Trust & Productivity

One of the things that is critical in GTD is trusting your system.  You have to really believe in your collection systems, or you won't use them.  When that breaks down, the system breaks down.  You have to know something will be in the right folder, or on your calendar, because if you lose faith, you will quit using it.

I'm having a faith issue with a different collection point - my freezer.  Once again, we are out power, so far for  about 36 hours and counting.  Although I live in a fairly urban/suburban area, I also live on a tree-lined street in southern New England, and the weather can be harsh.  In the past several years we've lost all of our cold food more than once, and it's heart breaking.  I haven't gotten too far into OAMC (once-a-month cooking) and this is precisely why.  I can't trust that we will have consistent power to keep too much in the freezer!

I'm not sure how to bridge this gap, short of buying a generator.  Although I can do my best to keep things full with ice and not open the freezer when the power is off, I don't really feel like potentially exposing myself or my family to contaminated food.

Ideas on how do learn to trust my freezer?  See this from a different perspective?

Laptop Lunchbox

I love my Laptop Lunchbox.  Packing a lunch can save you lots of money, ZenHabits posits as much as $3,000 per year.  Although I understand why some folks need to go out to purchase lunch (socialization, anti-socialization, lunch meetings, etc) I prefer packing my own when I can.

The Laptop Lunchbox system is sort of American Bento.  It's a box with interchangeable compartments, that divide the space up into 1 large and 2 small or 2 medium and 2 small spaces (although you can get creative about that).  There is also a designated spot for utensils, and it comes with a fork and spoon.  It also fits neatly in a desk drawer (or under my desk drawers).  With a system like this you could make ahead several lunches and store them in the fridge (or just components) to save time.  You're also helping the environment by not using single-use containers, like plastic bags

I have a nightly habit of packing my lunch as I make dinner.  Although sometimes I can't help it, I try not to pack the same thing every day, so I don't get bored.  Favorites are salad, leftovers or sandwiches as a main component, with apples, pears, mandarin oranges or grapes as one side and goldfish crackers or gummy fruit as a second side (OK, I do sort of eat like a kid).  I also like this lunchbox because it is very helpful for portion control.  On salad days I sometimes wish it was a little bigger, however, usually I pack the right amount of food for me.  Since I am not my ideal weight, every little trick that helps me eat better is good!

In-Boxes

"First, if it's on your mind, your mind isn't clear. Anything you consider unfinished in any way must be captured in a trusted system outside of your mind, or what I call a collection bucket, that you know you'll come back to regularly and sort through."

David Allen, "Getting Things Done and the Art of Stress-free Productivity"

One of the reasons that the GTD (Getting Things Done) system works for me is that I have a lot of ideas and information coming at me.  My brain was always full with my to-do lists and ideas, but I often was forgetting things.  I didn't have a go to place for recording things, so sometimes they'd be in my personal email, sometimes in my work email, sometimes on a scrap of paper, but often just lost in my mind.  Later I'd be frustrated trying to remember that thing I was supposed to do, or feel stressed at 10PM, hoping to remember about the thing at work the next day.

In GTD, you create collection buckets.  These are physical or electronic in-boxes that allow you to place all your Stuff.  You can (and should) have more than one collection bucket, but not so many that things get lost.  My collection buckets are:

• My personal email
• My work email
• My 43 folder/tickler system at home
• My physical inbox at work
• My Remember The Milk inbox
• A bin we keep in the dining room

I purposely mixed up home & work items because they do blend.  In theory, every idea and to-do goes in one of these, sometimes moving from one to another.  

Although I own a smart phone, I try not to be entirely dependent upon it for recording things.  At my workdesk I ensure there is scrap paper & sticky notes for me to quickly jot down information.  Throughout my house in locations I frequent are pens and sticky notes.  I also carry a small Moleskin in my purse, so when I am out & about I don't lose something.  The reality is not everything is electronic - incoming mail, receipts, broken doo-hickeys, keys, whatnots all can be put into this system.  

There is a LOT more to GTD than simply collecting everything into a few easily accessed locations, but it is a first step.  Forcing myself to collect ideas, has helped me dramatically, both as far as my stress level and productivity.

Apple Crisp (Gluten Free!)

I live in central Connecticut, and, like the rest of New England, we're in quality apple season.  It seems like someone brings in a bag from some orchard every week to the office to share, and the grocery store is full of different varieties.  I'm looking forward to another trip to my favorite local orchard soon.  

Saturday had a meeting of the gender/sexuality/relationships conference I organize, and to be both a good guest (it was at the home of some friends) and good leader, I try to bring some food to the meetings.  One of the residents is avoiding gluten and doesn't do much dairy.  Also, I had bags of apples, so a crisp it was!  

I vaguely based my recipe from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook my MIL bought us a while ago.  

1) Grease a baking dish.  You could use something like Earth Balance if you wanted to do this totally vegan.

2) Peel & slice up apples.  I did wedges, but think next time I will do more chunks.  I used about 8 apples with 3 different varieties.  Toss them in the baking dish with a little lemon juice, and sprinkle about 1/3 cup water over them.

3) The crisp part was 1 cup sugar, 1/4 cup almond meal, 1/4 cup rice flour, a little salt, cinnamon, 1/4 cup crushed walnuts and 1/4 cup sliced almonds mixed up with a stick of butter to create a coarse topping.  I did it by hand, but you could use a pastry blender if you hand one.  Honestly, I didn't measure the nuts, so those are estimates.  This is not an exact science recipe.

4) I baked it at 375 for about an hour.  It could of gone a little longer but I ran out of time.  I liked the nuts as much as I like oats, and the different flours added a certain richness.  

This crisp was enough of a success where there was only 1 serving left, and dibs had already been claimed when I left.  I'll definitely continue to experiment with this dish, but I think I have a good base.

Project List

Part of Getting Things Done is maintaining project lists with next actions.  I keep my lists in Remember the Milk, but I thought I'd also keep a public list here for curious readers.  I'll try and keep this relatively up to date.


Current Projects

• Garage reorganization
• Stack Repair
• Butler Book
• MsC 2012 (attendee)
• Half Marathon Training
• Transcending Boundaries Conference 2012 (staff)
• Arisia 2013 (staff/attendee)

Future Projects

• Guest Room Refinishing
• Laundry Room Vent
• Window Repair (Attic)

Archived Projects

• Williamstown Trip
• Bootblack Intensive (Attendee)
• Cousin's Baby Shower
• LLC (Applicant)
• Leprechaun's Boots
• Remediation Cost Estimate
• Transcending Boundaries Conference 2011 (Chair)
• Arisia 2012 (Panelist/Attendee)
• CAD Workgroup
• Christmas Eve Party
• Christmas Gifts
• Genealogy Research