Welcome back! It's good to see you again. Please note that I am now publishing all new material at my hub site: In Context Blog
After getting laid off for the second time in three months, programmer Daniel Higginbotham knew he had to make job hunting less stressful. So, he built Happy Job Search (www.happyjobsearch.com), a tool for keeping track of the tens or even hundreds of job listings people encounter when looking for a job.
“The first time I got laid off, I made a lot of mistakes. I emailed some organizations twice and a few times forgot to attach my cover letter. I had to keep track of when to send a follow-up in my head. It was very stressful. This tool allowed me to approach the job search in a methodical, intelligent way. It also showed me how much effort I had put into job hunting, which felt good,” Daniel said.
Happy Job Search also allows you to keep track of your cover letter and “interview reminders” - those bits of information you want to have fresh in your mind before an interview.
Happy Job Search is completely free.
The Lovely Bride is using this service right now while she is looking for a new job, and I will do my best to - ah - help her write a post about it.
Brett Kelly, the former host of the Cranking Widgets blog lets loose (with both barrels): My Scandelous Confession and A Royal Rant About GTD. Super. Right about the time that I am having an existential crisis about my own GTD practice. The Lovely Bride and I have been on the road for just over two months now, and being 100% mobile has taught me a few things. Like it is much easier to “do” GTD when you have an office. Or a house. Try putting everything that you need into a laptop bag and a couple of file boxes.
Here is what Kelly has to say:
Having been a fairly vocal proponent of GTD for some time, this is one of those things that I’m happy to write after having removed myself from the throngs (and I mean *throngs*) of productivity/GTD bloggers. Ever since I launched The Cranking Widgets Blog, I’ve been singing the praises of this productivity methodology to any j*****s who would listen. Now, after developing a little bit of discontent with the whole thing, I can bring it to you folks without having to fear a decline in readership. Here goes.
First of all (and probably most importantly), I’m starting to feel like GTD is really effing hard. The amount of time and effort it takes to (according to the book) manage a list of tasks, a calendar and some filing shit has become prohibitively long for me. I look at a scrap of paper in my in-basket, and I’m positively put off by the effort it will require to add it to the project list, choose the next action, pull out a blank folder, label it and file it away. Perhaps I’m just being lazy, but that’s the freaking honest truth.
Built-in anxiety is almost a guarantee. Unless you’re a poster child for GTD, you’re going to have shit slip past the defenses of your system. Hell, David Allen himself has confessed to “falling off of the wagon, repeatedly” on several different occasions. And if you’ve become such a loyal adherent, the very act of *not* doing the GTD thing will create stress. This might just be my own dumb brain thinking about this stuff the wrong way, but I’d bet the contents of your wallet that this type of mental spasm is more common than you think.
What say you? Where do you want Productivity in Context to go in 2009? Is Getting Things Done over? How excited are you about the prospect of a new book from David Allen?
What did you think of the first two FAQ posts - and would you like me to work with you on developing this system (for lack of a better word) into something more (and by more I mean less, GTD has too many folders and rules - I have to confess that I only look at my Tickler File once a week nowadays).
Leave a comment, let’s discuss this. In the meantime I am going to be downsizing from 43 folders to 15.(More on this later)
My friend Marina Martin [ Sufficient Thrust ] has a terrific resource for setting New Year’s Resolutions that you should take a look at. I used this little booklet last year and it made an amazing difference in my effectiveness, in fact I accomplished all but two of my goals!
In my work here as a Productivity evangelist I have tried, experimented with, and discarded a ton of applications, methods, and practices for setting goals and getting them done. This one works. Martin says:
I’m the very definition of a Type-A personality and have worked as an efficiency consultant for years, so making lists and plans is second nature to me. Something I’ve come to believe strongly is that Type-A personalities perform best when we have specific action steps, as opposed to paragraphs of theory. The blogosphere is certainly full of posts about resolutions, but I couldn’t find anything that satisfied my craving for step-by-step success — so I made it myself! I use this exact same process myself whenever I have a goal to achieve, with great results, and I’m excited that others have benefited from it too.
Since I am such a laid-back, relaxed person this type of system appealed to me. How does this resolution-defining system work?
The Perfect New Year’s Resolution
The #1 reason why people don’t achieve their resolutions is because their resolutions weren’t really resolutions at all.
It’s no secret around here that I’m big on goal-setting. However, New Year’s Resolutions are a very specific kind of goal.
