Getting Things Done (GTD) – Get Unstuck

Dear Donkey and Wife: I am lucky because my wife doesn’t have a honey do list for me but she has wanted me to fix our couch for some time now. I don’t care that it dips when you sit in it but i don’t want to hear about it anymore. I don’t know how to fix the couch and don’t want to know. What can I do?- Barely a man

He says: GTD all the way!

I am restraining myself because I really want to delve into how you can pawn this off to her or how you can make her feel guilty about projects she hasn’t completed, but i won’t. My advice is always excellent, but today I will give advice that female readers will enjoy too. Plus, I receive questions like this regularly.

I train a class designed to increase productivity based on the book Getting Things Done. I have been using this system for a couple of years now and have been a certified trainer for a year-and-a-half, but i have never fully implemented it at home. This is most likely because I do not want to do the projects assigned by my wife. However, I recently had a very good experience that highlights one of the principles in the training that will help you with this problem.

Our toilet has been broken since we purchased the house four years ago. Every time my wife sits on it, it wobbles back and forth. About six months ago we noticed that the bathroom started to smell pretty bad. We diagnosed it to the fact that the toilet wobbled something loose. I was faced with three options: 1) wait until my wife lost enough weight that the toilet no longer wobbled under the strain, 2) wait for my wife to give up on me and live with the wobbling, 3) fix the toilet. I chose option 2 even though my wife has done an excellent job losing over 30  pounds this year (she still has a good 15 pounds to go).

I was preparing to train this productivity class a month ago and thought about projects that were stuck on my list. The toilet project was at the forefront of my mind. The author of the book explains that one of the reasons we procrastinate things is because we have not determined the next action. We have a project like “Fix couch” on our list, but we do not really know how to begin. What is the first thing we need to do to get this project moving? I realized that this was my problem with the toilet.

I am one of the most useless husbands when it comes to fixing things, but I know lots of people who are very handy. I realized that my next action was to ask someone what to do to fix the toilet. That seemed easy. I called a guy I know and explained the situation. He told me that I needed the largest wax ring I could find that included hardware. I also needed caulking. I had no idea what he was talking about, but I completed the next action: ask someone what to do. At this point I could have decided to call a handy man to fix the problem, but my friend convinced me that I could do it with his help. I asked him what my next action was and he told me to go to Home Depot and buy the supplies. So I wrote that down on my list.

My wife was very excited when I told her what I had accomplished and she realized that I was making progress. A week later I was doing errands and saw the next action for the toilet and decided to stop by Home Depot. I confirmed the list of supplies with the saleswoman (sad, I had to ask a 20 year old girl) and she showed me what to get. Look at that! Another next action completed: buy supplies. To cut this story short, I eventually invited my friend over and we fixed the toilet. My wife was amazed that this project was finally completed. I realized that it was not really a big deal, but I never identified the next action so it was stuck on my list causing grief for me.

So, you have 3 options: 1) tell your wife to lose weight so she will stop crashing through the couch, 2) ignore it and continue to get sucked into the couch, 3) figure out what it will take to fix the couch. I have no idea how to fix the couch, but I am sure you know someone who can advise you. Your outcome might be to buy a new couch. Who knows? You won’t until you identify the next action and complete it. Feel free to visit the GTD web site for more info.

That’s it for our suggestions… Any other ideas?

(Do you need advice from The Donkey and The Wife?  Contact us and ask away)

Once in a while the heavens are opened and one of life’s secrets is placed into the trusting care of man. These secrets have provided untold advancement for our world. Examples permeate throughout time: Galileo, Newton, Alexander Fleming, and Einstein to name a few. I wish to inform the world that I have been blessed with such a secret and I am delighted to share it with husbands out there who have struggled to find an answer to your wives’ most challenging question: I’m sick. Can you stay home tomorrow?

You are placed in an impossible situation. You can either: 1) stay home from work, get behind on your projects, and forgo a promotion; or 2) go to work and feel the wrath of your wife as you deflect text messages, instant messages, email, and phone calls throughout the day.

