Matt's Idea Blog

When you don't want to decide

matt — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:14:19 -0600

You should have a reaction immediately, one way or another. If you have to think about a dress to say you like it or not, then the dress doesn't really mean anythying. I make up my mind very, very fast about things, because anything that takes long thinking doesn't really interest me. -- Oscar de la Renta, on dress shopping in Time Tactics of Very Successful People

Have you had the following happen? You have a decision to make, but you don't want to make it, so you put it off or avoid it, but it leaves you unsettled and disturbed until you deal with it. This had come up because I have two such decisions pending right now - committing to some relatively minor surgery, and whether to accept someone's application for a project.

Of course the right thing to do is buck it up and make the damn decisions, so why do we torture ourselves? Two general categories come to mind: a) We don't know what we want to do, or b) we know it, but we're putting off taking action. In my two cases, I have one of each. I know I want to undergo the procedure, but it's expensive, unpleasant, and time-consuming - I'm nervous committing. I.e., category b. For the second one, I'm not sure whether I want to turn the person down or not, i.e., category a.

For decisions we aren't ready to make yet, make sure there are good reasons to put them off. There are a few situations where it's valid to do so, mainly when you need more information. But that can be a trap. Will gathering more information really significantly alter what you decide? (There's definitely an opportunity for 80-20 decision making here.) Beyond gathering information, "I just need more time" is also valid and also a trap. Why do you need more time? A good heuristic I share with clients is the "one-time pass" to put things off. Push it out as far as you need, but when it comes back you have to decide.

Of course there are many techniques to help make decisions, from love/hate at first sight (like de la Renta) to "T-tables" comparing alternatives across binary dimensions. That's a book chapter.

I'm curious: Do the two cases above cover the spectrum? Do you have trouble making decisions? What techniques do you use? When has putting off a decision helped a lot, and why?

MUS - Trusting and Tracking What Catches Your Fancy

matt — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:20:37 -0600

I learned a text tag from a technical writer (I forget the context) that's stuck with me: "MUS," which stands for Might Be Useful. I love it for two reasons. First, it represents an active experimenter because she is aware and observing. You have to pay attention to grab things that MUS. Second, There's the underlying assumption or spark that spoke to you - "Pay attention to this (but I don't know why)." That's an act of faith, actually - what my divinity school graduate and Think, Try, Learn collaborator defines as hope without evidence.

Trusting that an items is important means, of course, you better capture it just in case it pans out. In my Big Arse repository (see My Big-Arse Text File - A Poor Man's Wiki+Blog+PIM) I have thousands of these, of which 90% won't pay off. But that's OK. It's like my talking a lot of photos - Just through random shots some of them will probably work out somehow. A key is efficient capture at the time - use whatever tools and hotkeys you like. It shouldn't be paper, though - too slow to encode and retrieve.

Key, also, is review. Similar to the practice of regularly looking back over your projects, you should see if any MUSes have become IDUes (Is Definitely Useful). I've struggled with how to bake the MUS review habit into my workflow, and now use opportunistic idea review: When I have to create something - an article or a presentation, say - I hit the file and search. Fortunately, I've consistently tagged things so that this works pretty well. Tracking Lessons Learned is an example, as is blogging.

As far as what makes this happen, I'd say it's the magic of being human. The unique combination of your mind, history, and how you've opened yourself to the world dictates what you see, and what you predict might be valuable. I guess it's our MUSe. What catches your fancy will change over time - my anti-library is littered with books I'll probably never crack. But when a gem shows up from my past self - boy is that gratifying.

I'm curious: (How) Do you pay attention to MUSes? What's your MUS repository like? How do you review it?

Two Second Poll: How do you like my new blogging style?

matt — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:01:51 -0500

For three weeks I've been experimenting with shorter, looser, and more frequent posts, that have - gasp! - images. Do me a quick favor? Vote on how you like this style. Comment below if you want to share more detail. Thanks!

Time, Space, Objects, and Interrelationships. Plus: FastCompany.TV Goodies

matt — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:21:39 -0500

I stumbled across the FastCompany.TV interview IBM's "brain" guy: Dharmendra Modha with Robert Scoble. While I didn't finish it (mainly due to the terrible interviewer) an idea jumped out: An Ontology for perceiving the world: Time, Space, Objects, and Interrelationships. Since I love categories, what's the translation to time management? Let's play with it.

Time: Well that seems clear; it's the fixed currency to which we are budgeted. I and my commenters explored this in What Are The Laws Of Work?, especially time's special qualities (expensive, precious, perishable, etc.) What else can we say about time? Clocks count it, calendars represent it linearly, task lists capture intentions to use it (as does the calendar), and "someday" lists represent the opposite (things I'm not doing).
Space: For workplaces, physical space is what we occupy, including desks, files, shelves, etc. It's where we put ourselves and our things (next). And according to The Power of Place, it has a big influence on our thoughts, emotions, and actions. Mental space is required to do creative thinking (and by creative, I mean all jobs), and it's where we hear the voices of intuition and direction. It's also where genuine listening takes place, and where we begin to break habits, such as multitasking and procrastination.
Objects: The things we manipulate to get our work done. Inboxes capture and files organize them. Also, this is the category of tool.
Interrelationships: I loved it when Modha included this one. Of course! The people we work with, the connections between projects and tasks, the flow of work between us, they all follow channels, mostly communicative ones, I'd argue.

