025 How Next-Action Thinking Changes Over Time – ProductivityCast

25 episodes! Thank you all for listening and helping us grow the ProductivityCast community! As we grow and change in our personal and professional lives, we should all consider if the way you see your “next actions” (the granular, physical tasks we take to move projects forward, a la Getting Things Done by David Allen). If we approach next-action crafting in time chunks smaller or larger, or based on different contexts, than you need to accomplish them, then we’ll see ourselves being less effective. In this cast, the ProductivityCast team addresses the issue of priming ourselves to appropriate next-action thinking in our productivity systems. Enjoy! Give us feedback! And, again, thanks for listening! If you'd like to discuss this episode, please click here to leave a comment down below (this jumps you to the bottom of the post). In this Cast Ray Sidney-Smith Augusto Pinaud Francis Wade Art Gelwicks Show Notes Resources we mention, including links to them will be provided here. Please listen to the episode for context. Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen Quantified Self (DC Quantified Self - Ray is the Organizer) Eisenhower Matrix (Merrill-Covey Matrix) Holmes-Rahe Life Stress Inventory Life changes to give you pause to know it’s time to reflect on the structure, time and contexts of your next-action planning: 1- Birth 2- Death Professional Transitions    3- I've Been Demoted!    4- I've Been Promoted!    5- I've Been Hired!    6- Unemployment (whether involuntary or by choice)    7- Changing Careers (while employed or not) 8- Starting School 9- First Job 10- Moving Home 11- Moving Office 12- Downsizing Home 13- Starting Retirement 15- Marriage / Long-Term Commitment 15- Divorce / Separation / Ending a Long-Term Relationship Calculator - Do You Need a Task Management Improvement? by Francis Wade Francis: “The Ultimate, Evergreen Guide to Choosing Your Next Task Management App or Practice.” Plus. the stuff on implicit vs explicit tagging is in my book which is being updated - http://perfect.mytimedesign.com. Francis also included the idea in this paper - http://www.2time-sys.com/can-time-actually-be-managed/ Francis: The idea of facing changing constraints as task load increases, and the need to see a change is also mentioned in this article: What are the greatest task management tools, and why? Raw Text Transcript Raw, unedited and machine-produced text transcript so there may be substantial errors, but you can search for specific points in the episode to jump to, or to reference back to at a later date and time, by keywords or key phrases. The time coding is h:mm:ss.ms to h:mm:ss.ms (e.g., 0:00:00.000,0:00:04.000 starts at 0.00 seconds and ends at 4 seconds in the cast's audio). Read More 1 00:00:00,030 --> 00:00:03,870 are you ready to manage your work and 2 00:00:02,159 --> 00:00:06,120 personal world better to live a 3 00:00:03,870 --> 00:00:07,350 fulfilling productive life then you've 4 00:00:06,120 --> 00:00:09,780 come to the right place 5 00:00:07,350 --> 00:00:12,360 productivity cast the weekly show about 6 00:00:09,780 --> 00:00:15,480 all things productivity here your hosts 7 00:00:12,360 --> 00:00:17,430 ray Sydney Smith and Augusto pronounces 8 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:21,240 weight and art Galax welcome back 9 00:00:17,430 --> 00:00:23,609 everybody to episode 25 of productivity 10 00:00:21,240 --> 00:00:26,460 cast and so I just want to thank you all 11 00:00:23,609 --> 00:00:28,740 for listening to productivity cast and I 12 00:00:26,460 --> 00:00:31,650 want to welcome to the show today 13 00:00:28,740 --> 00:00:35,100 gusto pinaud francis Wade and art Galax 14 00:00:31,650 --> 00:00:37,380 welcome to the show gentlemen guys I'm 15 00:00:35,100 --> 00:00:40,680 doing really well and as I was saying 16 00:00:37,380 --> 00:00:42,239 pre-show I'm I'm double caffeinated I'm 17 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:45,379 drinking two types of caffeine this 18 00:00:42,239 --> 00:00:47,610 morning so I'm probably a little jittery 19 00:00:45,379 --> 00:00:49,710 but I'm gonna I'm gonna try and keep it 20 00:00:47,610 --> 00:00:51,510 level keep it level for us all today so 21 00:00:49,710 --> 00:00:54,719 we're gonna we're gonna talk today about 22 00:00:51,510 --> 00:00:58,680 a rather interesting concept principle 23 00:00:54,719 --> 00:01:00,570 concept centering on the premise of 24 00:00:58,680 --> 00:01:02,340 getting things done next action 25 00:01:00,570 --> 00:01:04,979 principles and how those things change 26 00:01:02,340 --> 00:01:06,840 over time and so I'm gonna hand the mic 27 00:01:04,979 --> 00:01:08,400 over to you a goose toe to explain to 28 00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:11,130 the audience what we're gonna be talking 29 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:14,070 about today I was looking at my next 30 00:01:11,130 --> 00:01:16,140 action list as it was getting behind and 31 00:01:14,070 --> 00:01:19,170 I couldn't understand why it's not a 32 00:01:16,140 --> 00:01:23,369 matter of the job it's not a matter of 33 00:01:19,170 --> 00:01:25,470 the tasks per se but the fact was what's 34 00:01:23,369 --> 00:01:27,630 getting behind and I started to get 35 00:01:25,470 --> 00:01:31,110 accumulated so the question for me was 36 00:01:27,630 --> 00:01:33,329 is this something because I've been 37 00:01:31,110 --> 00:01:36,630 extremely busy or this is something 38 00:01:33,329 --> 00:01:41,610 because a condition around my day-to-day 39 00:01:36,630 --> 00:01:43,290 change in my particular case was the 40 00:01:41,610 --> 00:01:46,860 second one a condition around my 41 00:01:43,290 --> 00:01:51,299 workplace my work day-to-day change so 42 00:01:46,860 --> 00:01:55,439 what happened was I begin changing or 43 00:01:51,299 --> 00:01:58,229 evolving my role from a person who spent 44 00:01:55,439 --> 00:02:01,140 a lot of time in the office to a person 45 00:01:58,229 --> 00:02:04,350 who spent almost none in the office in 46 00:02:01,140 --> 00:02:08,190 other words a world warrior again 47 00:02:04,350 --> 00:02:13,480 as I was looking at that I begin to 48 00:02:08,190 --> 00:02:17,709 consider or ask myself if the way you 49 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:21,549 see your next actions and how is 50 00:02:17,709 --> 00:02:24,310 affected by the unconscious time you 51 00:02:21,549 --> 00:02:27,040 think you have to accomplish them so if 52 00:02:24,310 --> 00:02:29,680 you think for example on the two-minute 53 00:02:27,040 --> 00:02:31,090 rule the two minutes without any doubts 54 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:36,099 in arbitrary number 55 00:02:31,090 --> 00:02:40,120 so we with practice we begin to identify 56 00:02:36,099 --> 00:02:42,040 what kind of task can be done on that 2 57 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:44,560 minutes roll the same way that when we 58 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:46,660 are when we have less time we change 59 00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:48,310 that 2 minutes to maybe a minute or 30 60 00:02:46,660 --> 00:02:50,560 seconds and everything else going to the 61 00:02:48,310 --> 00:02:52,510 system or when we have a ridiculous 62 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:55,709 amount of time for example a long train 63 00:02:52,510 --> 00:02:58,150 trip coast-to-coast then we can go to a 64 00:02:55,709 --> 00:03:00,760 15-minute time because we'll make no 65 00:02:58,150 --> 00:03:06,790 difference we are not going anywhere so 66 00:03:00,760 --> 00:03:10,349 I begin to wonder if hold your next 67 00:03:06,790 --> 00:03:13,780 actions do conscious or unconscious 68 00:03:10,349 --> 00:03:15,700 begin setting that same time so when I'm 69 00:03:13,780 --> 00:03:19,480 sitting at work this is around the time 70 00:03:15,700 --> 00:03:22,090 I can do without being interrupted or 71 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:24,220 without the next meeting coming or 72 00:03:22,090 --> 00:03:26,919 without somebody coming to my desk and 73 00:03:24,220 --> 00:03:29,950 ask me what I'm doing and you begin 74 00:03:26,919 --> 00:03:34,930 defining your next actions based on that 75 00:03:29,950 --> 00:03:37,060 interval if that's true then you should 76 00:03:34,930 --> 00:03:42,359 be able to adjust it one way or the 77 00:03:37,060 --> 00:03:45,430 other but I'm curious if people also 78 00:03:42,359 --> 00:03:50,280 observe the same thing in other words if 79 00:03:45,430 --> 00:03:54,910 they also notice that their next actions 80 00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:57,340 are defined to a specific interval of 81 00:03:54,910 --> 00:03:59,980 time or is just the way mine works 82 00:03:57,340 --> 00:04:02,410 enough yeah I'm thinking about this from 83 00:03:59,980 --> 00:04:04,120 the perspective of one of the questions 84 00:04:02,410 --> 00:04:06,370 that I always ask myself and I ask other 85 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:09,910 people when they're trying to do task 86 00:04:06,370 --> 00:04:12,910 estimation is what's the amount of time 87 00:04:09,910 --> 00:04:15,600 that you think a task is going to take 88 00:04:12,910 --> 00:04:18,180 based on either assessment or 89 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:19,830 historical values what's important I 90 00:04:18,180 --> 00:04:22,230 think related to what you're bringing up 91 00:04:19,830 --> 00:04:25,440 Augusto is that I don't know that it's 92 00:04:22,230 --> 00:04:28,260 necessarily contextual to the time you 93 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:30,020 have available because if you think 94 00:04:28,260 --> 00:04:32,640 about traditional project management 95 00:04:30,020 --> 00:04:33,270 methodology you've got time cost and 96 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:36,390 scope 97 00:04:33,270 --> 00:04:38,430 well if time becomes an inflexible value 98 00:04:36,390 --> 00:04:40,200 which is this is the amount of time I 99 00:04:38,430 --> 00:04:42,180 have in my calendar the only other two 100 ...