The Weekly Review

We are celebrating James’ first anniversary of establishing his Dance Party! habit. 🥳 What started as a way to automate a fun exercise break has become the basis of a great achievement in fitness. 💃🕺🎯

Dance Party!, Episode 128, September 25, 2020

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear

Good Habits, Bad Habits by Wendy Wood

The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It For Life by Twyla Tharp

In this episode Jean and James talk about the recent Apple event and whether any of the newly announced products will make them more (or less) productive. James promises to put away some papers and reveals a bit more about his as yet unannounced project. Jean has an mystery project of her own and also reveals a little trick to help you play your guitar or other instrument more.

In this episode Jean takes a first action that snowballs into accomplishing a whole project. James encounters an unexpected obtacle while trying to accomplish what is usually a routine task. The conversation turns to handling the unexpected including home warranties, AAA, and Apple Care. Plus, an air of mystery surrounds an unannouced project.

It’s back-to-school season, which sparks Jean to review her GTD strategy and to re-evaluate whether there isn’t room for improvement. She did her homework, reading some interesting articles, and decided it was time to go back to two tried-and-true tools.

Oliver Burkeman, What If You’re Already on Top of Things?

Leo Babauta, Zen To Done (ZTD): The Simple Productivity System

Thanh Pham, How to Achieve Your Goals with Any Task Management System

This week, James and Jean met up in person at the 360|iDev conference in Denver. Despite the thin air, we were able to eke out a podcast recording in person. We talk about the effect of travel and socializing on productivity (more naps needed!), and how much we enjoyed performing a live show with our Breakpoint friends, both new and old.

It’s only the second podcast episode we’ve recorded in person. The first one: Episode 8: The Usual Monkey Wrench (June 14, 2018)

Jean and James are both heading to 350iDev in Denver next week and have chosen their weekly todos with travel in mind. Topics include retirement planning, processing stacks of papers, James’ Disneyland map collection, and the benefits of free money. James attempts to keep a habit streak going while on the road and Jean brings along some books to help her thrive and prosper.

Jean and James talk about how things at a macro level, like the pervasive spread of the Delta variant, and at a micro level, like unpacking a suitcase and finding shards of glass, can conspire to demotivate you. Conversation also turns to whether there should be a different category for projects besides ‘Active’ and ‘Someday / Maybe’. Plus a short discourse about a novelty Star Trek t-shirt.

Shopping for new Apple products was a big topic this week. Jean is ready to splurge on the AirPods Max and the HomePod mini, while James treated himself to a new keyboard with Touch ID. Of course, all of these purchases have productivity bonuses, no rationalizations here. 😏

Jean and James talk about the dilemna of things that hold sentimental value or other meaning. After a week clearing things from the house where he grew up in NJ, James finds that some things don’t feel right to simply throw away, but don’t have a real practical use either. Jean plans Micro Camp and approaches the finish line on a major project while James approaches a classic NJ pizza.

Micro Camp

James and Jean muse about what constitutes a finished project, how priorities shift when you’re not feeling well, and how travel can provide incentive for getting things done.