The realization I recently had is that both options are possible for most husbands with stay-at-home wives. But let’s turn the tables for a moment. What if you get sick? Are both options available to your wife? Wait for it … You should have just recognized the pure genius behind this question. Generally, wives cannot go to work and do our jobs but we can do their jobs. This is unbalanced. We need to save our sick days for times when we are critically injured by a madman or harpoon. Next time your wife asks if you can stay home to do her job simply say, “Sure. I just need you to do my job next time I get sick.” Her bewildered look will be enough to let you know that you can get back to what you were doing as she realizes that you have made a monumental point.

I recognize that this does not apply when both parents are working, but this is gold for those of you who have a wife at home. I know the Nobel Peace Prize was recently handed out, but I’m hoping for write-in votes next year.

Oh, before I forget. I don’t want anyone to think that women don’t receive the same insights that change the world. Just look at Marion Donovan and Sybil Geeslin (Kennedy). These two women made serious advancements by proposing options to move from cloth diapers to disposable ones. Amazing!

It’s rare that I have the opportunity to accuse my wife of poor behavior. Normally I have to nitpick to find a mistake, but my chance finally came the other day. My wife spoke to someone on the phone and couldn’t place who she was. I began to describe this woman. “She’s very tall and pretty big. Probably 250 pounds.” My wife responded in only a way I thought a man could. “Oh, she didn’t didn’t sound fat on the phone.”

My eyes lit up and the expression on my face indicated the delight I was instantly enjoying. My wife tried to backpedal, but the damage was done. I simply said, “I didn’t think one could conclude a person’s size by merely hearing a voice. I guess I have been mistaken all these years.” (Totally bogus. I can identify a girthy lady on the phone. There are plenty of clues.)

What do you think? Can you tell if someone is heavy just by hearing them speak on the phone?

While chatting with coworkers at lunch recently, we discovered something we all had in common:  there is a simple, easy-to-answer question that we are not allowed to ask our wives.  The question is so basic yet has the power to ignite rage in a matter of milliseconds.

Lesson 31: DO NOT come home and ask your wife “What’s for dinner?”

I have been asking this question for years and have received the same answer for years. The conversation goes like this:

Donkey: What’s for dinner?
Wife: I don’t know. What are you planning?
Donkey: I didn’t really think about it at work.
Wife: Neither did I.

Usually things kind of end and I make some food so I can keep peace in the house. Sometimes things escalate to Round 2. This happened the other day. I took the bait and continued the conversation:

Donkey: Well, maybe I can come home at 4pm from now on to ensure that I have time to prepare dinner so kids aren’t starving.
Wife: Sounds like a good idea.
Donkey: How come you get angry when I ask this question?
Wife: Because you assume it’s my job to make dinner.
Donkey: Well, uh, if it’s not yours whose would it be?
Wife: It’s no one’s job. You can’t just ask me like the burden is on me. I just don’t like how you ask.
Donkey: So how should I ask this question.
Wife: You could say, “What should we have for dinner” or “Are there plans for dinner?”
Donkey: (thinks to himself, “What’s the difference?”)

So the next day I say, “What’s the plan for dinner?” This sparks the same discussion and she gets upset. The next day I try again:

Donkey: What’s… um. Wait. How should we plan dinner…for…kids…food. How do I word this again???”
Wife: You know what to say. Don’t be stupid.
Donkey: Ok. I’ll just go make spaghetti.

My suggestion: I still don’t have a handle on this, but I am taking suggestions. Definitely don’t ask the question and definitely don’t ask for alternative ways to ask the question because it gets confusing and you’ll be worse off. What has worked for you?

Please hang up and try your call again

Dear Donkey: My wife hangs up on me in the middle of a discussion when things start heating up. This has been going on for some time. I told her that it bothers me but she continues to do it. What should I do? – Phone Troubles

He says: Give her a taste of her own medicine

At some point most men have dated or have married someone who is what I term a Phone Hag or P-Hag. This is the type of person who gets offended and hangs up when you are in mid-sentence. This actually just happened to me last week. Here are a few approaches that I have used with varying levels of success:

1. Call back and simply say, “Thanks for answering. Obviously you have graduated from 3^rd grade and progressed to 4^th grade. Nice work!”
2. Call back and say, “I’m so sorry. Your phone dropped me. Obviously you have a bad connection. You better fix that.”
3. Call back and utilize some of the skills you picked up at your Crucial Conversations class by saying, “It’s clear you have moved to silence by using the withdrawing technique. Excellent work! I really feel like you have mastered that skill. Now you have both the attacking and withdrawing skills under your belt.”
4. Don’t call back. Wait until she contacts you. It can be via an email, instant message, or phone call. Once she contacts you, begin to respond and then end your thought in mid-sentence and see how well that goes.

