345: Jumping Back In

Coming back is hard. Michelle's COVID brain fog sparked this one, and we dive into jumping back into GTD® after time away, whether that's a sick week, a vacation, or falling off the wagon entirely. We share tricks for taming the email backlog, doing a mind sweep, setting up out-of-office rules, and leaning into your GTD® strengths instead of your weaknesses. Enjoy!

Resources from the call:

• Post-it® App (for capturing paper notes digitally)

• Clear (the swipe-based to-do app one participant uses for on-the-fly lists)

Download the podcast here!

344: Getting Clear & Current & Overwhelm

Overwhelm happens to all of us. This episode we dig into what to do when everything feels like it's on fire at once: overflowing inboxes, taking on work that isn't ours, and why your GTD® system (not you) should be the thing absorbing the chaos. We talk prioritization, the WOOP framework, and giving yourself a real reward for getting through the crunch. Enjoy!

Resources from the call:

• Parkinson's Law

• WOOP (Wish Outcome Obstacle Plan) by Gabriele Oettingen (goal-setting framework)

• Implementation intentions — Peter Gollwitzer's research on planning around obstacles

Download the podcast here!

343: Daily GTD - What It’s Really Like

What does GTD® really look like on a messy, real-life day? In this episode we get honest about the ebbs and flows, the pull to reorganize your whole system when things get crazy, and why reprocessing your stuff (rather than rebuilding it) is usually what actually helps. Some great insights that might help tweak your own system. Enjoy!

Resources from the call:

• Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen

• The Nokbox

• David Allen's Productive Living newsletter

Download the podcast here!

342: Execution — Getting Derailed

What holds us back from actually doing the work, even when we know we're working on the right things? Christine brought us this one, and we dug into the four blockers that derail us, building buffer into the week, time tracking as a wake-up call, and giving ourselves grace when the day falls apart. Enjoy!

Resources from the call:

• Team: Getting Things Done with Others by David Allen and Edward Lamont

• Deep Work by Cal Newport

• Getting Things Done® Podcast - GTD For Creative People

• Getting Things Done® Podcast - Interview with Evan Taubenfeld

Download the podcast here!

341: Digital Reference - Engagement on Projects of Different Sizes

How do you keep your digital reference straight when some projects are just you and others involve a whole team? John brought us this one, and we dug into where reference should live, the hard lines between project and general reference, and how to keep everyone in the loop without doing the work twice. Enjoy!

Resources from the call:

• Team: Getting Things Done with Others

• Evernote

• Todoist

• OmniFocus

• NotePlan

• Dropbox

• Google Drive, Google Docs, and Google Sheets

• Microsoft 365 (OneDrive and SharePoint)

• Smartsheet

• FastTrack Schedule (AEC Software)

• Microsoft Project

• Basecamp

• Jira and Confluence

• Asana

• Teamwork

• Apple Universal Control (the "continuity" trick for sharing a keyboard and mouse between Mac and iPad)

• Zapier or IFTTT (for the automation logging completed tasks to a Google Sheet)

Download the podcast here!

327: Ask the VSG

We had a number of topics come up before the call, and rather than decide on just one, we decided to do an "Ask the VSG" and touch on them all. We start with looking at what a weekly review looks like, then talked a bit using GTD to help establish routines, followed by revisiting higher horizons and even a little project planning. Enjoy!

Resources from the call:

• GTD® Weekly Review Checklist

• Nirvana

• Evernote

• 25 Productivity Tips by Augusto Pinaud

• Atomic Habits by James Clear

• Power of Habit, The by Charles Duhigg

Download the podcast here!

324: What's Your System Look Like

In GTD®, it's important to have a trusted system. But does that mean that you have one app to store everything? In this call we talk about how we have our systems set up -- personal vs business or all combined, using separate apps for specific things like shopping lists. And how we manage tasks from shared project teams or from others. And lots of apps were shared. Enjoy!!

Resources from the call:

• Nirvana

• Evernote

• Remember The Milk

• OmniFocus

• Asana

• Pleexy

• Unito

• Trello

• Basecamp

• Todoist

• Zapier

• Smartsheet

• Notion

• Obsidian

• PARA method

• Microsoft Loop

• Microsoft Power Automate

• Microsoft Planner

• Planta

• Things 3

Download the podcast here!

323: Mind Like Water

What is Mind Like Water®? How do you get it? How do you keep it? What does not having it feel like? In this call we look at what it means to us. Special thanks to Jeff Korentayer for raising the topic in our facebook group! Enjoy!!

Resources from the call:

• Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen

• OmniFocus

• Trello

• Atomic Habits by James Clear

Download the podcast here!

322: Next Actions, Contexts, & Prioritizing

With all of your project's next actions defined and captured on context lists, how do you know what to do first? And next? In this episode, we dive into different perspectives and solutions for prioritizing actions and being able to trust our systems are helping us see what we need to see, when we need to see it. Enjoy!

Resources from the call:

• Nirvana

• ToDoIst

• Google Keep

• OmniFocus

Download the podcast here!

321: Working with Partners

Working with partners is tricky, especially if they don't practice the same process and systems that you do (GTD®). So how do you get on the same page? How do you approach getting their involvement or buy in? How do you practice empathy for both yourself and others? We dive into this and so much more in this episode. Enjoy!

Resources from the call:

• Workflowy

• Asana

• Weekly Review Accountability Party

• Personal Productivity Club

• Organize365 - Sunday basket

• Stephen Covey System

Download the podcast here!