2013?

Another year done, another one ahead. Sometimes I wouldn't mind taking a break from time! It must be rather nice to hibernate. Sleep through the winter, wake up in the spring. The only problem is that I live in the UK, and no one can predict quite when those seasons will start and end!

So, if hibernation isn't an option, how can I make the most of the coming few months as winter tails off and spring begins to appear? I suppose one thing would be to set some new goals. I'm not big on resolutions because they often lack clarity and measurement. We're all aware of the SMART principles for goals, and it's not a bad place to start, but this year I have a new dimension with my training coming to an end in the next month or so. Hopefully I will pass my final exams by the end of February. I still have my case study to complete before I can book the written and practical exams.

That would make goal number one to complete my case study, and using David Allen's GTD principles, the first physical thing I need to do for that is to arrange the final session with my client. Getting back into the GTD habit wouldn't be a bad thing either. I've rather drifted away from any expression of organisation.

There's lots to do around the house too. I need to tile the kitchen, box in the pipes in the extension, tidy the garage and organise the utility end of it. I need to rehang at least one door, finish the cupboard in the hall and sort out the garage roof!

It seems to me that a few days writing down all the things that need to be done and then setting out  a plan for doing them might not be a bad idea. You don't need a new app or flash bit of software to do this. Years ago I used to take a sheet of A4 and draw three columns. In the first column I'd write down all the things \i was doing and the things I wanted to do. The next column was the rank I gave to all these tasks. The third column was the timescale. This was great for introducing new topics because I could see when time would become available. You could then transfer these things to a year planner if you wanted. I used Excel to create a year planner rather than a paper based one. The key is not to let it get too big. A friend of mine makes great use of project software that allows you to see different layers of projects and plans. i never got my head around that, but something as simple as an outliner light do the job. Perhaps I'll try that this year.

Trying new ways of organising stuff can be a real help because it gives you a fresh start and something new with which to play!

And lastly, it's never to late to start a plan or revise an old one. Just because it didn't work last year, it doesn't mean it can't work this year. Look back and reflect honestly on why things didn't happen, don't get sucked into believing it's because you are inherently bad at stuff, and revise the plan.

Maybe 2013 will be the year that I finally find out what I'm good at! Maybe it will be the year that your plan finally comes together. Who knows.

Lazy or busy?

Do you sometimes find it hard to distinguish busyness from laziness? No. Well that's good. But I'm not sure I can be so certain. Let me explain.

Most of us experience the situation where the job we have to do expands to fit the time we have available. I'm a deadline sort of person and it takes enormous effort to discipline myself to do things before the deadline looms. The thing that helps me is knowing how inefficient working to a deadline can be. The pressure focuses the mind, but you make a lot of mistakes that you would normally catch if you had the time to review and rewrite what you've produced. My solution is usually to set an earlier dealing and even a series of mini-deadlines. To complete a course I was once doing, I set up deadlines for assignments in my diary that went from blue to green to red as they went from coming up to imminent to missed. The objective was to complete the assignment before it went red and if I managed it before it went green then I got a day off!

How does this help distinguish between being lazy and being busy? Well, when you work from home with only yourself to check your output, it's easy to assume either extreme is the case. Because there is always something to do, you think you are busy, but in fact you might just be avoiding things and lacking the discipline and motivation to organise yourself properly. Believe I know how that feels.

On the other hand, it's so easy to presume that you are being lazy because you aren't getting everything done, when the truth is that you simply have too many things to do and you're not focussing on anything for any length of time.

In my experience both of these things looks remarkably the same.

In the end I can't seem to get away from the need to practice good habits of self-disciple and honest reflection without self-recriminations. Learning to apologise to yourself and then getting on with what needs to be done is just part of the process.

Over the years I've had to learn how to work with my internal wiring without allowing it to become an excuse for failing to make changes that will help me achieve more. Asking good personal questions is important too. For example, ask yourself how you can do it more efficiently rather than why you are no good at being organised enough in the first place.

Now, talking of self-disciple and getting things done, I'm off to play tennis for a while and then it's back to sort out some paperwork that I've been avoiding, and do some coursework reading and preparation for the weekend. That and decorate the new house, refit the radiators, commission the heating system, choose floor coverings, go to the tip, get Anne's birthday present.....

