Comments on: Do Less, Not More And Start Enjoying Yourself!

By: James

James — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:26:34 +0000

Great rule Brandie. A lot of people make more of keeping their home clean than they need to, perhaps because of some paranoid fear that somebody will show up unannounced.

By: Brandie

Brandie — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:28:36 +0000

I think sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in the system when really, pen to paper can help immensely. I also like the part about your house not needing to be immaculate. How true! I do a roundup each night, which serves as a buffer between my work day (I work from home) and my evening family time. My rule of thumb when it comes it neatness is if you are fifteen minutes away from presentable at any given time, that’s neat enough.

By: James

James — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:52:16 +0000

Thanks, Matthew. Every Sunday I print out a new sheet and fill it in or copy over information from the old sheet. It essentially serves as my weekly review. I’ve always found starting a new sheet during the review is a great way of really looking at what you’re doing.

I would certainly think it was possible a hundred years ago, if only for the simple reason that we weren’t bombarded by information all the time. It amazes me how people were able to keep themselves entertained without a TV, music or just regular, easy access to things. And of course they weren’t running around doing stuff and putting out fires all the time.

By: Matthew Cornell

Matthew Cornell — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:04:19 +0000

Excellent post, James.

“It’s time we started doing less, not more. It’s time we started doing the right things…”

A manifesto! Hear hear!

“Printing out one of my weekly planner sheets, jotting down notes and ideas in a notepad…”

Just to be clear, you do a brain dump once a week and work from that, right?

“Simplify your workload, you simply your system and those problems…”

You put concisely a similar line of thought I’ve had. I’ve been playing with the idea of what kind of system we would have using a a GTD anti-pattern of keeping everything in your head? Was this more possible hundred years ago?

“Only time my home really needed to be organized was once a week to stop things getting out of control…”

Lowering your standards is also high on my list of recommendations. However, my wife and I don’t see eye-to-eye on this. My eyes are not on the dirt and dust, apparently.

By: Tage

Tage — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:31:33 +0000

These types of posts remind me of Steven Covey’s book The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People. I really enjoyed your bit about cleaning your house. My mom ensures me that she needs to clean her house every couple of days… but I’m with you. Once a week will usually suffice.

By: James

James — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:56:05 +0000

Thanks for the comment Lauren. It’s interesting how despite being a very functional system, GTD seems to create unfortunate consequences seperate from that system, like the need to always be doing something and having unrealistic expectations.

By: Lauren

Lauren — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:51:26 +0000

I also find that GTD creates unrealistic expectations and the stringent approach offered doesn’t fit well with my constantly changing life. What I have taken away from it is using a someday/maybe list to separate what’s important from what really never has to be done, even though it’s on my mind.