A short episode for Christmas week, which not a time known for productivity discipline. We each share one favorite holiday hack. And Jean made a special audio treat for Dexter the Cat.
David Sparks, The Gift Wrap Field Guide
In this episode, Jean and James dig deeper into building habits. James makes the case that Habit Tracker apps should really be called Habit Trainers. Jean resolves to pick more concrete tasks for the Weekly To Do. The conversation turns to how seasonal changes, like shorter days, can affect daily habits. After reading a few chapters of Good Habits, Bad Habits by Wendy Wood, James starts thinking about the difference between things done routinely, and those that are truly habits—done without conscious thought.
Good Habits, Bad Habits by Wendy Wood
We met some goals this week, just not the goals we said we would meet on our last episode. We talk about the experience of sharing fitness updates via the Apple Watch and our 7-day challenge results and commiserate about the vagaries of the Stand goal.
In this episode Jean and James both find themselves accomplishing things even as they neglect reviewing their trusted systems this week. Jean finishes a month of daily microblogging and follows it up with a month of updating Micro.blog documentation. James creates and launches a website for Swift developers. Jean talks about using the Do app for daily reminders, while James lets his neighbors’ garbage cans serve as his weekly reminder to put his trash out.
Some of this week’s accomplishments:
From Day 3 of Jean’s Docsember:
What’s the difference between Micro.blog and Twitter?
James’ newly launched site:
SwiftVersion.net
During this holiday week in the U.S., James and Jean take time to reflect on things they are thankful for in their workflows, both hardware and software, as well as new habits like Dance Party.
For his “Weekly To-Do,” James tried to find the shutoff valve for his water main, but it eluded him. Maybe one of our listeners will have a suggestion… or James will eventually call the plumber anyway. Jean’s Weekly To-Do was watching the Neflix series The Queen’s Gambit, and she managed to get it done. 😏
Jean and James can’t resist talking about the newly announced M1 Macs and the adorable HomePod mini. James’ daily dance party now spans the entire house with the addition of this diminuative new HomePod. Jean’s decision to hold off on purchasing a new iMac is well-rewarded by the introduction of faster, quieter Macs. The conversation turns to the effects these new Macs might have on our productivity. Also, Jean commits to a screening while James commits to solving a household mystery.
We’re starting to get over our election year anxiety, and now we can get back to getting things done, or at least organized so they can be done. Jean gave up on email triage once the political fundraisers swamped her inbox, and she’s getting back on track with Mailstrom and Chuck. James decides to subscribe to Sanebox for another year.
Get $25 off Sanebox (referral link)
Get $5 off Mailstrom (referral link)
This week in the midst of the stress of awaiting election results, Jean’s beloved guinea pig Ada died unexpectedly from a respiratory infection. Jean shares memories of Ada and her feisty personality. Jean and James talk about the productivity pros and cons of pets, and tell stories of how their pets past and present have brought so much into their lives. Special feline guest Dexter the cat also shares his views.
Some things got done. Some things did not. Getting anything accomplished in this last week of October is a good thing, considering the stressors and distractions of election season. We also look to the Scandinavians for inspiration on not only surviving the winter season, but embracing it.
What Scandinavians Can Teach Us About Winter (New York Times)
2020 General Election Early Vote Statistics
The Solo Stove: Bonfire model, the outdoor compact fire pit that @cheesemaker aka Jon Hayes recommends
Despite continuing to stay at home during the global pandemic, in this episode Jean and James find themselves on and off a wagon, in the same boat, off the grid, on a roll, in a car getting a shot in the arm, and very briefly stopping by a Ladybugs’ Picnic. It was not a typical seven days at all but most certainly a week in the life riding the varying levels of productivity of 2020.
Video: The Ladybugs’ Picnic
This week, Jean had a secret weekly to-do, in addition to the one she announced last week. James successfully moves his websites away from WordPress. And then, in keeping with our pumpkin spice season tradition, we talk about the new iPhones we plan to order and why.
In this episode James shares a quotation about meditation that he heard during a Mindful Qi Gong class that he has been taking online. The quote talks of seeing meditation as an act of friendship towards yourself, as opposed to a way to ‘fix yourself’ or ‘improve yourself’. It also mentions removing the ‘subtle aggression of self-improvement’. Jean and James talk about those ideas but from the perspective of the focus on productivity and how sometimes we feel driven to get more done. The conversation turns to perhaps thinking of our trusted system as an act of friendship to ourselves, to allow us to not worry about the things that have been captured and that will surface when required, so we can focus on doing the things we feel are most important in our lives.
The quotation is from the book Meditation: Calming the Mind by Bob Sharples. The book seems to be out of print but an online search should turn up used copies. (Note that neither Jean nor James has read the book — just the quotation from it.)
Jean is reading the book Good Habits, Bad Habits by Wendy Wood, and it is providing many insights based on scientific research around the question of how to establish strong habits. James reports on his new Dance Party! habit, which is going well thanks to the combination of automation, repetition, and fun. Dexter interjects with habit advice for cats (we think), and even Siri has something to say.
In this episode, Jean and James talk about trying to establish regular exercise as a habit. James reveals that dancing may be the only form of excercise he truly enjoys—except maybe hikes through the woods and walking ten miles a day at Disney parks. James talks about configuring the Apple Home app to have his HomePod automatically play a dance music every afternoon. Instant Dance Party! Jean and James talk about the new Dance workout on Apple Watch and are excited and optimisitc by the prospects of regular daily enjoyable exercise. Jean also talks about the wonderful September 21 video from this year.