Interruptions

Here's a useful idea for all those of us who find their workflow broken by interruptions in whatever guise they come. The basic concept is called "bookmarking". What you do is quite simple. When you get interrupted you create a bookmark by writing down on a post-it or a piece of paper three things:

• What you were doing
• What you were thinking
• What you planned to do next

Put this bookmark with any papers etc that you were working on and then deal with the interruption. If that comes in the shape of a 'phone call or visitor, you will need to ask them for a moment to make your note, but I think this could be really helpful, not only to refocus on what you were doing, but also to be able to give the interruption your full attention without begrudging it.

I often have to set aside what I'm doing to go to a meeting or appointment to answer the 'phone or door. I think this simple technique might help my workflow.

Writeboard

I've just signed up to Writeboard and the difference with huddle and GoogleWave are immediately apparent.

If you are looking for a shared space to have that conversation I mentioned without the bells and whistles of file sharing, task management and other things, this could be just what you are looking for in the world of online collaboration.

Easy to set up, simple to use. even the most technically averse person would surely be able to contribute to a discussion using this tool.

Online Collaboration

So, with the demise of GoogleWave at the end of the year I've begun my search for a possible replacement. I had a quick squint at a few offerings but settled on giving Huddle a shot.

It looks quite promising although it takes a bit of getting used to after the style of waving I've been exploring. There are certainly features in Huddle that didn't exist in Wave and of course the inverse is also true.

What I liked about Wave was the concept of a single conversation. I guess in Huddle this is replicated by the idea of multiple workspaces where each idea or project has its own set of files and discussions. The free version only allows one workspace, which with some thought can be adapted to hold several active projects. I just feel that having easily identifiable space for a few projects would suit my needs better. I can get this facility if I opt for a paid version of the product (a monthly subscription is required).

Having said that, the extra features of being able, for example, to assign tasks to team members and send them an email reminder is very nice. I got one this morning about inviting people to enter my workspace.

Uploading files is easy and smooth, although I haven't tried uploading a file again after editing it. Huddle keeps an audit trail for each file you create or upload, which is useful too. I work with pdf's a lot because I don't use Microsoft software if I can help it. As a Mac user, I find Pages really easy and flexible for producing all my documents. Sadly Word is the standard for most people, so a pdf is almost guaranteed to be openable on every platform. Huddle accepts all sorts of file types and provides an online editor for excel and word files.

So, my first impressions are that although it doesn't have the feel of Waving, Huddle looks like a really useful online collaboration tool. Used properly I think it could help all sorts of groups and businesses to work together more effectively. These tools allow you to reduce the clutter of an inbox full of rabbit trail emails and they allow you to centralise a single copy of the most up to date version of a file. Everything in one place for every project.

Of course if you just want to share files, then Dropbox is great for doing that. But what Huddle gives you is all the facilities to discuss and organise around those files.

The downside of Google Wave was that it didn't work in the most common browser (Explorer) and it didn't work on one person's G4 Mac for some reason. Huddle doesn't look like it will suffer from those problems.

The question is, can I get the technologically averse to dip a toe in the water of online collaboration and join the Huddle? That may well be the defining criteria for success.

And by the way, thanks to the company for the courtesy call I got yesterday for signing up to Huddle. Both unexpected and thoughtful.

An alternative to Huddle might be Writeboard, but I haven't explored that yet.

Recovering organisation

Having mentioned organisation yesterday, it struck me that it doesn't actually matter what system you use to organise yourself as long as it does a number of things.

1. It has to be able to catch everything. If your system doesn't do this, stuff will get lost and left undone. If your system leaks, then you need to fix it. Usually it means simplifying it.

2. It has to be easy to use. I reorganised my filing system a year or so ago and now it's so much easier to file things. No more wondering which tab it goes in, just write a new header on a square cut folder and file it alphabetically.

3. It demands discipline, so your system must operate well at the level of disciple you apply to it. It may be that you need to increase your level of self-discipline, but my experience is that without disciple I'm really not organised at all. You don't have to become military about it, but your system will stand or fall on how disciplined you are about practising your habits.

4. If you move about a lot, work in and out of the office or study, from home and elsewhere, then your system has to be portable. Having an iPhone and the iPad running Omnifocus helps. I can always see my list of projects and actions. I haven't bought the Omnifocus app for the iPad yet, but the iPhone app works okay. I'm just a bit reluctant to spend all that extra money on the iPad version. It would be nice, if anyone is listening, if they gave you a discount for already owning the desktop and iPhone versions. Paying three times just seems a bit too much to ask.

