Get Things Done GTD

I share GTD principles on a regular basis with lots of people.

Again today I shared the ideas when someone complimented me on my ability to get things done. 

I share this particularly for him - and I've blogged here about these ideas in the past.

The Five Simple Steps on how to Get Things Done.

(1) Capture – collect what has your attention, 
(2) Clarify – process what it means, 
(3) Organize – put it where it belongs, 
(4) Reflect – review frequently, and 
(5) Engage – simply do.

Also, this - from this site:

Next-action verbs

Call	Organize	Review
Buy	Fill out	Find
Purge	Look into (Web)	Gather
Print	Take	Waiting for
Load	Draft	Email

Get the distinction? Most all of those big verbs can and should be uncorked to reveal that they contain nothing but dozens of smaller verbs. And those little fellas are your physical next actions. That's your work 
.

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I really wish I'd had these tables taped over my desk three years ago when I started doing GTD, because -- geeky as it sounds -- they're a kind of rosetta stone for ensuring that you correctly translate your stuff into either tasks or containers for tasks.

Getting Things Done - Next Action (Naction)

Thanks to a wise colleague and friend, I've been  "Getting Things Done" for a few years.  (Get Things Done - GTD)

If you're not familiar with the system, and you want to accomplish work and get things done - I highly recommend it.  Here's a start on multiple links discerning how this works.

Personally - I do not follow the detailed "system" as it is specifically outlined!  I have taken the core ideas and made them my own in unique ways.

One thing I do  (daily!) is "define the next action" that needs to be taken in a project!  This single step has helped me accomplish much in the past few years!

At this link you will find an outline of what it means to "define the next action" and it will get you out of miry-nothingness into progress.  (I use these ideas routinely when I coach learners in their Graduate Work and in Dissertation work.  I'm delighted to share that with these simple steps - a great friend is making decisive progress right now toward her Psy.D., writing her dissertation! )

Here's another single great link on how to define the next action.

Even in personal and family goals, hopes and future planning  (from medical appointments to planning school work or calendaring a vacation!) we use the idea of "the next action."  In fact, I call it the "naction."   Defining the naction -  the-next-action - gets us moving in projects and life - as it also breaks down small tasks into manageable pieces.

If you're bogged down in a project - figure out the next action - and do just that as you move forward.  It will get you started.

If you're in a meeting and you don't leave with actionable items - next actions - you may not be able to move forward!

If you've got a list of things to do - and don't know when & where to start - give each item in the list a single actionable item to accomplish - and do just that single next action.  (Later, you can write in the next, next action - and do that - but get at least one action completed as you progress!)

What is the "next [single] action" you need to take now to be more productive in your life!?

Accomplishing your major academic (or project specific) goal

I have a former student working toward a major academic goal in her life.  I shared this insight with her  and wanted to archive and share it here.

When I was "stuck" - not writing my Ph.D. Dissertation - these things helped me.  While personal to my situation, I hope there is pragmatic experience here that might help others achieve their academic or project specific goals!

Four insights and practices from my life that helped me finish my academic goals - specifically writing my dissertation.

First, it was really helpful to me, after learning from Tony Robbins when I was stuck in my dissertation work, to think about The Christmas Story in order to succeed.  Yes, Charles Dickens, Ebenezer Scrooge, Christmas Story.  Here is Tony Robbin's insight, that's perfectly clear in the story, that helped me.  In the three night visitors that Scrooge had, he was able to see the possibility of his future, in light of his past.  And, most specifically, when Scrooge saw the pain that would come in the future, from his own choices and actions, Scrooge was able to chart a new course in life.  As Robbins points out, when we associate enough pain with a certain future - and/or - enough pain with a certain other future - the "pain/pleasure" of the possible future can motivate us to move on.  When I was desperately stuck in my dissertation work,  on many occasions I used the "pain of not finishing my dissertation" and/or the "pleasure of finishing my dissertation" to motivate me.  I actually had the pain issues written down - and knew I did not want them - as well as the pleasure issues - and knew I wanted them!

