The Weekly Review

Jean and James talk about procrastinating on one task by making progress on another. Using this technique, James launched a website for his free utility app BuildSettingExtractor. Jean’s weekly todo took longer than she thought it would when it unexpectedly took her down memory lane. The conversation turns to whether procrastination-based productivity is a good thing. Is it just part of the GTD practice of choosing the best thing to work on next in the moment or if it might mask a real resistance to getting the procrastinated item done?

Here’s the result of James’ procrastivity this week:
BuildSettingExtractor

This week, James and Jean talk about small changes we have made lately to improve productivity and/or life. Whether it’s prepping for phone calls with a list of the info you need, or finding a quick solution to help your cat get up on the bed, little things can make a big difference. Don’t discount them, just because they’re easy.

Jean and James follow up on episode 113: Turn Good Intentions Into Next Actions and discuss using your trusted system to help effect the change you wish to see in the world. Jean talks about the recent events in her home town of Portland, OR and actions she is taking. James encourages everyone to put voting-related tasks into their trusted systems. Also, Jean makes a phone call and James unpacks a big box.

Listeners in the US, check voting information for all states here:
Vote.org

James and Jean look at how adjusting expectations can have a positive effect on motivation and energy. Summer tends to be the season of travel, long weekends, outdoor fun, and big post-WWDC development goals, so it can be helpful to recalibrate and adjust to the current reality, and even learn to appreciate it.

In this episode Jean and James talk about experiencing a very different summer than most. Jean is spending much more time in her backyard. James is giving his yearly tradition of visiting relatives in Canada a pass this time around. Also this week, some strategies for balancing the effort of filing and organizing paperwork with the effort of finding paperwork later when you need it. And finally, Dexter the cat needs a grooming.

In this episode Jean and James talk about their experiences with this year’s online Apple worldwide developer conference (WWDC) compared to past years when they have attended in person. Both are surprised by the number of similarities in how they felt before and after the conference even without spending a week away from home. Also, Jean takes a short staycation and James briefly reimagines WWDC sessions as a new episodic Apple TV+ series.

This week, we focus on James’ epic short project, a video presentation of The Liki Song, including over two dozen musicians and performers.

Since 2012, James Dempsey and the Breakpoints have held LIVE near WWDC, an evening of music, fun, and laughter playing some of the nerdiest developer music around.

An online WWDC meant bringing this yearly tradition online as well, so we’ve gathered the largest virtual group of Breakpoint performers ever assembled for a special event.

James talks about the logistical and technical aspects of pulling together so many moving parts in less than a week, and how such an all-consuming project affects one’s usual approach to getting things done.

Live-ish Concurrent With WWDC 2020
(Previously known as Live Near WWDC)

When this podcast launched, James and Jean talked a lot about managing email, because their inboxes were stuffed and overflowing. Thanks to our weekly reviews, new email tools, and a friendly sense of competition, we managed to get to Inbox Zero. We didn’t necessarily stay at Inbox Zero, but it was still a big improvement.

Jean had a issue this week and didn’t receive any email for 2 days. It led her to rethink her email hosting provider. We also talk about the new features Hey from BaseCamp is touting, though neither of us is interested in trying it right now.

Get $5 off Sanebox (referral link)

Get $5 off Mailstrom (referral link)

Previous email episodes

57: I Have to Laugh (May 17, 2019)

52: Emailiversary (April 12, 2019)

28: The Big Email Processing Episode (October 26, 2018)

3: Brute Forcing Our Way ot Inbox Zero (May 11, 2018)

In this episode Jean and James talk about ways to use your trusted system to continue supporting causes once they are no longer in the headlines. James talks about his GTD strategy for non-fiction books, including those listed below. Jean describes the power of sending a physical letter to elected officials. And both explore various ways of turning your good intentions into recurring next actions.

So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo

James and Jean talk about the trouble with focusing when work commitments don’t feel relevant or important compared to what’s going on right now in the world. Jean didn’t get her Weekly To-Do done, and explains why. James found himself writing a new song, which we share here and discuss his songwriting process.

Take care, everyone.

If you are not sure to how to help those who are struggling right now, consider making a donation to the Equal Justice Initiative.

This week Jean and James talk about the book Atomic Habits by James Clear. James just finished reading it and describes how the practical steps described in the book dovetail nicely into his mental model of his practice of GTD and building a trusted system. Jean and James discuss a few other habit-related books they have read. James takes a concrete step to putting the ideas in Atomic Habits into action.

Atomic Habits by James Clear
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg
The Craving Mind by Judson Brewer

Jean and James revisit the 15 Styles of Distorted Thinking, discussed in Episode 81, and note how our current circumstances have given rise to new or different patterns of distorted thoughts that hamper our productivity.

Disclaimer: as we frequently like to say, we are not gurus. We are not experts on productivity or psychology. We are just two friends talking about what works for us.

15 Styles of Distorted Thinking

PDF: 15 Styles of Distorted Thinking
Fits on one page, can be printed and used with a ticker file or hung up on your refrigerator

PDF: 15 Styles of Distorted Thinking plus 15 Rational Alternatives Offers a strategy for each of the 15 Styles of Distorted Thinking.

After spending a number of weeks at home, Jean and James reflect on how routines have become a bigger part of their lives. Jean describes how weekly routines help keep the days from running completely together. James talks about how he seems to be adding many small routine tasks to his trusted system, many of which take only a minute or two. And James talks about Dexter’s adorable drinking water fountain.

This episode’s “Weekly To-Do” morphed into a full-fledged topic, as Jean recounts how reactivating a simple to-do brought back difficult memories of procrastination and avoidance during especially challenging periods of mental health issues. James reminds her that she is hardly alone in having used these “strategies” when stressed, and it’s counterproductive to beat ourselves up when we’ve missed something, even something important.

