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In a previous post I discussed the 30 Day challenge. After a few days of randomness caused by craziness of moving into a new apartment, (which is not even close to being done), I have chosen my first 30 Day challenge. I seem incapable of keeping a routine and so for the next 30 days I will fix my routine and daily review.
There are some definite issues, as nothing in my life will be fixed for the next week (not even the state I’m in), I have choose cues that will cause me to perform my routine. Forgive me for using the previous word: cue, which I have not gone into depth about. They belong to the idea of the habit loop, a cycle that starts with a cue, which is a signal of some kind. The cue is a reminder that a routine should be performed, which will result in some reward. For which the reward reinforces the desire to perform the routine when the cue appears.
Dec 14, 2017 Vitamin-R 2 2.52. December 14, 2017. Find out what works best for you and unlock the key to true productivity. Vitamin-R provides the tools to gain improved. 4.5/5 Stars, Macworld May 2015 Recapture the Lost Art of Joyful Concentration. Overcome Procrastination. Vitamin-R creates optimal conditions for your brain by structuring your work into short bursts of distraction-free, highly-focused activity alternating with opportunities for renewal, reflection and intuition. The built-in task logging and analysis features create positive.
So, what cues will I choose? And what are the rewards of my routine? But first, what is my routine?
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My routine is basically to check my most important organization structures. But I also want to extend that to one more tool, Vitamin-R (for a brief discussion view my post on Workstation Part 1). So here is my routine:
- Set up 25 min task in Vitamin-R
- This will be the time I allot to performing the rest of the routine
- View Fantastical Events for the day
- Open OmniFocus
- Make sure Inbox is empty, if not empty it
- Check first by context – Who, Where, with What
- Review Lists in following order (hope to expand later):
- Personal
- Home
- Business
- Check email, following the GTD process flow chart
When this pomodoro is done I get a 5 min break. This is where I get my reward of being allowed to browse Digg (my fav simple news site).
There is one more part of my routine, but this part only occurs at night. My nightly review is the same as the previous except I have to answer a few questions and turn them into Next Actions. Here are the questions I have at the moment:
- Were there any issues with the system that took longer than they should?
- Are things organized well, so that I can easily find what I am looking for and place things for later?
- If it takes longer than 30 seconds to determine where something is or where something should go, then either I need a new section of organization or I need to adjust the system
- How is the routine working? How can it be adjusted to be better?
I also have the task of updating my blog. Could be a short little thing, but I will write something down about my success or failure for the day.
Now we have a clear understanding of the Routine and Reward, but what is(are) the cue(s)? Until my days become more stable I need a cue that is time independent. I don’t always check my email, OmniFocus, or digg by computer (as I have them all on my iPhone). However, if I use my computer I will almost always have at least 25 minutes available. So my cue for this habit will be the usage of my computer. Everytime I use my computer my first task will be to open Vitamin-R and follow the routine listed above.
At night my routine will be cued by the thought of going to sleep. Before I go to lay down in bed I must do my nightly routine. This may not be strict enough for me, but without a time and without clear boundries of when my workday is done, it is the best I’ve got.
Vitamin R 2 52 – Personal Productivity Tool Kit
Vitamin R 2 52 – Personal Productivity Tool Download
So tomorrow will be day 1 of my 30 Day challenge to create a routine of reviewing my GTD system. Lets hope it works and I will be updating as I go along, so please give comments that could help me along the way.