Second, also from Robbins, and helpful on many occasions.  I created a kinesthetic-audio-prompt to motivate me to work when I couldn't or otherwise didn't want  to work.  It was not just a playlist of music- it was an action-oriented-set of motions that put me in the "place" to work.  Imagine a concert pianist.  They don't just sit down to play the piano.  They wear certain shoes (or not) - and they tighten or loosen their belt or suspenders in a preprogrammed way - and they approach the piano dressed to perform - not in their gymnasium workout clothes, etc.  These habits "turn the brain on" to the kind of work the body is now going to engage.  In a similar way - though different - there is something about simply lacing up one's shoes to run that puts a person in the physical and existential space to actually start running, even when the mind may not want to do it.  This was not always helpful to me, to be honest,  but on occasion it was helpful.  On more than one occasion, as silly as it seemed, I would physically bounce-up-and-down like the prize-fighter-Rocky as I "ran" in place to the "Eye of the Tiger" playing in my head or literally playing from a saved mp3 file! On occasion, this helped me.  [Though, one has to be careful to not set up too much of a scheme that just becomes another way to procrastinate!  If you have to get all your pencils and desk objects in perfect alignment every few minutes - you might be procrastinating and not practicing a habit that helps you get work done!]

Third, setting "next action" goals changes everything when you're stuck.  I've blogged about this over the years, so more about this at these links from my website entries.  It's simple.  When stuck, instead of focusing (or losing focus) on "everything" that needs to be done that is overwhelming . . . Instead(!) write down the specific next action (with a good verb) that needs to be accomplished.  And then do that ONE thing.  That one thing is progress.  Then, write down the single next action - and do that ONE thing.  This will get you unstuck - and get work done - one simple, small actionable verb at a time.  I did not know about GTD principles when I was writing my dissertation, but I did have a sense of it with the way I framed my project management.  GTD is a great system though, that helps!

Finally, perhaps the most important insight I learned is something I "knew"  - but had to discover in a new way and it transformed everything for me.  I've always been a "night-owl" - and I can explain it about me for energy, my FOMO (fear of missing out) disease, and just my "chemistry" and personality.  But I did not truly understand the depth of what it means for me to understand my body's internal, natural and unique circadian rhythm.  Since "everyone" gets up to work in the morning, I have to get up, too . . . but it's not my best energy times for many reasons.  When I was working on my dissertation, I lost some computer files and several weeks of work.  Out of frustration for my loss, I developed a new format for archiving my files when I saved them to my computer's hard-drive for my backup files. Essentially, I used a date and time stamp system in my naming nomenclature so that if I was working on my dissertation in some 4 hour block - I might save my dissertation 10 or 20x in that 4 hour period, clearly saving too many back-ups but insuring I did not lose data again.  After doing this for about four week, I noticed a clear pattern to my archived work being accomplished.  Every time I was working on my dissertation, actually making progress, it was after 10 p.m and up to about 3 a.m..  The demonstrated work archive of my files revealed to me something I already "knew" to be true about me (I was in my early-30's after all!) but something I had not really "owned" and that is the fact of my unique existence, namely, that I do my best work after everyone is at rest and when my mind is clear and I'm uninterrupted and my energy is still alive - at night!  Again, I've known this for all of my life - my family tells stories of me being up late as a child, and I was this way decisively in High-School.  What the saving-files-to-my-hard-drive-process revealed to me was "how true" it was in "measurable" ways that I *really* *only* do my best work at night.  And, what this specific insight did best for me related to my afternoons!  When I realized that I really, truly do my best work at night - I began to give myself permission to "not worry" about my dissertation during the day - and - even more powerfully, I gave myself permission to take naps during the afternoon.  I had always felt like this was "being lazy" or it was "frowned upon" by others, be so lazy as to nap in the middle of the day.  And, of course, taking a nap during the day is not always easy with kid and family schedules and "normal meal times" for a family, etc.  But, when I was finally free to realize "I do my best work at night - and that is genuinely who I am" it freed me up to take intentional naps during the day and relax during the day, precisely so that I could MOST maximize my best study/writing hours. 

These insights helped me move my dissertation from no progress, to starting progress, to completion - and, once I really locked in on "who I was" in what I wanted for goals and a future - and taking the next immediate actions - and the best times for how my body works . . . I finished. 

I hope these tidbits of my unique experience have some helpful resonance for you as you plan toward your successful goals in life!

Immediate Access to Great "Business" Books

I've been focused on "Taking the Next Action" from the "Getting Things Done" (GTD) work-philosophy for the past several years.  I routinely think in terms of the "Naction" or "Next Action" I need to take.

One time last year I was searching "action items" and "action lists" and "actionable" ideas related to taking the next action and I found the website actionablebooks.com

At their site, they provide quality, focused "five-minute-length" reviews of great books related to leadership, communication, innovative thinking, team-building and self-management.  They call them:  "Business book summaries with personality.  Insights you can apply in five minutes."

The summaries I have read for books I had previously read in their entirety, were each excellent.  And, for books I have not read entirely, I've gleaned insight from the short review provided at the website.

I imagine the "next action" you should take is to click into the summaries yourself  and make it a "next action" practice of your life to glean from these summaries for your own leadership and development! 

