Truly Cranking Widgets

Every once in a while - say every 6 to 8 weeks - I need some time in the office on a weekend. It's really tough with SWMBO and the children, and all the demands, to do that during the day. So, sometimes I will make the treck to the office of a Saturday night, grab a fine coffee (my drug of choice) on the way, and head in at 8 or 9 on a Saturday night.

Let me suggest to you that you don't do this the night Daylight Savings Time begins. Trust me.

I did this very thing last night, getting PILES of stuff done and out of my way. Truly, it was relieving to get so much stuff done. I did the proverbial cranking of widgets from about 9 to about 1 am, and it was liberating. So why can't I do it at work?

In fact, I have been. I've been very much "in the zone" at work, and have had a remarkable ability to concentrate and throw all of my energy back at my job. It's been fun, it's been powerful, and I'm ploughing through stuff.

When GTD talks about the energy available (which has been a huge discussion at the Yahoo! GTD Group of late), it means just that - what your mood is, how much you are willing to throw at it, and how much you are willing to commit to it. Lately it's been fantastic for me. I think many people "fall off the wagon" as much because of their energy level/mood as because they are trying to find the elusive single, magical, perfect GTD system.

Trust me - it is much easier to just plough through things when you have the energy and inclination - no matter what time of day that strikes. Even the Saturday night before Daylight Savings Time begins.


Technorati Tags: GTD, Energy, Mood, Daylight Savings Time, Coffee

The importance of defining "WORK"

I have had a really interesting experience this week - the ability to work, solid, with little interruption and some free blocks where I was able to really WORK on stuff. It was wonderful. It was amazing what you could get done in 20 minutes, let alone two. My physical inbox is empty. My @action lists are whittled. My e-mail inbox is nearly empty, but I will be blowing through that tomorrow.

All in all - it was nice to have the system reaffirmed, even when you are not near a full implementation -which is where I am at right now.

What I did like about this week was being able to define the different types of work I do - working on our core business, working on sales and marketing, working on being an employer - all of which is my "real work" but at various times, some feels more like "real work" than others. Those times are usually when I'm doing other less interesting work and am wanting to move on to the other stuff. However, I was able to blend it all together this week - it felt truly relieving.


Technorati Tags: GTD, Work, Inbox