James and Jean review the latest Apple product announcements and consider which new devices and services will promote better productivity. The new Scribble feature in iOS 14 definitely has the potential to reduce friction when capturing to-dos. Fitness+ is appealing, even if we can’t include our cat and guinea pigs on the Apple One Premium family plan.
In this episode, James talks about his experiences using SaneBox for the past few years. With his inbox and email subscriptions under much better control, James is weighing the decision of continuing to use Sanebox or possibly letting his subscription lapse. Jean and James talk a bit about the western wildfires, including those near their homes. Plus, James celebrates his three-year garageversary.
Get $25 off Sanebox (referral link)
Get $5 off Mailstrom (referral link)
Previous email episodes
114: It Has Been 399 Days Since The Topic Was Email (Jun 19, 2020)
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)
Picking up some steam after last week’s episode, James is on a streak of two weekly reviews in a row. Jean planned to get hers done, but low energy and inability to focus foiled her ambitions. This episode then focuses on one of the causes of these issues: lack of sleep. We’re no sleep experts, but sharing our experiences with each other always helps us gain some perspective and get ideas of new things to try.
Stress Management: Breathing Exercises For Relaxation (Univ. of Michigan Medicine; includes the 4-7-8 method)
This episode Jean and James talk about times when you are not feeling well but still feel guilty for not getting things done. The conversation proceeds to putting times like that into the context of your trusted system. Dexter the cat makes a guest appearance as the topic turns to cat and guinea pig productivity.
As severe lightning, power outages, a heat wave, and numerous fires affect California, Jean and James talk about emergency planning. James talks about some planning he had done earlier this spring helped this past week. Jean talks about how preparation for past events helped her to have things when needed in the present. James reflects on his gratitude that he has not had to evacuate due to the fires as many have but realizes he doesn’t have any sort of evacuation plan. Both Jean and James put a project to prepare an emergency plan into their trusted systems.
In this episode, James and Jean explore the connection between action and motivation, which relates to last week’s episode about procrastination. Waiting for motivation to strike us is a well-known source of procrastination, whereas taking any action to get going on a project often generates the motivation to actually finish the thing.
Thanks again to J.D. Roth of Get Rich Slowly, whose article Action Creates Motivation provided some much needed inspiration this week!
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:
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
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:
16: The Unbearable Lightness of OmniFocus Bankruptcy
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.
Thanks to an email from a listener, Jean did a weekly review this week on the theory that it’s better to do a shoddy one than not to do one at all. James is still getting things done, but a full weekly review is still on his list. (Which means the contest to guess which week James does a review is still on. Details below.)
Send us an email at sayhello@theweeklyreview.fm with the subject “Weekly Review Week Guess” and pick the Sunday of the week that you think James will actually complete a full weekly review. The correct guess will score something fun from the many cool pop culture tchotchkes at his house.
Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV+ and more. With the proliferation of streaming services, home entertainment has become more complex. In this episode Jean and James talk about their streaming subscriptions including strategies to keep from breaking the entertainment budget. Also, Jean moves to the next iCloud storage tier and James wonders if he should dump Hulu and watch Picard instead.
App for tracking subscriptions:
Bobby
Inspired by an article by J.D. Roth of Get Rich Slowly, Jean and James talk about the appealing concept of starting with a clean slate. The conversation covers a range of variations on the clean slate theme—from hotel rooms that contain only what you’ve brought on a trip, to declaring OmniFocus bankruptcy and starting again, to the thought that a weekly review is a way of getting to a clean slate state, without starting from scratch every time. Plus, a movie pitch and a sure-fire idea for an app.
The clean slate by J.D. Roth at getrichslowly.org
This week, we ask the question: how exactly did our parents manage their tasks? Both James and Jean have parents who held jobs, raised children, got advanced degrees, and successfully retired without the benefit of OmniFocus or GTD. We reminisce about what organizational strategies we remember from our childhoods, how our parents’ examples influenced us, and how life was simpler back then.
In this episode Jean and James set out to talk about including follow-up tasks in projects to make sure loose ends are tied up. But James‘ friend Dexter the cat has other plans and becomes an unexpected special guest. James coaxes him to share some of his feline organizational tips while other topics range from some OmniFocus wishlist items to unexpected trips.
Our contest is still on:
Send us an email at sayhello@theweeklyreview.fm with the subject “Weekly Review Week Guess” and pick the Sunday of the week that you think James will actually complete a full weekly review. The correct guess will score something fun from the many cool pop culture tchotchkes at his house.
We start off this year answering a listener question about when and why to use Due versus Omnifocus for reminders. James confesses he still hasn’t done his weekly review and talks about why he is okay with that, while Jean flies under the radar and doesn’t even mention her weekly review (which she hasn’t done either). We wrap up with some travel hacking tips and then James surprises us all by offering prizes for guessing which week he will do that weekly review.
It’s the beginning of a brand new year and in this episode Jean and James take a look back at 2019 with some resolutions and accomplishments and look forward to getting things done in 2020. Topics include getting away from or sticking with social media platforms and getting a new health care plan.