I hope this is a great source of vibrant learning for your life!

Johannes factotum - Reflecting & Embodying the Life of God's Kingdom

For quite a few years I've used the label for myself of "Johannes factotum" - an intentionally erudite way to suggest I'm more than a simple "jack-of-all-trades" - but not so uppity or arrogant to make the claim that I'm a "Renaissance Man."  (One of my colleagues a few years ago said I was a Renaissance Man . . . I laughed! ha!)

I do, though, try to work at developing new skills, always reading, always thinking, always trying to do something I've not done.

I was thinking about my past week in this way.  Among the daily pursuits of my week from the past seven days I have done all of the following:

• Proctored Oral exams over the Deuteronomistic History - including learner engagement with my book discerning issues about Kingship in Ancient Israel.
• Helped a former student and now life-long friend fix the leak under her sink, using my PEX line plumbing tools (and experience) that her dad didn't have to finish the job. 
• Proctored oral exams for competence in sight reading passages from the Hebrew Bible - including Jonah in Hebrew, specifically.
• Stitched and repaired holes in a denim chair we own (minor upholstery work) - and, sewed on my new sewing machine, from scratch (a single yard of fabric) a skirt for my lovely bride.  (Cost:  40 cents of fabric bought at Goodwill and $1.29 worth of elastic from Hobby Lobby.)
  
• Read Kenneth Paul Kramer's excellent text:  Martin Buber's Spirituality.  (Review forthcoming.)
• Facilitated team meetings with two separate proteges who want to engage more in shared collaborative work that puts solidarity in action - Josiah and Joseph - through the Eupan Global Initiative.
• Helped my neighbor, with my tools, to disassemble the blade from his lawnmower and attach the replacement blade.
• Participated in and engaged the Ladd Lectures (and lecturer) on "Why is it so hard to behave ethically?"
• Helped our son learn how to complete a Lube-Oil-Filter on a vehicle, including completing the job on my 1993 GMC pick-up.
• Engaged an Emerging Leaders meeting with Faculty Colleagues at SNU.
• Announced via my employer, great collaborative work in partnered engagement with pastors engaging life-long learning and pastoral excellence.
  
• Planted my Tomato plants (Small garden this year, again -  for numerous reasons - trying a new gardening method - Straw Bale Gardening.)
• Engaged with Faculty in an Academic Council meeting at SNU, determining numerous issues of course curriculum with faculty colleagues across departments.
• Taught online in the field of Psychology and Counseling for Indiana Wesleyan University, through their Parish Nursing Certificate.
• Peeled potatoes while working with my lovely bride in our kitchen as she prepared home-made Potato Soup - and used the peels to fertilize the garden.
  
• Met with a young, developing Graduate student to engage his ability, at his request, to think about being more productive in life.  I shared what I know (and try to practice) from David Allen's - Getting Things Done - including numerous links from Lifehack.   And, a great podcast I had engaged on GTD and Tribal Leadership - connected to other work I'm doing with Cultural Architecture. 
• Took each of our girls (and a school friend) out for an individual lunch-date with Dad.
• Taught each of my scheduled courses and engaged learners - Old Testament Literature & Life, Biblical Hebrew, The Former Prophets, and Methods in Biblical Study.
• We made an offer to purchase some additional rental properties, to add to the ones we already own and manage in the Oklahoma City area.
  
• Blogged about events shaping our world through efforts connected with the Eupan Global Initiative
• Met individually in counsel with a young Theology and Ministry major who is trying to discern his life's pastoral direction, as he engages his own experiences of lament.
• Read several entries from great scholars and friends in the Nazarene world - through Didache:  Faithful Teaching.  Thanks especially to great articles by David Ackerman, Laura Felleman, and Gift Mtukwa.
• Helped a close friend walk through a house she wants to buy - pointing out issues to be mindful of with what I do know about plumbing, electrical, tile work, painting, drywall.
• Engaged (and will blog later about) a fantastic program on Faith and String Theory - from the On Being Public Radio Podcast - entitled Uncovering the Codes of Reality with Physicist James Gates.
• I walked on my office-self-created-Treadmill desk nearly everyday while replying to emails or blogging or working, getting my exercise as I work.
  
• Rode my bike to school each day - and took my Dad's 1966 Mustang Convertible for an evening ride!

It's Saturday as I write.  Robyn and I have dinner plans with a faculty colleague at a great Mexican restaurant tonight.  I have quite a bit of sorting, organizing to do.

• This next week I'm editing the book I'm writing on Deuteronomy 6 - over the importance of the Shema for discerning life.  

