and invite you to do the same: How is today different than the day I decided to put off taking the actions I knew needed taking?

  • Do I have more time? (No. Pretty much the same 24 hours each day that I’ve always had.)
  • Do I have more motivation? (Not really. I still don’t “feel” like getting started.)
  • Do I have more information? (Yes. I did a lot of on-line research into the reasons why I procrastinate and came across this really good book. Once I finish it, I’ll have more insight into what I need to do to get started.)
  • Do I have a better approach? (Actually, I’m in the middle of totally re-vamping my GTD system. In fact, I’m beta testing this new application and I think it’s really cool…just need to make a few more tweaks…)

My answers to these questions are all pretty much BS excuses. They are true, but they are still BS. Honestly, the only thing that really has changed is my level of stress as deadlines grow closer, my level of anxiety as I continue to avoid dealing with “insert name.” Oh, and add to this list the number on the scale. I’m sure that’s changed, too (and not in direction I was hoping for).

I can’t help but wonder how my life would be different if made the decision…the COMMITMENT to stop putting it off long ago.

If you are reading this, we have something in common, you and I. We have both been blessed with another day. Although it wasn’t promised to us, we have been given the gift of more time to do what needs to be done. We have been given another chance. Regardless of today’s circumstances, regardless of our BS excuses, let’s not let this chance pass us by…

[bandcamp track=2713785131 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=venti]

This life will make you laugh 
This life will make you cry 
This life will make you wonder 
If there’s a God in this blue sky 
This life will tell you lies 
That can lead you to the truth 
But what you get from this life 
Depends on what it gets from you 

This life will make you dance 
This life will make you sing 
This life will make you blinded 
With all its bright and shiny things 
This life will give you chances 
That you don’t take and let pass by 
This life will give you dreams 
That you don’t live and just let die

CHORUS 
Oh, the time is now I need to wake up from this sleep 
I’ve got commitments to make, I’ve got promises to keep 
Life is short, so while there’s breath in me still 
I promise myself that in this life I will

credits

Released 20 June 2012
Lyrics, vocals and acoustic guitar: Rebecca Wise Girson (artistwithadayjob.com)
Mix: TheoNT at K and T Sound (kandtsound.weebly.com)

Should You Let Go or Keep Going?

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Despite what we’ve been led to believe, we cannot have it all. Fortunately in life we encounter many things not worth having. The challenge lies in making the distinction between who and what is worth holding onto and who and what should be kicked to the curb.

I’m at a place in life where I’m realizing that some things are just gonna have to go in order to make room for what’s truly important to me. I’m making a lot of choices, some of which are much harder than others. But letting go of some things is enabling me to fully commit to others. As a result, I’m getting BIG things done at a rate I’ve never experienced.

When we try to hold onto the wrong things, we’re like hamsters in a wheel: working our butts off but getting nowhere fast.

What about you? Are you needing to make some hard choices about what to hold onto and what to let go of? If so, here are some things I’m learning through my own process that may help:

STUFF:

  • Keep what you use, what you find beautiful and inspiring, what has meaning. Note that these things are usually not found in a box in your garage.
  • Toss, sell or give away the rest. Easier said than done, I know, and I’m in no where shape or form there. But it’s something I aspire to and, for me, an idea worth holding onto.

JOB:

  • Stay where you feel valued, challenged, appreciated by your leadership and compensated at a rate that is worthy of your time and talent.
  • Leave a place where the stress, workload and corporate politics are so constant they begin to manifest in you physically. On the opposite side of this, leave a place when your work is so mind-numbingly simple and boring that find yourself constantly watching the clock. You are capable of so much more and you know it.

PEOPLE:

  • Hold onto people with whom you share a meaningful history, the ones who laugh at your stories, the ones who know who you really are and who will not allow you to sell yourself short.
  • Say good-bye to those who use you or cause you pain regardless how good they may be in the sack or how sad their “story” is. You deserve better.

DREAMS:

  • Hold onto every single one with this caveat: put most of them on your back-burner / someday-maybe list. When you start letting go of other things, you’ll give yourself more time to devote to what really matters to you (which is the ultimate link to your life’s purpose). In the mean time,  identify the ones you would most regret if you left this world and never saw them through, and then commit to making them happen. Committing means putting a project plan together. It means identifying next actions and actually ACTING upon them.

Committing means saying with every ounce of your being…….. “In this life I Will”

The Power of the Facebook “Like”

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That little “Like” button. They’re everywhere these days. Like it or not (no pun intended) we’ve become a Facebook nation addicted to swimming in the stream of activity updates generated by our “Friends.” Ignore the stream if you will, but there’s no denying its power to carry a message to all corners of the planet. But the question we must ask is: “What message is being carried?”

As is the case for anyone or any thing with power, those powers can be used for bad or those powers can be used for good. Every time we “Like” a comment, a business or a group on Facebook, we send a message that reflects our views about them and of ourselves. It’s at that point that we have the power to influence not only our friends, but the friends of our friends (and so on…and so on…).

If you choose to “Like” us on Facebook (and we hope you will), here’s the message you’ll be sending:

  • You’re someone who wants to do something that matters with the time you have in this life
  • You are a person who believes in honoring your word by doing what you say you will
  • You believe you have a purpose here that is bigger than yourself
  • You are committed to becoming more effective in getting “BIG” things done in your life
  • You have a heart for others and want to help them do the same

Does this message resonate with you? Are there people in your life who need to hear this message, too? If so, all you have to do is  click that little button and send the message on it’s way.

Getting (BIG) Things Done

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I confess to being addicted to productivity “pron” (I read somewhere that you’re supposed to spell it this way in order to avoid those looking for something a little more “spicy” than how to hack their Moleskin or build the perfect Hiptster PDA).

I was doing pretty well until David Allen turned me onto the notion of “ubiquitous” capture tools. I didn’t even know what the word meant, but now I’m so obsessed with the finding the perfect ubiquitous capture tool for Getting Things Done that I can hardly leave the house!

Fortunately, there’s a faint cry in the wilderness by an enlightened few urging us to stop wasting so much time trying to make ourselves more productive and start being more productive in trying to make a difference. Leo Babauta, the author of the Zen Habits blog is one such person who subscribes to the notion of getting BIG things done through simplification and focus. Oh, and did I mention the guy has six kids!?! You can see his impressive TO-DONE list here. (Note to self: see if Leo offers a 12-step program for recovering addicts.)