7 simple questions to celebrate more successes
Or just 7 simple questions to make you more aware of what you spend your time on.
A few years ago, I´ve found these questions somewhere on the internet (I believe it was on Lifehack.org ), and they triggered me as a useful tool to be more aware of the small successes I achieved. Since I´m active in the Continuous Improvement field almost my whole working life, I stepped into the pitfall of only seeing opertunities for improvement and not paying attention to what has been achieved. Success became a normal state, not achieving full success became a failure.
Asking myself these questions on a regularly basis made more aware, and even helped me being more productive. Currently, I use these questions for my Monthly Review, where I track my Goals and Objectives (just replaced the word "week" by "month").
Result? I can get pretty excited of small achievements! I feel better all the time, and can even help others feel better by letting them see what results they´ve achieved.
Give it try, write down the answers and track progress.
You want to discover the magic behind number 7, read The Mystical Number 7!
My GTD setup
Since I'm a GTD practitioner, I'm also using some tools to make my life easier, better, more productive and more fun.
To get a quick overview what GTD is, see GTD To Simplify Your Life or just google around.
My capture tools
I love to write with a fountain pen, so I try to carry one with me whenever I can. I prefer my Waterman Carène Ultramarine Blue:
I use standard A4 and A7 noteblocks to capture my notes, my thoughts, wherever I am. Unfortunately, I do not always carry this writing setup with me (most of the leasure time). Capturing is in this case done by my cell phone, a HTC Hero with a rooted Android 2.1.
My current favorite apps: Jotter and Evernote. The latter I'm experimenting with, especially it syncs online and back to any device you use. Even on Linux, I can use Nevernote to use Evernote (Evernote doesn't have a native Linux app).
Both at home and work I have physical inbox trays. E-mail for all my private e-mailaccounts/domains is handled by Gmail. E-mail at work is in Microsoft Outlook.
Organizing
I do not use MS Outlook for my organization! I use the excellent free Open-Source Software project Get On Tracks, which does an excellent job in managing projects, contexts and actions. Creating them is easy and can be done by only using your keyboard. It also has a mobile view, to be used by your mobile phone.
Some screenshots (taken from the publisher, not my setup)
It can even tracks statistics!
What is very helpful for the weekly review to get things moving on, is the quick overview how many open action you have in each project. Since you need at least one action, you need to do something when there are 0 actions defined!
Since I have some limitations at my work, I currently use Pocketmod for my professional lists. For each context I carry a seperate booklet. My projects, my someday/maybe's and waiting for's also have dedicated booklets. It is easy, quick setup, and can be used everywhere. Remember, GTD is not about tools, it's about habbits.
My project and reference files are stored in SMEAD Supertab folders, standing in a drawer (or box).
The same folders are also used for my tickler.
My calendar is currently a bit of an issue. I'm used to use Google Calendar for my private world (still using that) and let Outlook sync my professional agenda to Google Calendar (cannot use that due to IT limitations). Google Calendar syncs perfectly with my HTC Hero phone. For my professional agenda, I have an active project to find a solution, since I now have no portable version, except for any print-outs I make each day (so no alarms...). Since my meetings change rapidly (new meetings and cancellations the same day, while I do spend a lot of time outside of my office), it is a challenge to deal with this and be always present on time.
Other favorite tools I use:
- Dropbox: excellent tool to keep my digital files synchronized between several pc's, my phone and the web. It is also excellent for backup of your most important files. Your HD crashed, or your laptop has been stolen? Just get a new one and install the software. Let it synchronize and your back in business. You'll get 2Gb of storage for free and can choose between several plans to upgrade. Register via this link to get us both a bonus 250Mb of storage.
- My personal wiki: phpdokuwiki. I use this to quickly create a digital reference file. In here I've captured my Horizons Of Focus.
Tools might change in the future, but I will try to keep you updated!
GTD to Simplify Your Life!
One of my personal interests is to hack my life, both professional and personal. My goal is to achieve more, in less time while enjoying the life itself.
But as true perfectionist and service minded personality, I couldn't say no to requests fired at me or opportunities passing by. The result was many commitments, of which some had to be disappointed leading to frustration. In 2008, I was kind of stressed out. My brain was working over-time to remember all commitments I've made, eating out time to relax and enjoy. Time itself wasn't a issue, I had just as many time as other people have (365/24/7), but I felt I had too many commitments, rushing to accomplish some, while procrastinating on others. It was time for a change!
By that time, I've read about David Allen's Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology, a true personal management system instead of a time-management system. I started with some basics, after reading a few articles. More on this journey will follow probably in another blog.
Since most people do not know the GTD methodology and how it can simplify your life, I would like to present you a concise and stunning presentation about the GTD basics I discovered on Twitter.
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About Maurice Heuveling
This website will tell some tales of my personal life. Whenever I've got something interesting to share, I will post it here.
Please take a tour at the website to discover who I am.
Born on March 20th, 1978 in Arnhem (NL), the city I currently live
Married to Miranda Nieboer, son Mees (2007) and son Jip (2010).