Evernote and GTD

I can't remember if I've blogged about Evernote, but ever since I got my Ipad, Evernote has been a regularly used app. It's so simple yet so versatile. It's a great place to make all sorts or notes, and the great thing is that they synchronise across my various machines. In fact it's so useful I've even considered upgrading to a paid account. But less of this madness.

Older readers of my blog will know that I encountered David Allen's GTD system some time ago and it certainly helped me improve my organisation. To be honest I've fallen of the wagon a bit and need to get back into the routine. But I was intrigued to read this article about how one person has implemented GTD using Evernote.

No need to invest in expensive and sometimes overly complicated software, just sign up to Evernote for a free account and have a go.

Taking control of the chaos again!

It feels good to have taken a little time to reorder my tickler file. Organisation is one of the wagons from which I fall regularly. These days I find it easier to get back on because the basics of my system are fundamentally sound. There are some things to file, but most of the sorting out is done and I now need to remind myself every day to check the file and act on what I find.

I may have blogged about my filing system. Essentially it's an alphabetical system with a drawer for church things, a drawer for home stuff and a drawer that still needs attention! It used to be six drawers, so getting it down to three was quite an achievement in the first place.

I'm planning that 2010 will see some more progress in my improving organisation, and that I'll start tracking things more effectively. The single most important thing for me is getting stuff written down and ordered into actionable tasks. I use Omnifocus, but a simple list is really all I need most of the time.

So, here's to a better organised 2010! Now all I have to do is set some achievable goals in all the other areas of my life!

The busyness of life and ministry

I've been busy. Nothing newsworthy there. I'm guessing that there are precious few people out there who would actually describe their lives as particularly "not busy". If you are not busy for some reason, then please enjoy it if you can!

Anyway, my busyness stems from the convergence of two days away Waverley Abbey House, a funeral in between and a wedding on Saturday. In fact, had the wedding been two days earlier it would have meant that, for the first time ever in twenty years of ministry, I would have done a dedication, a funeral and a wedding in the same month!

I'd not thought about before Saturday, but things don't tend to come together quite like that for me. 

It does mean that there's a pile of post to deal with and much work to be done preparing for the next series as well as for the coming Sunday. But I don't get quite as worked up over this as I used to do. I think that although I'm not as well organised as I'd like to be, being more organised than I was certainly helps. For example, I know that the post can wait a day because I know there's nothing earth-shatteringly important in there and I know where it all is (it's all in one place in my famous tickler file). In fact I don't expect it to take me more than 10 minutes to deal with, even if it's a growing pile come tomorrow's delivery. And that's tomorrow's job.

So, if you're feeling stressed out by the busyness of everything, my prescription would be to take a long hard look at your organising system and honestly ask yourself if it's working. If it isn't, then begin to write a list of what you need to do to regain control and don't assume because all you papers are hidden away in a file that you've got it sorted. I've done that before and all it ever meant was that my disorganisation was hidden. Once written, tackle things one at a time. Pick the thing that will bring either most benefit or most joy as a starting point, then work systematically through the list. You might even be surprised how quickly you recover control. I've certainly discovered that by having a system, control is regained far more quickly that it was without one.

Water filters, Dyson filters, flea treatment and noticeboards

Whilst getting breakfast this morning, I decided it was high time I changed the filter cartridge in our water jug. Two things struck me. 

First, how come I never think of changing the filter more often? I checked in the cupboard and we have a good 18 months supply of filters! I keep buying them but forgetting to use them. Oh well, another item for the kitchen notice board.

Secondly, it's a bit worrying, if you want to worry about such things, that you have to discard the first two jugs of water filtered before its "Okay" to use. Now for something that's meant to take impurities out of the water, how does that work?!

Anyway, the job is done while eating toast, and I now have a reminder on my noticeboard to change the filter in a month's time. Actually we have a short list of regular things to do on our noticeboard as well as an area for shopping items. We find it helps us get the things we need when we shop rather than the things we think we need. It's everyone's job to write down items on the list and it's a wipe clean board so we can erase those items as they are replaced.

