Phil Windley's Technometria | Capture Mode and Emacs

Finally got round to setting this up: Phil Windley's Technometria | Capture Mode and Emacs: "Capture Mode and Emacs".

Very easy to add anything to an org-mode file from anywhere. I will have to look at the time-date hierarchy and see whether and how to add to the workflow.  In addition to the elements in Phil's video, of course  C-c C-l to store a link is also available

#tweekly summary

Kelly hosted a really useful one-hour Weekly review on Twitter yesterday (6pm BST). Every five miutes or so, Kelly would fire out a tweet marching us throught the 11 steps of the GTD weekly review. Why was this a valuable session (as opposed to following the book by oneself on a Friday pm. say):

1. Having a defined public time was a great way of getting people to actually do the review. For hours, in some cases days, before the event, tweets were going out creating a real buzz.
2. In addition to someone keeping the time (Kelly), she also sent out advice with each 5 minute period to prompt ( "No waiting on list? Check your sent mail!")
3. Kelly was able to answer folks questions - for example, when someone expressed a fear of the "mind sweep" adding too many new to-dos, Kelly was able to offer reassurance!

I'm sure these sessions are not strictly necesary, but the crowd and the great advice/coaching are great motivators - with greater experience I'm sure people will be more suceessful in doing Wekly Reviews alone.

Here is a summary ( with helpful tips) from the Tweets:

* GET CLEAR

** Collect loose papers and materials

*** Gather everything that's loose into an Inbox, Tray or folder.

** Get “In” to zero

*** a good way to process in is 4D's: Delete it, Do it (under 2 mins), Delegate it, Defer it (onto a list)

** Empty your head

*** Open a Word doc, or grab and pad and clear your head for 5 minutes

*** SOME MINDSWEEP TRIGGERS: Family, health, meetings you've had, meetings you're going to have...

*** MORE MINDSWEEP TRIGGERS: Your direct reports, finances, 401k, the dog, your car, health appts you've been putting off...

* GET CURRENT

** Review Action Lists

** Review past calendar data

*** Many times reviewing your old calendar (go back about 3 wks) catches things you meant to do. 3 more mins left)

** Review upcoming calendar

*** REVIEW UPCOMING CALENDAR TIP: if you find something you need to process, you can add to your mindsweep for now.

*** if you don't get anything on reviewing your calendar, try going further out. Recurring Tasks are great for calendar

** Review Waiting For list

*** if you've got a list review it. If you don't have one, what are you waiting on?

*** WAITING FOR TIP: Review your email Sent folder. Usually some waiting for's hiding in there.

** Review Project (and larger outcome) lists

*** Projects are your outcomes that require more than one action step

*** PROJECT TIP: If you are not willing to take any next action on a current project, are you sure it's not Someday/Maybe?

*** PROJECT TIP: Most people we coach have 30-100 current personal & professional projects. Don't be surprised!

*** PROJECT TIP: Projects are typically completed within 18 mos. If you can NEVER mark it done, it's likely an Area of Focus.

** Review any relevant checklists

*** birthday checklists? travel checklists? home mntce?

*** CHECKLIST TIP: Maybe you want to CREATE a checklist? Anything recurring that would be good? What to always pack for vacation?

* GET CREATIVE

** Review Someday/Maybe

*** If you have one, update it. If you don't have one, create it!

*** SOMEDAY TIP: You'll trust S/M list(s) more if you know you're actually going to review them again. Otherwise they'll die.

*** SOMEDAY /MAYBE TIP: S/M is not just a "fantasy wish" list. It can be a fantastic place to stage "not yet" projects.

** Be creative & courageous

*** Any new thought-provoking, creative, risk taking ideas to add to your system?

*** What's REALLY got your attention in your job, family, environment? This is the last step!

Supporting org-mode!

I am a great fan of org-mode (for Emacs) I started using it to Getting Things Done, where it is super for entering tasks, prioritising, tracking and closing. But it is also good for note taking, time recording, simple tables, publishing to a variety of formats.

Strongly recommended - in fact, install Emacs for no other reason !!

Vote for org-mode!!

More on org-mode

Sacha's book draft continues.

I hadn't seen the filtering on tags feature before, nor the bonus code - of course!

Powered by ScribeFire.