• The week after next,  I'll be at the Quetzal Education Research Center, located in San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica, teaching on Biblical Theology and Global Stewardship.

With all these things, I realize how busy my days are - and how full they are in so many ways. 

In some ways, though - I wish I had less varied things going on - and a few other "bigger" projects and bigger goals that I could commit my life's work to!  I continue to develop multiple skills and read, write, and think intentionally.  And, I continue to hope and pray that all this work will come together and synthesize for the Church - the focus of my life's call.

With each book I read, every exam I proctor, each pipe I fix, every moment with family, each conversation I engage, and every seed I plant, my daily prayer has been for many years - and continues to be . . .

"Lord, help me to be a person who is faithful and honest, kind and true, gracious and generous - a person who reflects and embodies the life of God's Kingdom."

Summer 2012 - in Review

At the end of summer, I haven’t had time to note my reading!

Alas. 

These short snippets will have to do – as I move on to too many other great projects.

The Inductive Bible Study – by David R. Bauer and Robert A Traina is an excellent, and most thorough resource for thinking about the task of doing precisely as the title says, Inductive Study of the Bible.  It lays out a proper methodology/philosophy – and gives practical aid in how to do the work itself.  The book could easily “stand alone” as a textbook in a class designed to work learners through Inductive Study and active engagement of the Bible.  I’ve picked this up for my personal library and will come back to it for supplemental teaching ideas in a class I teach on Methods in Biblical Study.

Perhaps the best read of my Summer, Quiet:  The Power of Introverts in World that Can’t Stop Talking.  I audio-read the book two times on one road trip – then came back to a few chapters.  I will be picking up a paper copy of the book to glean a few specific quotes and highlights for future use.  I didn’t like that fact that the book on introverts, spends too long and too much time in the opening chapters talking about extroverts – but alas, she set the stage – just took too long.  The power of this book in my own life is important.  I have, no doubt, misinterpreted introverts for years.  Pastors should read this book to understand people in their congregations.  Leaders should read this book to understand how to lead (and get out of the way) of certain people.  Teachers should discern it’s insight and parents should glean from it for those in their charge.  In short, if you work with large groups of people, there will be introverts and this book will give insight into how to better work with them, “for” them, and get them to be productive in families, teams, churches – based on their unique abilities and contributions.  A must read, I would say.

Transfiguration by John Dear provided solid reflections on how to think about “transforming ourselves and our world” -  a portion of the subtitle.  I was happy to get more acquainted (via reading!)  with the author, a committed peace activist whose work with the Fellowship of Reconciliation has been active for years.  Since I read their blog posts and updates, it was nice to read this single work by John Dear.  The work gave insight into his journey, told stories of others in the journey of transformation to peacemaking, and incorporated discernment about how to “come down from the mountaintop” to get involved with the business of working for peace and justice among the people.  A meditative study.

I appreciated John Wenham’s Easter Enigma:  Are the Resurrection accounts in conflict.  A straight forward presentation, reviewing (as it notes) conflicts in the stories as recorded in the Gospels, attempting to make sense of them in light of the geography, topography, practices, customs, and characters invested in the story as the story is told.  Differences in stories, he attributes to independent reporting from multiple witnesses, but still accurate in their detail. 

The Snowball:  Warren Buffett and the Business Life.  An interesting audio read from my summer.  I learned much from it – but not sure that it was “worth it” in any major sense.  After finishing the book on a road trip, I came back to review some facts on other websites, etc.  In truth, every core story line found in this book, can be found on the Wikipedia page for Warren Buffett!  No joke!  Of course the book has tons more detail.  I’m not sure the book was worth it, though.  Explores his life.  Doesn’t offer advice, other than to think, be diligent, frugal, and thoughtful.  In other news, he’s clearly an introvert, see Quiet above!

Even with several earned degrees, I’m an advocate for self-study, auto-didactic work!  I’ll never forget being forced (by my own choices/calendar) to learn French on my own in Graduate Study.  I did it – and have long since thought in that respect and in many others – we don’t “need” teachers in all cases and “classrooms” and “formal” education should not replace personal study and self-education!  In that regard, I’ve thought about doing an MBA for years.  I don’t think I will – especially after reading, The Personal MBA:  Master the Art of Business.  I’ve discerned the MBA is not for me – for many reasons, but I think I’m convinced that in most ways, the author in this simple book – with hundreds of tags to his posts online, has, in fact, created an accessible, way to summarize (cliff-note-version) the MBA into what he has gleaned.  Note:  I don’t have an MBA, so I can not objectively evaluate this claim I am making!  I am only making the claim that from my perspective, he seems to “be on to something” in discerning that the core principlies are at the heart of a good education – and then, anyone has to figure out how to live into those.  I enjoyed the book.  I’ll come back to it, I’m sure. 