And much to their horror, there's even a reminder to give the cats their flea treatment! Oh the deep joy of some semblance of organisation!

GTD style app for Mac menu bar

If you are a Mac user and are thinking of trying an organiser application to take control of all your tasks and projects in a David Allen GTD style, then this might be of interest. It's called Plutopro and I've not used it, but I cam across it through an RSS feed I get. 

It's free and looks quite good. You can read about at MacUpdate here.

I currently use Omnifocus which is a very full and sometimes complicated system, so a simpler solution might be a better option even for me!

Andrew Mason, over at Did I get Things Done intends to do a review some time in the future, so it might be worth keeping an eye out for that.

Other alternatives I know about include Thinking Rock and iGTD, both of which I've used and both of which have their plus points. 

David Allen does GTD

For those of you who know about David Allen's Getting Things Done method for dealing with all the stuff that comes into your life, you might be interested/curious to see what his office looks like and how he does GTD.

If so, there's a video here that takes you into his office!

Reorganising for 2009

Here are five tips to kick-start you organisational plans for 2009 from Lifeorganizers.com. 

1. On Mondays, de-clutter your office. Remove at least one item which you don't use at least monthly. Remove all personal items from your desk. Throw away pens that don't work. Reduce your ketchup/salt/napkin supply by 90%.

2. On Tuesdays, take inventory. Review your supplies and make a list or place an order. Take a few minutes to look through an office supply catalog. You'll find a myriad of useful organizing items.

3. Think on Wednesdays. How can you make better use of your computer? Can you develop a spreadsheet to help organize some aspect of your job? Do you need to find and register for a computer class? Do it today.

4. Thursday is sorting day. Go through all those business cards and small pieces of paper which have accumulated throughout the week. Put them where they belong. Also put away any reference materials you've been using.

5. Have fun filing on Fridays. End your week by cleaning up all the paper lying around your office. Purge your files. Have a mean and clean filing system which you can actually use.

Back at the desk

Just to prove I'm back at my desk... honestly this is really me sitting at my desk.

I actually took this picture using the built-in camera on the iMac, a nice little feature. Anne, Ally and I will use the iChat video conferencing feature to keep in touch when she's away at University.

Back to work. It was interesting that over the sabbatical I let all the paperwork just pile up, only paying attention to stuff that really needed it like bank statements and credit card accounts. But I did put everything, more or less, in my inbox. So, on Sunday evening I took out the box , which was overflowing with stuff by now, and within 30 minutes I had it down to an organised pile which then got filtered into files and the tickler file. 

I was most impressed that it took so little time to recapture everything. 

If you've fallen off the organisational wagon, then let this be an encouragement, with a little effort it's fairly painless to climb back on. The only proviso is that you don't spend your time blaming yourself and/or others for becoming disorganised again. Simply set your mind to recapturing things.

Personally I still have a long, long road to travel in the organisation world, but I'm going to persevere because, as L'Oreal might say, "I'm worth it!"

Dropbox

This is "one to watch" if you're interested in synchronising files across multiple Macs and even PC's.

Still in beta, the website makes some impressive claims and it looks quite promising

Cleaning the closet

As we continued to sort through our accumulated paraphernalia, today was the charity shop run. Knowing we were going gave a little impetus to having a quick rummage through the wardrobe. 

I really should be able to fit all my clothes in the one wardrobe and chest of drawers, but I can't.  Due mainly I suspect to being unwilling to get rid of certain items. Things I might wear again one day. However, "one day" is rather unlikely to come around any time soon. 

I also have this habit of taking old clothes and declaring them "work clothes" as in clothes to wear when doing jobs around the house. This pile of old clothes grows and I suddenly realise that I have more "old jeans" than new ones. 

So, having sent some stuff to the tip and some to the charity shop, tomorrow may be a day to have a sort through the work clothes and narrow that pile. I may also get rid of the original packing boxes for my camera that are in the bottom of the wardrobe!

A Little Decluttering

There is something quite satisfying about going to the household recycling centre with a boot-load of stuff that you should have dumped years ago. Today was such a day. 

Anne and I, mostly Anne, attacked the fourth bedroom in our home. It's where we keep a lot of things that don't have a proper home. There are paperback books and maps and photographs and more books and toys from Ally's younger years.

