Mind Like Monkey

The Work and Play Solution

Years ago, I discover that my computer needed two browsers, one for play, one for work. The reason was simple, I need to differentiate between working online, that at the time was significant and playing online, reading blogs and other stuff.That trick has work for years. I even have a friend, to witch I share this trick that begin using Internet Explorer as his play browser and when I question using it, he told me: “I hate Internet Explorer so much that I almost prefer not to play”

 This morning, Seth Godin talk on his blog among other things on a two-device solution, one device to accomplish real work, and one for the rest. 

 It was around the year 2000 when I drop the desktop out of my life, and begin having only one computer, I even went in make deals with IT people on my places of employment so I can use only one laptop, mine, for work and personal. I was convince that Productivity need it to be tied to the fact that you have one device with you all the time.

I have no desktop since 2000, but kind of got one when Apple launch the iPad. My ipad is powerful, and for my needs can accomplish most of what I need, and some of it even better than the laptop. It wasn’t until yesterday, while doing an interview and this morning while reading Seth Godin blog that I noticed that I had again the arrangement of a Desktop/Laptop, only is now Laptop/iPad/iPhone.

Don’t take me wrong I have been good, I don’t play in the iPad, or the MacBook. Games are to be played in the iPhone, but when you learn you have many devices, you also discover that you need better rules and guidelines.

This is the extract from Seth Godin blog this morning:

 "The two-device solution

Simple but bold: Only use your computer for work. Real work. The work of making something.

Have a second device, perhaps an iPad, and use it for games, web commenting, online shopping, networking... anything that doesn't directly create valued output (no need to have an argument here about which is which, which is work and which is not... draw a line, any line, and separate the two of them. If you don't like the results from that line, draw a new line).

Now, when you pick up the iPad, you can say to yourself, "break time." And if you find yourself taking a lot of that break time, you've just learned something important."

 

Are playing and working, and trying to be productive in the same place, do you have a work browser and a play one? Do you have a work computer and a play one?

 

Part 1: Learning to use the Context View. (more cool stuff)

Two Weeks ago we work on a definition of Contexts, and it’s important to cover the definition again:

Context refers to all those physical places or tools, such as software and specific equipment, or people with whom you need to interact, to accomplish an action

Remember the important thing is to Accomplish the Action, you can cut the pie, make it smaller, divided, re-organized, make it small lists or a new big one, but if you don’t Accomplish the Actions, nothing else matters. We were working into make a list of the Places, Tools and People you deal often with, in order to begin working on contexts today. I hope you did. Otherwise, lets look on the definition of these again.

From the old post:

Places: This are the physical locations you need to be in order to accomplish an action. This is the first kind of Context people understand, and actually the one I ask you to set at the beginning of this series, @Home, @Office and @Errands. 

Tools:  These are the tools, such as software, or specific equipment you need to accomplish an action. For example, if you have a laptop and a desktop computer, there may be certain actions that can be accomplished only on one or the other, but not in both; this situation creates two separate contexts: @Laptop and @Desktop. Think now on this, you may need internet access to accomplish certain actions, but you are not connected all the time, so internet might be a tool context for you.

People: This can be an individual, or a group of individuals, that you need to make decisions or have conversations with to accomplish actions. The “people” context is also referred to as Agendas in the GTD and people tend to understand this without much trouble. 

If you spend sometime working into those categories, Places, Tools and People you may be able to create a really complete list of Context. I particularly try to keep my context to around 10 actions. The reason is simple, more than 10 actions, make me go and look somewhere else. When I notice that I am getting over 10 items, I quickly revise the action inside and evaluate. Sometimes, it’s just put a little time in the context, like for example right now is a context I had call @Home_Stuff to Fix. It had around twenty actions, so instead of create a new one, I decide to clean the list this sunday. Other times, this happen on my @Mac list, if clean up soon isn’t possible, then I work on create a new Context to reduce the number of items on the list, and make the context more Manageable.

The number or Context you should have, vary, really on what you do, what places, tools and people you interact in the day to day. 

Mine had change, evolve, and progress over the years.

My advice is play with it, move them around, until you find a mix that it is right for you.

The important thing this week is to create the context, work with them, and begin populating. Find your number, again mine is around 10, one of the reasons is that the screen on my iPhone, as well as my previous PDAs usually had 10 items, when you have more you need to scroll, that means I usually don’t, but your number may vary. 

After you feel you have a complete list, then let me show you the Sub-Contexts. Remember you can drag and drop the contexts you already created here.

OmniFocus allow you to have context inside other contexts, or sub-contexts, so you can have Office, and Office_Mail Room, Office_Warehouse or Office_Accounting Building., that way if you click Office you will see everything inside, all the actions including Mail Room Actions, Warehouse Actions and Accounting Building Actions, but if you click an specific one, like Warehouse, you will only see now the Actions that are in that context.

This is something that differentiate OmniFocus with others, it’s not the only one that can do this, but it can create a difference in how you manage your Contexts, just remember, keep it simple.

This Sub-Context can really be use to your benefit, and over time I will get into more detail and useful examples, like Grocery Shopping, Errands, Computer, and more.

Until now, enjoy Contexts, and Play with your OmniFocus… but more importantly, remember to begin accomplishing actions.

Ready? Here comes The Question: What is the One Thing you could do that will make a difference in your life / relationship / goal / task?

This is the question my coach always asks me. She is as regular as clockwork on it. Every time she asks it, it makes me squirm, too. I know exactly what I should do. I just don't want to commit to that action. It is like she can see me from 800 miles away. I think she has a camera hidden in my office. When I start to waffle on a goal or task, she zings in there with The Question.

When faced with a stalled relationship, goal or task, most of the time I think we know what we need to do. Committing to do it is the hard part. These actions, no matter how easy (and they are usually quite simple), are never the comfortable thing to do. These actions take us out of our comfort zone and force us to reevaluate ourselves on different levels. Recognizing why it is uncomfortable is the key to improvement.

We improve most through adversity. To build strong muscles, we have to add resistance to our workouts. To build a strong network, we have to get out and talk to people. To advance in our career, we have to solve difficult problems. One of my favorite quotes from The Book of Mormon is "11. For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. " It goes on to explain how through opposition, we can experience the good things. We can't have joy without knowing misery or health without sickness.

We have to have trials to grow. Knowing that gets us past the first step: accepting there will be adversity to the new habit we are trying to create. Once we have this realization, we can move on to the next step: committing to the change. This is what is the heart of The Question. Once we determine the One Thing that can help us the most, we are already committing to doing it. Once we say it, name it, we have started on the path to accountability and success.

But what if there are many, many more than one thing to do to the relationship/goal/task? I have asked that question, both in sincerity and as a deflection from having to make the commitment. My coach always agrees there is probably more than one thing to do. But which is the One Thing that will make a difference? Pick one. The One. The most important One. There is always One Thing that makes the difference. Sure, there will be other One Things once the first one is mastered. But for now, forget the rest. Just focus on The One.

Say it out loud to yourself every morning while you look in the mirror. Write it on a note and attach it to your computer monitor or refrigerator door. Tell your coach or your kids. Now go and do the One Thing. Start today. Just Do It.

This is a repost from my personal blog: Dan In Focus.

Picture credit: Mark and Angel Hack Life