I literally have no idea how or why I picked up We Learn Nothing:  Essays and Cartoons by Tim Kreider.  I do ample browsing at the Public Library, but do not know why I picked this one up.  Sitting in a Mall one day this Summer, with internet down, waiting on kids to shop, I read it.  I’m not sure what to make of it.  I have a few ‘take-aways’ from some keen statements made at points – but in other ways, the book was a ‘rant’ on some issues, and clearly just personal commentary on other issues, by Kreider.   I certainly would not recommend the book, it was crass at points.  And yet, I might come back and re-read it. 

My Summer included extensive review of several teaching resources for Biblical Hebrew, again this summer.  I continue to try to hone my practice in teaching and develop supplemental resources for learners.  I’ll still plan to use the same textbook I’ve used in the past, by Page Kelley.  I was surprised to find several new PDF versions of texts, self-published by young scholars who are trying to overcome the pedagogical dilemmas associated with teaching this ancient language, with its curiosities and aware of different learning styles and practices.  I’ll be posting those to a link associated with the Biblical Hebrew Class I teach – for learners there and for my work with learners into the future.

I loved the audio version of:  A Carpenter’s Life, As Told by Houses.  In a style reminiscent of Bill Bryson, who I love in most of his works, the author narrates homes and his experiences with homes – and growing up in Nebraska, and his life in many homes around the world.  Retiring in Oregon, and singing praises of this paradise (! Ha! My words!) – I couldn’t help but appreciate the book.  I’ll be honest, I’m biased in several ways.  The author and I hold several presuppositions from the outset – on the need for moderation, sustainable practices, and awareness of living within our means and within our local environment.  So, my review is prejudice!  I liked the book, I’ll listen to it again, I’m sure.

My public library loaned me the audio book for Martin Luther King Jr’s landmark speeches.  A Call To Conscience:  the Landmark Speeches of MLK.  How could I pass on that!  Listening to his epoch shaping rhetoric – in preaching and speaking!  A great series of lectures I listened to at different points in the summer, before having to return the resources.

I read again, Getting Things Done:  the Art of Stress Free Living – and for the past several years my wife and I, and our family, have been putting into practice the idea of “next action” – which I call “naction.”  It helps us accomplish more, reasonably, thoughtfully – and with a track-record of success.  I’ll be coming back to the principles in this book and in many web-friendly GTD sites, for years.

I’ve got some future Australian hopes – so spent ample time doing some research on travel and study programs there – with DVDs and books resources.  Let’s hope!

Finally, I read, re-read, re-read, and re-read drafts of my own book – which, after first publication is still not perfect!  Alas!  That is me!  I’m very proud of it.  It’s simple, small, short – and accessible – but I hope offers insight that really will matter for life.  The Greatest Commandment:  The LORD’s Invitation to Love.

Try to help others - intentional mentorship

I work diligently to try to help young people in University classes.

Oftentimes this takes place in an ad-hoc way, where I address specific issues I notice in the class or, on occasion, with an individual.  Every year though, I teach one class that is required for all Sophomore level students planning for ministry.  This class has a number of strategic assignments in the course, each of which builds toward the formation of the students understanding how to "methodically" engage in the steps necessary for Scholarly Research.

In addition to specifics of course research, I work in the class intentionally to help young people develop some kind of self-autonomy and self-realization for how they plan for their projects.  I work to give students practical tips on how to manage their time, how to work in blocks of time, how to think about large tasks as a series of small tasks that each need to be accomplished and more.

I've blogged about this in the past at this site, including sharing with young people the need to learn how to GTD Get Things Done (If you don't know it, google it.)

Related to fact that persons need Next Action steps to take in order to move beyond an amorphous set of unclear statements in a "To Do List" - I share with learners the need to put specific tasks into a set plan with definable steps and clear next action steps - which requires verbal specificity and deliberate action.

These verbs of action help frame way to move forward:

Analyze
Complete
Decide
Design
Ensure
Finalize
Finish
Handle
Implement
Install
Launch
Look Into
Maximize
Organize
Research
Resolve
Roll Out
Set Up
Update

Other verbs might include:

Book
Brainstorm
Buy
Call
Copy
Discuss
Draft
Edit
Email
Fill out
Find
Gather
Load
Outline
Print
Purge
Read
Record
Register
Research
Review
Schedule
Update (single-step)
Verify
Wait For
Write

Getting action steps in order, and then acting upon them, is the key to Getting Things Done!