Those are my thoughts. Do any readers have other suggestions? What has worked for you? I think number 4 works best because women really respond well to

The Wife: Are you going to bring the kids when you come see me in my triathlon this weekend?

Donkey: Oh.  Am I supposed to go to that?

The Wife: Um.  Well, I thought you and the kids could come cheer.  Maybe you could bring signs to hold up or something.

Donkey: Okay.  If you make the signs they can hold them up.

The Wife: Thank you for your support.

Any other features we need to consider?

All of us husbands can do a better job by showing appreciation for our wives. But did you know you can appreciate your wife through depreciation? This is a crazy concept, but I think I figured it out. Let me explain what I learned at a recent accounting seminar and how it helps demonstrate how much you might appreciate your wife.

At this conference we discussed the fact that companies have to depreciate some of their assets over what’s termed the useful life. For example, a company might purchase a large machine used to manufacture a product. Several numbers are needed to figure out how much to depreciate this machine on a yearly basis. Here are the needed numbers:

• $100,000 initial cost
• $10,000 installation
• $5,000 salvage value (amount the machine can be sold after its useful life is over)
• Useful life of 10 years

In the above example, the company would depreciate the machine $10,500 each year until the 10^th year. [Equation: (($100k + $10k -$5k) / 10 years)] At that point it could be sold for the estimated amount of $5,000. Another fact about accounting is that companies don’t record the value of their employees on their books even though human capital is probably the most valuable thing a company owns.

In honor of my accounting class and wives everywhere, I decided to provide a way for husbands out there to estimate the value of the typical wife and then how to depreciate her on the balance sheet used for the household. (The instructor strongly suggests that families manage finances similar to the way businesses do.) The numbers you need are provided below:

• $936,000 initial cost – I first tried to calculate the cost of acquiring a wife. These costs included attracting the wife (dating, wedding, ring, etc), training the wife (mistakes made learning to cook, clean, do the laundry, take care of you and your kids, etc.), and maintaining the wife (clothing, phone bills, additional gas spent on wrong turns, gossip magazines, etc.). This proved too difficult, so I figured out how much it would cost to employ a wife. I determined I could hire a wife for $15/hr** and would have her work 10 hours a day, 6 days a week. This would continue for 20 years. At that point her useful life would end, and I would need to work with what’s left or trade in for a new one.
• -$500,000 salvage value – That’s right, this is a negative number. This is somewhat normal in business. For example, a company may want to dispose of a nuclear facility, but there will be millions of dollars of clean up to remove nuclear waste. The result is a loss. If you decide to part with your wife at the end of her useful life, you will not receive any money. In fact, you will likely incur quite an expense.
• Useful life of 20 years – It seems to me that a wife can handle her husband and her kids for 20 years. That should be enough time to get the kids out of the house and on their own.

With this information we discover that the typical wife should depreciated $71,800 each year. That’s quite an amount! I hope this exercise taught you two things: 1) You can determine the value of a person; 2) The wife is a valuable asset and should be recognized in your financial documentation. With this newly accounted for asset, I believe you might be able to secure a larger loan for your next house since your net worth will be higher.

**I determined $15/hr based on the $5/hr I pay my babysitter and the $10/hr I paid a lady to clean my house once. If you disagree with this number, simply change the amount and run the calculation again.

Question:

If you had to pick, would you choose a woman with a moderate amount of facial hair (not peach fuzz, I’m talking whiskers) or would you choose a woman with a noticeable snaggletooth (think Jewel/Kirsten Dunst)?

[Women, feel free to share your experiences if you are currently advertising or have previously advertised one of these fine offers.]