The Weekly Review

While criss-crossing the country in July, James listened to the Getting Things Done audio book. In this episode, James talks about his newly refined thoughts about his trusted system and how hearing about GTD through a different medium helped him to understand the system in a different way. Jean and James recommit to doing some form of weekly review each week.

This week we turn our focus from Jean’s “tumble in Trieste” to James’ latest adventure in the Canadian maritime province of New Brunswick, where his father was born and raised. After the death of his father last year, James and his sister had many of the typical issues to deal with, plus one unique challenge: how do you best dispose of a U.S.-registered automobile in Canada? (Hint: Roadtrip!)

This episode follows up on Jean’s mishap on her trip with Jean discussing some reflections and lessons learned. Topics range from travel-specific subjects like travel insurance and packing for a day trip to more universal thoughts like being willing to accept help when offered and trying to keep a positive attitude even when things have taken an unexpected turn for the worse.

In this episode Jean tells the story of her ill-fated day trip to Trieste, where she injured herself and had to cut short her summer in Slovenia. Jean talks about her odyssey from an Italian piazza to her arrival back home in Portland, Oregon. Along the way, a few thoughts and tips on what you might want to bring on a day trip even if you are trying to travel light.

For this episode, Jean is in Slovenia and James is about to take a trip to the east coast.

Jean talks about the possibility of declaring OmniFocus Bankruptcy. James suggests that it would be a shame to lose all the work already done capturing items into the trusted system. Jean and James talk about handling to-do items that you will definitely not be able to get to when on a trip.

Finally, a little more about things you can’t wait until the last minute to do, as well as the fate of traveler’s checks.

UPDATE: This past weekend, Jean tripped and tore a tendon in her left knee while on her trip to Slovenia. She had to return home early due to the injury and is now back in Portland. You can send support and well-wishes to Jean via The Weekly Review or directly at @macgenie on Micro.blog or Twitter.

This episode was recorded before Jean’s injury.

Lep pozdrav iz Ljubljane! / Greetings from Ljubljana! 🇸🇮

In our first intercontinental podcast episode, Jean talks about how living away from home, either in a hotel or a small apartment, makes it possible to form new habits that can stay in place once you get back. It’s a lot easier to:

Leaving things to the last minute is the bête noire of the organized person, right? But Jean and James have found that sometimes the last minute can be your friend, as long as you are cognizant of what absolutely must be settled in advance. Sometimes the choices you make at the last minute can surprise and delight you.

Photo: New fleece cage liner purchased for the guinea pigs in a very whimsical pattern, a last minute choice over DIY fleece liners, which would have been a boring solid dark color.

James is finding that even thought it has been a number of weeks since WWDC, he is still living in his head, not checking in with his trusted system, but still feeling productive. Jean talks about creating a daily ‘punch list’ of items to do on that particular day.

Jean makes the suggestion of setting an OmniFocus reminder to check OmniFocus daily. James is revisiting the book The Power of Habit to try to turn a daily check-in with his trusted system into a daily habit, even when he’s off in ‘in my head’ land.

Mentioned in this episode:

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

Libby App

Jean leads off a discussion about the delight of making spontaneous plans and how to decide whether they are feasible in the context of all our other commitments. Making time to be with the people you love has become Jean’s top criteria when deciding whether to make new plans on the spur of the moment. James points out that GTD is designed to make spontaneous joy possible, not to squelch it.

Photo: Spontaneous friends: Jean with New Zealand friends Devon and Maryanne, hosted by LA friends Allison, and Steve

This week Jean and James talk about their time at WWDC 2019. Bringing a long-planned project to its conclusion, the LIVE near WWDC concert was well-received. The annoucements from Apple hold promise to make developers and users alike more productive. Also, James is trying out new style of blogging, inspired by Brent Simmons. Jean is making preparations for her trip to Slovenia.

Show Links:

Brent Simmons

James Dempsey

And in the name of Twitting Quitter: