The second leg: Clutter
Posted by Jered | Filed under Clutter, Featured, Podcast
Image via Wikipedia
When Michael and I started the Simplicity Habit, we were initially focused on task and project management, but in the evolution of the site and lots of thinking, I have found the second leg of the Simplicity Habit.
Clutter.
Merlin Mann, GTD guru and author of 43folders.com, started writing about clutter a year ago, mentioning heavily the book It’s All Too Much
“People hold onto stuff like their kids’ old clothing as a way of holding onto the past. Or they keep things they think they might need someday as a way to control the future.”
The definition of “simple”, root of simplicity: having few parts; not complex or complicated or involved. Also, dim-witted: lacking mental capacity and devoid of subtlety, but don’t mind that.
How many times have piles of stuff stopped us from leading a simple life? How many projects get started, stopped and then sit on the corner of a desk, gathering dust? How much stuff makes your life difficult? How many times have going into your closet felt like a task?
Most of the posts at the Simplicity Habit have focused on tasks, for the second act, welcome discussion about clutter.
“People’s homes are a reflection of their lives. It is no accident that people have a huge weight problem in this country, and clutter is the same thing. Homes are an orgy of consumption.”
Tags: All Too Much, Clean Sweep, Clutter, Getting Things Done, introduction to clutter, It's All Too Much, Merlin Mann, peter walsh, TLC
The Simplicity Habit Podcast Episode 3
Posted by Michael | Filed under Featured, Podcast
Show Notes
For the week of April 27, 2008
We received our first listener email seeking some advice, so we decided to make it the topic of the entire episode. We offer some advice on approaches to productivity, keeping the focus on defining projects, rather than getting lost in the tasks. For the more visual among you, we suggest finding the biggest whiteboard you can, grabbing a few colored pens, and mindmapping your projects to literally get the bigger picture.
We’re going to try a new format, featuring weekly quick bites of productivity from the Simplicity Habit apple; just enough to get you ready for the main show now every other week.
People Mentioned
Gary Vaynerchuk - How to cut through the Noise? Great video on managing all the noise, from email, and Facebook, to Pownce, Twitter, and all the rest.
Merlin Mann - Merlin Mann on Time and Attention (Getting Things Done) Terrific video of a talk Merlin Mann gave at a Google TechTalks event.
Products Mentioned
Mindjet MindManager - Commercial application developed by Mindjet Corporation. Available for Windows and Mac.
FreeMind - Free alternative to MindManager. Java-based and open source. Available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Enjoy!
Tags: David Allen, Gary Vaynerchuk, Getting Things Done, Merlin Mann, mindmapping, Podcast
GTD + 4HWW = Productivity Perfection
Posted by Jered | Filed under 4HWW, Featured, GTD
Michael and I had a funny conversation about a David Allen / Timothy Ferriss Celebrity Productivity Deathmatch. Allen has the wisdom and years of martial arts training, while Ferriss has the youthful stamina and the secrets to putting on massive amounts of muscle quickly, but I wouldn’t care to wager on the physical fight. I want to talk about their systems duke-ing it out.
I have read both David Allen’s Getting Things Done
Getting Things Done
By keeping lists of the next physical actions for each project, one is able to have a complete picture of what needs to be done. By sorting these actions into contexts, one can always find an action to do in the appropriate settings.
Getting items from an inbox to these lists and projects is broken down into whether the action can be done immediately, deferred to a “tickler file”, or added to a project. This process is developed into a quick and efficient one, allowing data to be quickly added to the lists.
Regular review and renegotiation of commitments are critical to the Getting Things Done system and should be done weekly.
Synopsis: Writing things down, keeps them off your mind.
4 Hour Work Week
Retirement, in the traditional sense, is a lie and life should be spent in a series of “mini retirements,” using self employment and outsourcing to reduce the amount of time and energy expended in generating wealth to support the “mini retirements.”
A low information diet and ruthless application of the Pareto principle (the 80/20 principle) are required to reduce the inputs in one’s life, because with their application it is easier to get more work done when one has to.
Synopsis: The application of the Pareto principle and outsourcing to everything will free up time, letting you take mini retirements.
The Challenge
Getting these two seemingly disparate systems to play well together.
Thoughts
I think that GTD and 4HWW are completely compatible. Getting Things Done is the strategic and tactical while the 4 Hour Work Week is the undercurrent or theming of the process.
Creating a stress free life is attainable by the application of getting thoughts out of your head an on to paper, into a trusted system, which can include outsourcing, and then relaxing on a “mini-retirement.” This flies in the face of most management principles that go along the lines: “When someone is able to relax, give them more work, they can obviously handle it.”
The catch is, you aren’t working less, you are working more efficiently and why shouldn’t you benefit from that?
Tim Ferriss’ goal is have the reader be self employed and while that is a tempting idea, it is not always possible, that doesn’t mean that one shouldn’t take a “mini-retirement” every once in a while. Save up the leave, work out teleworking with your boss, it is possible to attaint the 4 Hour Work Week ethos without having to be self-employed (thusly responsible for your own health insurance, etc.).
Being stress free on your “mini-retirements” is going to be important, no one wants to be stressed when they are supposed to be relaxing, sailing around the world, etc. That is where the “Someday / Maybe” list comes in handy, writing down future “mini-retirements” or keeping a list of postcards that need to be sent.
Ferriss’ reducing input in one’s life is very similar to David Allen’s reducing the inboxes and in-buckets. Going on a media diet for a week or two can be very liberating, reducing one more source of stress. Everyone has stressed out a little bit out the TiVo getting full or missing your most favorite TV show. The way that the two methods are very intertwined is the concept of “mind like water”. A David Allen catchphrase which is the 4HWW realization. Take all of the things that normally make your day rocky, like dealing with angry clients, or fulfilling orders, and outsource them. This allows you to deal with the real issues through the application of the Pareto principle, which should make your life much easier over all.
Why shouldn’t people who are “Getting Things Done” also be able to enjoy a “4 Hour Work Week”? Followers of GTD generally know where all of their projects are, what they have to do next and where the rest of their commitments lie. If a knowledge worker is using GTD (that is the prime category for people who use GTD), most their work will focus around a computer and a phone. Both of those devices are portable and as long as there is a solid cellular network in your “mini-retirement” destination, it would be possible to do work should the need arise. And while I don’t advocate taking work on a vacation, much less a “mini-retirement”, the idea is not to let the fact that some of us can not escape the 9 to 5 from letting us experience Ferriss’ vision.
With keeping “mini-retirements” as a goal, application of the Pareto principle and reducing the number of inputs one has, Ferriss creates a great set of frameworks for the average person to work in. Allen’s Getting Things Done provides a tactical approach with strategic thinking to keep those frameworks in mind. All in all, I would say Getting Things Done and the 4 Hour Work Week are two compatible philosophies / systems.
Tags: 4 Hour Work Week, 4HWW, David Allen, Getting Things Done, GTD, Tim Ferriss
