whatever it takes

[ambar]

It being the start of my new year, I have been at hard labor working through Your Best Year Yet. It's useful for dealing with what David Allen calls "the 30k-50k level of planning," which is something I could definitely use some help with. The process is stirring my thought pot in a good way.


Boring food entry:

bacon & eggs, emergen-c
yummy pot roast
a bit of liverwurst (which I learned today is distinguished from braunschweiger by being smoked, and more highly spiced. All I knew was that my German-descended grandmother loved the stuff, and taught me to love it too.)
triple caffe breve + 2 large cups of coffee (probably why I am still typing an hour and a half after bedtime)
more yummy pot roast

Comments

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I'm working through David Allen's Getting Things Done, which has some ideas I know I will find useful for a long time to come. I'd be interested in hearing any other comments you have about Your Best Year Yet.

[ambar.livejournal.com]

I don't know how much I've talked about it here, but I am a big fan of GTD and have been using it for (thinks) about 2 years.

I do think DA has a point when he suggests that you need to clear off the "runway" of day to day stuff, and get that under control, before attacking higher-level planning. So I'm happy to have gotten a grip on GTD first before working through YBYY.

That said, it's a fairly simple review process. I haven't tried the online guide on their web site; I have the book and have been working through it. The rough outline is to:

list one's accomplishments and disappointments of the past year
answer the question "what did I learn?" (choose 3 to focus on)
answer the question "how do I limit myself?"
"In which areas of my life am I not achieving what I want?
What reasons do I give myself for not achieving what I want?
what are my personal values?
what roles do I play? (no more than 8; choose 1 to focus on)
list goals for each role for the coming year
(this is as far as I've gotten; there are a couple more steps.)

If this provokes questions, ask away --