Get-It-Done Guy Action Day (Redux)

I wrote yesterday about how, despite my best intentions, my day went horribly awry and my participation in the Get-It-Done Guy's Action Day did not produce close to the results that I expected.

I am pleased to report that, I used the same framework I had established for yesterday and because I had a minimum of interruptions, I far exceeded my expectations.

Great planning makes for great production (even if it is a little late)!

Get-It-Done Guy Action Day (not!)

A lesson in the difference between busyness and productivity:

I had the honor of participating in Stever Robbins' "Get-It-Done Guy Action Day". The purpose of the action day is for a group of people to get together hourly for 5 minutes and commit to a daily goal and hourly goals.

I had a day of action planned. In the morning, I had planned to create tickets and assign work related to our ongoing lease replacement of computer hardware, and to review and update projects.

After lunch, my plan was to catch up on email and anything that came in during the morning.

The first call with Stever was at 9:00, I had to drop off early as I had an emergency call. Problems with our new video conference equipment.

Missed the 10:00 call for due to a hastily arranged conference call to discuss a software problem. Dropped off that call early because a new executive was having a PC problem. I don't do regular PC support anymore, but I do take most of the executive calls.

Missed the 11:00 call because of an impromptu meeting with our Facilities Manager and our Telephone Engineer about the new video conferencing system and upcoming moves within the building.

Left for lunch about 11:40. Ran out and got some groceries at the only Trader Joe's in the region, which is close to the office but far from home.

Back in less than an hour. Tried to eat. Network team fixed executive's issue. Went to test. Missed the 1:00 call.

Asked to meet with our CFO for software upgrade at 2:00. At 1:55 received call from an executive assistant who had a virus on her laptop. Picked up laptop and met with CFO. Missed the 2:00 call.

Cleaned off virus and updated laptop for admin. In my office at 3:00. Called in and gave update. Got support (yay!) Planned to spend next hour trying to get on track with projects (see 9:00am). Emergency call - had to drop off.

Made the 4:00 call (two in a row!) In between 3 and 4 had been called away 3 times. Now planning what work to take home to work on. Didn't make the 5:00 call as I was on the road and heading for home.

All in all, a very busy day. I am certain that I burned off at least two pounds with all the running about I did! How "productive" was I? About a 20 on a scale of 1 to 100. I did get my shopping done and I processed some leased hardware that was returned to me which I turned around quickly and returned to the leasing company.

On the busyness scale it was 100. I didn't have a free second.

What did I learn?

Having a plan for the day and for each hour is helpful. While I didn't complete much on my list of goals, they are all ready for me for tomorrow. Since they were all written down, something I don't have do every day, I had them to refer to, when I thought my day was going to settle down, so I could have gotten started instead right away instead of wasting valuable time wondering what I should be doing next. I recently made myself a similar "cheat sheet" for things around the house that I could be doing when, in a brain fog, I would rather just check Twitter and Digg!

To Stever and my fellow participants, thanks for the opportunity to take part. I hope to do it again soon, and have a day of action instead of reaction!

Kirk on Kirk

Like many Trek fans, I am looking forward to the release of the new Star Trek movie next May with a combination of both excitement and dread. J.J. Abrams has done some some very good work; Alias, The first two seasons of Lost, Fringe. He has done some not so great work; Cloverfield, the last season of Lost. The trailer looks good so far, I just hope that the trailer does not contain all of the good scenes. Most people I have spoken with feel that the trailer is inspiring them with hope for the film. There is one person however, who appears to feel differently.

Discovery

I listen to several podcasts a week, most of these are technology or news related, however, on the recommendation of a friend, I started listening to TEDTalks and Pop!Tech also. These podcasts are recorded at their respective conferences and cover many different subjects from leaders in nearly every discipline, from Billy Graham to Robert Ballard.

They often have short musical pieces from cutting edge performers, some like Benjamin Zander, musical director for the Boston Philharmonic, will speak on achievement or theory based on their musical experience and some are like Rodrigo y Gabriela, the Mexican Flamenco duo who are gaining popularity around the world.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am a huge fan of Flamenco music and when I initially applied to college it was to be a major in classical guitar, so it is likely that I am biased towards this type of music. However, after you see them perform, I am certain you will agree that this is one of the most exciting acts to appear in several years. I can't wait until I can see them live in concert!.

Reformatting?

Several of the blogs I read have recently announced that they are going to change focus, direction or content. That sounds like fun! I am going to do that too. Fortunately for me, since it has been over 7 months since I posted here last, changing direction will not really be difficult.

In all seriousness, earlier this year I had multiple blogs about different subjects. I had started a business blog, a fictional travelog hosted by a character I created, and a self-improvement blog. I felt that none of them got the attention they deserved and additionally, I spent so much time deciding which Blog was the most appropriate that I never did the writing. Productivity management gurus recommend having one notebook to keep everything in, because multiple notebooks and locations for notes only lead to lost notes and wasted time looking for then. This is good advice and I applying it to my blogging. I chose to continue this blog in favor of my other ones because this was the first and by its very nature the subject matter, as hinted in the title, does not have to be topically specific.

In addition to multiple blogs, I also have been participating in forum discussions on Linkedin and the Greenlight Community and minimally on Twitter.

I am going to use this one blog as the cornerstone of my writing efforts, linking back to my forum posts and to other bloggers and offering more of my own commentary.

Looking forward to sharing more random thoughts from the dusty corners of my brain!

V.

Out of the Mouths of Babes III

This morning I was up early with my two young daughters (4 & 1.5). After slicing up a pear for the older one I sat down on the couch with the younger. As she tucked up against me I hear from the kitchen: "Why are you sitting down with the baby? Do you think it is better to be playing with the baby than working on something?"

I fear for her future husband.

Experimenting

I know I am probably the very last person to put this video into their blog, however, this is the first time I am embedding video. I could not imagine anything cuter than this, other than my own darn cute kids, to use for my first attempt.

Olympic Torch

Today the Olympic Torch began its journey towards Beijing. For 130 days the torch will travel through the world and then through China. The Olympics in Beijing will be a tremendous opportunity for China to open up and show off the richness of its culture. Hopefully a peaceful solution to the situation in Tibet can be achieved before then so that this richness is not marred.

Below is a CNN link to a story about the Torch's journey:

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/03/24/oly.torchrelay/index.html?eref=edition

Out of the Mouths of Babes II

My 4 year old daughter is the master of the unintentional one liner. We were in a Levi's / Dockers outlet in Lancaster this weekend. I was admiring an Australian cowboy style hat. I put it on, looked in the mirror, and thought it looked really good on me. Seeking confirmation, I asked my daughter, "How does it look?".

She stared at me with big honest eyes and said: "I think it looks better on the shelf."

I didn't buy the hat.