Consistently Inconsistent
Posted by Mike on
September 9, 2008
I generally try to blog about twice a week. As some of you may have noticed, I haven’t been blogging nearly as much lately. This blog entry will serve as both an excuse and resolve to get more organized.
About a month ago, my 4-year-old son, Ethan, had surgery to correct a Chiari malformation. Since the surgery, life has been a blur as we struggle to get Ethan back to his old self. Several *minor* complications have caused Ethan to be put on steroids and other medications. My once off the charts small boy has gained 11lbs and grown 2 inches. Much of his time these days is spent eating, sleeping, and talking about eating.
Needless to say, my schedule has shifted around quite a bit with Ethan’s care. It has put a severe crimp in the way I run my day. I have been doing too much flying by the seat of my pants, causing chaos and confusion. Had I been using trusted systems to handle all incoming and outgoing information, my life would be a lot easier right now.
I share this with you to save you the trouble down the road. I once wrote about my Dad having a heart attack and being completely unprepared for someone else to run the business. As it turns out, I have followed more closely in my father’s footsteps than I would care to admit. A significant change in my availability has made it clear that I rely on myself, not trusted systems.
So, this week, I will be re-reading Getting Things Done by David Allen. My intention is to get back on track using trusted systems to accomplish tasks and handle information. I view his system like algebra; if you don’t use it, it goes cold.
My son had surgery only two weeks after we found out he had the condition. There was no time to prepare. Had I been using Mr. Allen’s system all along, I could have handled the disruption in my schedule much easier.
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2 Responses to “Consistently Inconsistent”
Good to hear your getting prepared, and Allen’s book is certainly a good place to start. I had difficulty using his manual (physical) methods, but the GTD concepts he developed changed both my business and personal life. I worked with a printable system for decades before finding an electronic application that allows me to view my entire GTD at work on my Win machine, at home on my Macs and even on my cell phone. And another app lets me call in tasks to my GTD without any writing or typing, great for those thoughts that hit me while driving. I’ve written about my experiences with GTD in a blog post at http://johnkendrick.wordpress.com/2008/03/27/more-getting-things-done/ John
By John B. Kendrick on Sep 10, 2008
Thanks for the comment John. Yeah, I think the intention of the book is to start with a paper system, then use whatever helps you succeed. Tools like Nozbe are great for techie GTD folks.
By Mike on Sep 11, 2008