The Weekly Review

For the 150th episode, Jean and James talk about enhancing your productivity by a seemingly unproductive approach—doing nothing. Or at least doing something else. Topics include sleep, background processing, and James’ dad’s oft-repeated three day rule. The conversation then turns to ways of reacting to life’s little mishaps.

Inspired by the winter weather emergencies in Oregon and Texas, James and Jean revisited the topic of preparedness. After last summer’s wildfire emergencies, Jean realized it made sense to download videos in advance in case of internet failure, rather than using power bank reserves to run the internet for streaming video. We also talk about the ideas that Ben Brooks outlined in a recent article about “go bags.”

Episode 123: Emergency Planning

Jackery Portable Power Stations

The Brooks Review: We Need to Rethink Emergency/Go/Bugout Bags

As we approach the anniversary of when many locations began shutting things down due to the pandemic, Jean and James reflect on various things that were commonplace in their lives but that they now haven’t experienced or done in over a year. Other topics include competing Groundhog Day groundhogs, the atrophy of packing skills, and whether James misses his sister or Disneyland more.

It’s the last episode in our consideration of the planning horizons above where we mostly concentrate, Ground Level (Next Actions) and Horizon 1 (Projects). This week, James and Jean talk about Horizon 5: Life, or alternatively, Purpose and Principles.

Somehow the conversation leads us to Las Vegas. Whether it’s craps or slot machines, there’s always a metaphor for life to be found in Las Vegas, as well as some excellent restaurants.

The series:

An Overview

Horizon 2: Areas of Focus

Horizon 3: One- to Two-Year Goals

Horizon 4: Three- to Five-Year Vision

Horizon 5: Life, or Purpose and Principles (this episode)

Continuing on the path of ever-widening horizons, Jean and James move on from one- to two-year goals to consider their visions for the next three to five years. Jean notes that although the word ‘vision’ might imply a grand world-changing scheme, in a personal context it could mean something life-changing or life-enhancing instead. Then the conversation takes a turn to barnacles and DNS configuration. It’s been that kind of a week.

We continue our review of GTD’s Six-Level Model For Reviewing Your Own Work, and this week we are looking at “Horizon 3.” We both discovered that it’s been a long time since we looked at one- to two-year goals, but given the major life upheavals we’ve experienced the last few years, it isn’t surprising that long-range plans have been neglected.

Following last episode about the Six Horizons of Focus, Jean and James begin their ascent through the horizons by talking about Horizon 2: Areas of Focus and Responsibility. As Jean and James share some of thier own items from this horizon, conversation includes whether areas of focus are different than responsibilities, and some thoughts on how to represent this horizon in OmniFocus or the productivity tool of your choice.

How do you decide what to do next? In Getting Things Done, David Allen talks about several strategies, including the Six Horizons of Focus. The higher up you go in the list of horizons, the more you can see of the big picture. Yet things actually get done on the ground level (next actions and calendar) and Horizon 1 (projects), which is where this podcast and its hosts are focused.

It’s a good practice to step back from the nitty gritty work, and consider how it fits into bigger goals and responsibilities. We discuss our plan for kicking off 2021 with a closer look at each horizon.

(If that sounds very serious, don’t worry. We also talk quite a bit about pierogies.)

In this episode, Jean and James talk about the recently released Pixar movie Soul. The conversation delves into some of the concepts presented in the movie such as having a passion turn into an obsession. Jean and James connect that to how too strong a focus on productivity has to potential of having you lead a less fulfilling life. Also, Jean and James discuss a whimsical new invention for 2021.

Finally, Jean and James wish all of our listeners a Happy New Year!

WARNING: There are movie spoilers!

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

Meowsic Keyboard