In this episode, Jean and James talk about those times when organizational fun turns into organizational fatigue. James describes his experience going off the rails of his trusted system while traveling over the holidays. Jean recounts her difficulty establishing daily habits. Jean seeks grace in the new year while James managed to successfully transport a fragile, vintage ukulele cross-country.

We have a special guest this week, Rosemary Orchard, co-author of Build Your OmniFocus Workflow. Rosemary was inspired to create a task management system that worked the way she wanted it to, thanks to by her school experience with planners and a little website called 43 Folders.

Special event! Rosemary and her Automators co-host David Sparks will be attending PodCon in Seattle January 19-20, and they are organizing an Automators meetup. James and Jean will be attending too!

As the new year begins, Jean and James review the model of natural planning described in our favorite personal productivity book. Jean talks about her plan for leaving corporate social media platforms in 2019 and how that will affect how she connects with the people in her life. James talks about a few spots he can get stuck in the planning process and how that affects his ability to get things done. And both Jean and James take a moment acknowledge the magic of the postal system.

As the year 2018 draws to a close, Jean and James decide to take a week off from worrying about the state of their inboxes as they look ahead to plans for the New Year. We look at the efficacy of resolutions and when is really the best time to resolve to do better. (Spoiler alert: January 1st isn’t the best date.) On both of our calendars: to continue doing The Weekly Review Podcast. See you in 2019!

On our 2019 Calendars:

PodCon, January 19-20

dotSwift, January 28

Gallifrey One, February 15-17

LIVE near WWDC, TBD but likely June 2019

In this episode Jean and James reach into the holiday grab bag to see what they will find. Topics include gift wrapping, making your own personal ‘Best of 2018’ list, thoughts on gift exchanges and sharing experiences as opposed to giving things. Plus, Jean closes out 2018 by closing a lingering open loop.

The gift wrapping tutorial mentioned in this episode can be found at:

Jean and James do a trusted system status review. Are we still keeping in our heads? (Spoiler alert: a few things.) Are we still using our email inboxes as to-do lists? (Spoiler alert: sometimes.) Nevertheless, a weekly podcast is a clear sign that we have built trusted systems that are effective at meeting goals.

Get $5 off Sanebox (referral link)

Jean and James talk about making bigger plans that go beyond keeping on top of the day to day routine. Jean challenges James to a game of twenty questions about a big plan for the coming year. James talks a bit about an upcoming trip to Europe. The conversation ranges from pursuits like learning languages to necessary todo items like renewing a passport.

Do you have any big plans in mind?
Share them with us on Micro.blog, Twitter or email us.

The Weekly Review welcomes its first guest! Aleen Simms, founder of App Launch Map and long-time App Camp For Girls volunteer, has been on the hunt for the perfect to-do list app. She even has a bulleted list of 10 requirements for what she is looking for. Jean and James suggest various ideas and strategies that might help Aleen get the task management life she wants, but we all agree that no app or system fits our needs perfectly.

Listeners, if you have suggestions for Aleen, let us hear them! You can reach us on Micro.blog, Twitter, or via email.

For the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, Jean and James talk about travel tips, flight anxiety, and packing lists. They also tell anecdotes of trips gone awry that show sometimes life can be enjoyable when you don’t reach your destination quite the way you planned.

Do you have any travel tips, hacks or stories?
Share them with us on Micro.blog, Twitter or email us.

James and Jean share little ideas and hacks for making the holidays less stressful. We also take a moment to reflect on what we are thankful for, and it turns out we are very thankful for our favorite software.

Do you have any holiday hacks or productivity gift ideas? Share them with us on Micro.blog, Twitter or email us, and we’ll regift them to the community.

Our Gift Ideas

Kiva.org Gift Cards

Davero Farms and Winery

Brother P-touch Label Maker

What We’re Thankful For

Omni Focus 3

Mailstrom and Chuck

Micro.blog’s Microcasting

… but we are especially thankful for our listeners and all the people who made it possible for us to launch a this podcast.