Just for fun, below is a table in which I mapped the GTD organizing categories to these four "universal" ones. Also, here are a few FastCompany.TV videos you might like:

I'm curious: What are your ideas of this perspective? How do you interpret time management from this high level? Any "big impact" videos you'd like to share?

Share Your Inbox Delights!

matt — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:36:47 -0500

On my birthday last week I received a wonderful surprise in the mail: A lovely assortment from of TCHO chocolate from a client and entrepeneur. Yum! (Side note: I was turned onto great chocolate when my wife dragged me into one of Larry Burdick's cafes and got me to try a few bon bons and a cup of drinking chocolate. No kidding, It changed my life; see How To Make The Ultimate Cup Of Hot Chocolate from four years ago.)

This got me thinking about the emotional impact of incoming items (attention tokens as I called them in These Are The Inboxes Of Our Lives). As an anxious person, I especially appreciate these. It's why I still Use Gmail's "star" To Highlight Good News.

What about you? I invite you to share some inspiring things that show up in your inbox, that is, things that made you take a relaxing deep breath. Paper or "physical" things - either way! To the side are a few recent ones that motivated this post: The chocolate and a children's harp that needs a new string (the note was priceless).

I'm curious: How often do you get something uplifting in your inboxes (email, paper, or voicemail)? What sources (i.e., people) have the highest signal-to-noise (uplift-to-??) ratio? Do you create delight through the things you give out?

Check Out the Productivity501 "Where Did My Day Go" Daily Planning Contest!

matt — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:02:57 -0500

Check Out the Productivity501 "Where Did My Day Go" Daily Planning Contest!

Over at Mark Shead's Productivity501 we're running a Where Did My Day Go Contest in which a luck reader will win a copy of my daily planning guide, "Where the !@#% did my day go? The ultimate guide to making every day a great workday". I won't tell anyone if you slide over there and enter by making a comment ;-)

You might also check out the many ways people manage have come up with to plan their days. I cover the majority of them in my guide, and at the same time I enjoyed reading their ideas and stories. I was gratified to see mentions good of treating getting more productive as experiments taking place :-)

Finally, a little badly delayed catch-up on Mark's and other sites:

You might enjoy Interview: Technology Investments : Productivity501, which has answers from me and other bloggers to the question, "How do you decide if a new technology is worth investing in or whether it is a waste of time?"
Mark's Biggest Productivity Challenge question (I listed "discipline"), and
CIO Magazine's brief interview of me in How to Handle Negative Online Comments, Hold a Concise Meeting and Decline an After-work Invite.
I had a delightful conversation with Sam Carpenter, author of Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less. If you like my "no-nonsense ex-NASA engineer" approach to productivity, you'll want to check it out. His perspective of "Each thing we do is a component of a system." jibes with my "Everything in life is an experiment" approach. I love this passage: You must stand outside of it if you are to see how you are a part of it.
Blog honors: I was pleased to see that I'm in the top 25 in Blog Rank's Getting Things Done category, along with sites like 43 Folders and Lifehacker. I'm also one of the "World's Top GTD Blogs" according to The Daily Reviewer. Thanks so much for reading!

What gets better with age?

matt — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:45:17 -0500

Some things improve with age (wine is a common example). What else has that characteristic (or the opposite) in time management, or in life? Phrased positively,

Foods: Cheese, wine, for example. And a continuation of the previous, bread mold, though not all are created equal.
You: I know you, and you work to make yourself more mature, more resilient, and more knowledgeable. And I deeply respect that. As I get older, my goal is to continue the practice so that, on my last breath, I will still be asking questions. (Like __?) The risk: Getting comfortable and stuck. Tip: If you're used to being the smartest person in the room (a variation on worst musician in the band), you need a new room!
A project: You know those efforts that flow (yes, you should actually read the book) and gather momentum as they progress? I love them! My goal as a writer and consultant is to help clients have more of those. The risk: Things getting out of control, resources dropping out, and unexpected/unpredictable events. To protect yourself: Evaluate as you move it along, and be willing to change direction. (Hmm. TTL, anyone?)
A task: Hmm. I'm having trouble thinking of a task that improves the older it gets. If it's paused waiting on something else, then it's not executable and goes on your workflow Waiting For list. If you don't want to do it right now, but don't want to drop it yet, it goes on your Someday/Maybe list. Risk: If it sits around too long, you'll get discouraged or start skipping over it, and be less happier. Tip: Try dating your tasks (not just your Waiting For items). Getting stale? Make taking care of it itself an action.
Science! You gotta' love an approach to understanding the world that's self-correcting.
Memories: Fond ones that give you pleasure are a gift; relish them.Risk: Not pruning the negative thoughts that intrude on your mental realm. I struggle with this in particular. (In my case there's a biological component, but I'm always on the lookout for behaviorial tools. Suggestions welcome.)

I'm curious: What else is better old, new, or changes between them over time?

Introducing: The Nothing Store!

matt — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:23:12 -0500

(I'm having some post-birthday blues, so allow myself to lighten myself.)

Due to disappointing response to Buy Nothing Day, we're opening a new store - The Nothing Store! For people who want to give a gift, but want to feel like they did and gut the guilt, this is the place for you! In our store you'll find every kind of nothing you might want - all colors, shapes and sizes await you. International too - we support all universal cognition-based models of nothing! Just browse everything we have to offer, add your desired nothings to your cart, and check out. It's that easy! The recipient will receive nothing in the mail within one hour. It's that fast!

Because we're new, we have some kinks to work out, but we'll have answers to your questions soon, we promise!

How do I access your items that are on sale?
How does does my gift receiver know when it's arrived?
When will you have product photos?
Your cart's quantity feature is confusing. It says to remove nothing, simply change its quantity to zero and click Update Cart, but how is zero nothings different from some nothings?
My person didn't receive her nothing. How do I re-send it?
How do I get a refund, and how should I package the nothing for return?

For questions and inquiries contact Customer Support. Rest assured, we always have no one standing by. Unfortunately, they're usually up to nothing.

Beware Binary Success Measures, or, Why "All or Nothing" Stinks

matt — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:47:57 -0500

Help me out with something: In considering the outcome of a project, we usually have a pretty firm idea of what success means. The question is integrated directly into GTD, in fact, and it makes sense. After all, why are you doing it, and how will you know you're done.

But there's a trap. If your metric is binary, then you've set yourself up for suffering during the entire thing. You'll be forced to ask yourself at each step, "Will I be successful?". If it doesn't look to be so, you'll be unhappy. But the point is that continual questioning along the way spoils the fun a little bit. (This is what I was getting at in in Coffee, Booze, And Sex: Is It The Journey Or The Destination? - life is in the process.)

What about if things are looking good? Well, you're still attached to the outcome, so the satisfaction of being on target is short-lived. Unless you're certain, you'll keep coming back and questioning. As I understand it, this is built into Buddhism (details, anyone?) See, for example, The origin of suffering is attachment, which identifies craving and clinging in particular.

So here's my question: How do we balance a clear craving (wanting a project to work out in a certain way) with desire to enjoy the life of the thing (being in the moment)? Let's be honest, if I'm putting together a proposal, I want it to succeed, and I'll be disappointed if it doesn't. Is it weakening our effort to even consider not reaching the goal? how do we handle this case? One thing I've been experimenting with is spinning it at the end. "It didn't work out the way I wanted/envisioned, but what I learned/enjoyed/experienced was..."

I'm curious: What do you think? How do you enjoy the ride while simultaneously managing your binary desire?

Stories from Edison: Lucid Dreaming, Dropping Twitter, Sleep, and Personal Medical Experiments

matt — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:01:16 -0500

(Surprises, insights, and stories from Edison, the Think, Try, Learn experimenter's workbook.)

Productivity: In No RSS for a week, we hear about "Cascade of Changes" - be prepared for the unanticipated consequences of our actions. Example: Someone went into therapy in order to stop smoking, and ended up divorcing her husband!
Twitter: Stop Twittering has a comment about the best use of Twitter (at least for my content) and mentions % of valuable hits in an information stream. Is 10:1 good - I think so. Who rates that high? Ben Casnocha (Twitter, Delicious). Commenter suggests I use delicious rather than Twitter (if sharing references to others).
Health: In Try melatonin to see impact on sleep we hear about DHEA and an MD's observation "You realize you're conducting a medical experiment on your body, don't you?" Yep! Also, no report of lucid dreaming. Another sleep experiment: Improve Sleep Hygeine.
Productivity: Have you considered turning off Gmail's inbox unread count? The setting is in Hide Unread Counts. Also, check out the new "Got the wrong Bob?" and "Don't forget Bob" feature. It's working great for me.
Writing: Starting with The Definitive Guide To Superhero Novels I'm experimenting to write shorter, simpler, and more frequent blog posts, seven so far. A conversation arose around the experiment about why a tool change supports this. Related: I came across this book, which made the connection of tool = place: The Power of Place: How Our Surroundings Shape Our Thoughts, Emotions, and Actions.
Reading: Someone experimented to Improve reading speed using Tim Ferris' techniques, based on Scientific Speed Reading: How to Read 300% Faster in 20 Minutes 235 Comments. Overall: Thumbs up, but his baseline was pretty high. (Related: How about Reading Books The GTD Way?)
Tech: A reverse switcher, Attempt to switch back from Mac to Linux is going well, with an email efficiency bonus.
Business: In Try an Affiliate Network Revenue Model for BringIt, the experimenter is trying an affiliate network for advertising their Bring It signup sheet program.

Finally, v1.0 of Edison is coming (a experiment, of course :-) in the next month or two. I had a lot of fun designing it with Liza (she's talented - check out explorethomascole.org), and we think it'll rock. A sample screen's to the right. Major rollout efforts when it's released!