This episode explores some ways that even pleasant surprises can upend your plans. James tells the story of how an unexpected package delivery necessitated a quick leveling up of skills. For Jean, the opportunity to be with her family at a safe distance led to a choice between the gathering and ending a personal project early.

James and Jean have their second week of “The Weekly To Do,” a new feature (with a bonus jingle!) where we pick one item from our to-do list and commit to getting it done by the next episode. We are both 2 for 2 on this accountability strategy; Jean’s organized her streaming subscriptions and James’s coffee maker is no longer nagging him to clean it. In the context of real life, which is hard to distinguish from The Onion lately, those are big wins!

Felt App, Hand-Written Cards for the Modern World

Man Not Sure Why He Thought Most Psychologically Taxing Situation of his Life Would Be The Thing to Make Him Productive, from The Onion

Musicland, Bel Air, Maryland
(run by James’s friend Larry Noto)

Quarantine Viewing recommendations:

Star Trek: Picard

Survivor

In this episode, Jean and James dive into the new “Weekly Accountability Task” segment of the podcast, including a catchier name suggested by a listener and the world premier of the segment’s musical intro.

Jean has an update on her planned return to Slovenia while James gives an update on his quest to get a REAL ID driver’s liscense. The conversation turns to a variety of extended deadlines including for filing taxes. James talks about the technique he is using in OmniFocus to keep recurring projects like paying taxes correct for future years while adapting to this year’s new dates.

The new segment name and the new jingle it inspired was suggested by Beck, one of our listeners. Thank you Beck!

On our 100th episode, we announced that we were going to add a weekly check-in on a specific task to provide mutual accountability at the task level, not just at the weekly review level. Apparently, we didn’t add this new feature to our trusted systems, and (no surprise!) we forgot about it until now.

We are still looking for a name for this new segment of the podcast, something catchier than Weekly Accountability Task, but at least we have launched it with both of us committing to a task for next week.

In this episode, Jean and James discuss topics from two articles. One talks about resisting putting pressure on yourself to be hyper-productive, especially in these early days of adjusting to the realities of the coronavirus pandemic. The other talks about how with new and unfamiliar experiences in day to day life can lead to feeling like life is surreal. James unveils a new tag he is using in OmniFocus to put projects and actions on hold because of the shelter in place order in the Bay Area.

Conversation turns towards the notion of not being able to make concrete plans you can look forward to such as travel, but that instead, you can look forward to specific things you will do in the future, even though you cannot plan the details.

Why You Should Ignore All That Coronavirus-Inspired Productivity Pressure

Why Life During a Pandemic Feels So Surreal

OmniFocus

This week Jean talks about how she looks forward to doing her weekly review now, even though a lot of tasks will be deferred or deleted, because it helps to feel a bit more in control. James not only got his weekly review done, he got his email inbox count down to zero. Jean also wonders how to use her 2020 year-at-a-glance calendar which is starting to look pretty empty now, as future events get cancelled.

This episdoe Jean and James talk about how they are adjusting to changes due to COVID-19. The conversation explores the notion of actions having a context—the necessary requirements to get a task accomplished—and how some next actions that may have seen trivial a week ago are now postponed indefinitely. Jean suggests taking the opportunity to review the existing context tags in our trusted systems and James describes how he has had to discontinue the garbage can game he plays with his 92-year old neighbor.

To mark the occasion of the 100th episode, James and Jean talk about our favorite moments and accomplishments, and talk about new ideas for our second hundred episodes.

Some stats so far:
Total minutes: 2517
Total hours: 42
Average length: 25.5 minutes
Number of special guests: 4 (+ 1 🐱)
Holidays invented: 2
Episodes recorded outdoors: 1
Podcasting conferences attended: 1

Episodes mentioned:

1: My Whole House Is An Inbox

8: The Usual Monkey Wrench

16: The Unbearable Lightness of OmniFocus Bankruptcy

19: That’s Too Devious, Jean

20: Organizationiversary

21: A Day Without A Dot 🎉

33: On The Hunt For The Perfect To-Do List App, with Special Guest Aleen Simms

35: James Is My Trusted System

39: A Very Long Story, with Special Guest Rosemary Orchard

41: Productivity + Fun = PodCon 2 in Seattle

42: Life, The Universe, and What’s In Our Junk Drawers

47: The Time Sensitive Micro Project

52: Emailiversary

54: A Very Tasty Pepper, with Special Guest Ish ShaBazz

69: The Odyssey of the Ford Taurus

87: Reviewing Our 2020 Calendar Strategies, with Special Guest David Sparks

92: Cat Bombed, with Special Guest Dexter

94: The Clean Slate

In this episode the topics range from the practical to the fanciful. James and Jean revisit the notion of a clean slate. James has begun thinking about his weekly review as a way to start with a clean slate which has been helpful motivation in the past few weeks. In more fanciful matters, Jean and James talk about desired superpowers and James contends that a common inspirational phrase is a load of hooey. Finally, the winner of the “When will James Do His Next Weekly Review?” contest is announced!

James announces that he has completed a weekly review after a spell of not doing one (while being otherwise productive). We talk about how it feels to get that done, why it took this long, and what lessons we can learn about getting back on track. We also discuss about how tags and flags can be a help or a distraction in tackling our tasks in OmniFocus.

This episode Jean talks about progress on her proposal to add a guinea pig emoji, including the emoji proposal process and some details from the reasearch Jean has done so far. Using this particular project as an example, Jean and James talk about how their trusted system might help them to get things done, but doesn’t necessarly help you get things done early or ahead of a deadline.