Some things brought back many memories and being ruthless about what to keep gets harder as the junk pile grows. There's a picture I've had since I was 17, cassette tapes of radio shows from the early eighties, and a thousand unsorted photographs and slides. I also found a bag of things I made for doing talks at school assemblies. 

I envy those folk who don't seem to accumulate anything at all. How they do it I just don't know. Perhaps one day I'll work it out and we won't have to have days like today. On the other hand there's a sense of a life lived as you sort through things you don't really need but somehow they inform your life and jog your memory.

And, by the way, we recycled as much as we could.

Weary traveller returns home

Okay, so I was only away for one night, but the way things pile up around here I felt as if I'd been gone a month! I was actually in Nottingham, the family home (on my side of the family that is), performing the funeral of my sister's mother-in-law. 

These are somewhat strange occasions, mostly because I know a lot of the congregation, they are my family after all, but they are not the church family. Seeing them all sitting there takes a little getting used to. It was strange too being back in the crematorium chapel where I did my father's funeral a few years ago.

After the funeral I called in on Phil and Erica. Phil is another church leader committed to working out this outward focused thing, and it's always good to talk with with a fellow traveller. And then it was the drive back down the M1. It's not a long journey, but at the end of that kind of day it's far enough. Perhaps it was the toll of the day, perhaps my advancing years, but I felt the weariness of driving all too quickly and pulled off the motorway to give my brain a rest as much as anything else. Given that it's only two hours, it was odd to have to stop like this. 

When I got home, there were messages on the answering machine, emails and post. It's taken me until 11:00am this morning to even feel as if I've caught up with it let alone get to a place of control over it. So it was a pleasure to catch up with Jeff Noble's blog and read his post about GTD and David Allen's book. It gave me a renewed hope that all it takes is a little self-disciple and organisation will come, serenity and stress-relief is only a few steps away!

With that in mind I have emptied my email inbox and the desk is next on the hit list along with my weekly review. 

Here's to a more organised life in leadership and ministry.

A synchronised life

I recently bought a new mobile 'phone because I wanted to enter the world of Bluetooth. The long and short of it is that I'm thinking/planning to change my car and many of the newer model come with Bluetooth installed. So, buy a Bluetooth 'phone I thought.

Now the logical course would have been to get an iphone, and believe me I'm all for being logical. The problem is that in the UK there is only one cellular provider you can use and they lock you into a £35 a month contract for the privilege. I'm not about to start spending £35 a month just for the iphone when I probably don't actually spend £35 a year on my mobile anyway.

So I needed an alternative and decided to stick with Nokia and go for a simple Bluetooth version. I ended up buying the 6085 and it works a treat. The only problem was that when I tried to synchronise it with my Mac, it wouldn't work. Imagine my horror when I checked out the Nokia site to see a whole list of 'phones that would work and the one model so obviously missing was the one I'd just bought!

The upside of this story is that last night, with a little help and encouragement from super-mac techy David, I found a solution which is working fine. I can now synchronise my contacts and calendars between the Mac and the 'phone thanks to James Lloyd who should be hailed as a hero!

I am now one happy sychronised baptist minister. The question is: will this help me not to miss appointments?

Disappointed and disorganised

There is no magic trick, no grand plan to being organised. It is just a matter of discipline and choice. I must choose to be organised and I must be disciplined about being, and continuing to be, organised. 

David Allen's book Getting Things Done is a great starting point for developing habits for living with a greater sense of organisation. I know the goal is greater productivity, but I don't suppose you get that without becoming organised.

This all came home to me this morning when I suddenly realised I'd missed an appointment through sheer carelessness and lack of discipline. I'd written the appointment down in my diary, I'd captured all the details in the appropriate place, but I failed to check my diary in time. Once again I subconsciously relied on my memory and it didn't work.

So, I've written my apology note and I'll probably beat myself up for a while longer about by abject failure. But unless I resolve to actually take action to do something differently, it will happen again.

So, if you've fallen off your organisational wagon and feel overwhelmed by your disorganised and chaotic lifestyle, determine today to do something differently. Choose one thing you can change that will make a significant difference and begin to practice that habit until it becomes an automatic habit. 

For me it's got to be to check my diary at the end of the day and set suitable alarmed reminders for anything early the next day. And then check again at the start of the day. After all the reason I have a diary is precisely because I can't remember everything!