A New Year’s Resolution has to meet the following criteria:
* It must be achievable by 11:59pm on December 31 of that calendar year.
* It must be measurable AND specific. In other words, a complete stranger should easily be able to objectively determine whether or not you’ve achieved it.
* It should positively impact your life, if only indirectly.
* A process of events should be required in order to achieve it. “Visit Kenya” doesn’t count if you normally travel and it’s within your financial means and comfort zone. It would count, however, if you had to come up with some way of financing the trip, or if you moved there for a month, or if you were having an existential crisis about hippos and were going there to confront your fears.
Martin recommends creating 4-6 specific, actionable goals for the new year, and provides a resource for breaking those goals down into action steps. For example:
A lousy Resolution: “Lose weight”
A better one: “Lose 20lbs”
A really good example: “Weigh 134lbs naked on the morning of December 31″
And simply awesome: “Run three miles without stopping wearing XXS Aerie sweatpants”
The awesome version of this resolution not only incorporates two common goals — losing weight and exercising more — into one, but it also focuses on one of the real reasons we want to lose weight: to fit into a smaller clothing size. It doesn’t matter what number the scale shows if your pants won’t fit!
For more help in keeping up your motivation and getting some accountability, you may want to get involved with Leo Babauta’s new 30 Day Challenge forum.
If you need even more help, or just want to discuss how to make 2009 your best year yet, feel free to drop me a line: Contact Stephen.
Ever since I started my Getting Things Done practice 2 years ago, I have struggled with my system of reviews. Primarily due to my ADD, but also because of the many, many changes and transitions that my household has undergone in that time.
Since the Lovely Bride and I were married in March of 2005 we have moved 4 times, lived in 3 different states, and had 11 different jobs (combined). That is a LOT of change and those of you who know me personally know that I can have trouble adapting to change.
Since we are once again in the middle of an enormous transition I have taken the opportunity to get a head start on my Annual Review. It turns out that in spite of (or perhaps because of) the challenges 2008 was a pretty darned good year.
Our marriage is strong. The Lovely Bride and I have faced some serious challenges, at home and with her career, but we have remained strong, positive, and pro-active about making things happen.
We are ahead of the curve. With the economy in the state that it is, we were able to look forward and make some choices and take actions to stay out of the worst of the troubles:
Beating the Christmas rush - we started buying presents in March, and were able to finish in October. All of our gifts for family and friends were wrapped, packed, and shipped by the first week of November. What an amazing feeling to have all of that done during this week of Christmas! Buying gifts this way allowed us to avoid a massive hit to the budget during a fairly lean period, as well as providing the opportunity to find things in our travels that would be personal and special for the recipient.
Living with less - both of us have a tendency to hoard “stuff”, and we have been moving boxes of junk from place to place for 3 years. This fall we decided that boxes that have not been unpacked in two years are likely to contain things that we do not need. We did a massive sort-and-purge, donating a ton of clothes, books, and small appliances to charity.
Creating alternate income streams - both of us have worked in the hospitality industry for most of our careers and a down economy hits that segment hard. We have been creating products and services that we can sell online, and in October I took the leap and went to work for myself.
I started my own business. And business is pretty good! The main site is called Business Development in Context and I have been writing about Social Media, Blogging, and Networking for success. I have found a handful of clients, and some clients have found me. I am not making a fortune (yet) but it is paying the bills and financing our adventure. The funny thing is, I work as many or more hours than I did when I had a “real job” yet it is so much more rewarding, fulfilling, and enjoyable. I should have done this years ago!!
I accomplished nearly all of my goals for the year. In January of 2008 I sat down with a workbook on goal-setting and laid out a plan for achieving some goals over the course of the year. (In no particular order)
I lost 25 pounds and kept it off.
I started a new blog for business purposes, and it is growing.
I attending the SOBCon conference in Chicago and learned a LOT about this business of blogging.
I paid off one of the credit cards.
I purchased a new laptop computer.
I took a job as a paid writer online.
I joined a Chamber of Commerce and got involved with the local business community.
I spent at least one full day each week with the Lovely Bride doing something fun and building our relationship.
Use a more positive vocabulary -My Lovely Bride asked me to add this point as her contribution. I have always been a very optimistic person, but since we have been married my wife says that learning to use a positive outlook rather than a negative one creates a much different framework for approaching a problem.
Now it is your turn. How was 2008 for you? What did you learn, achieve, or accomplish? Be sure to share in the Comments. Later in the week we will look at setting some achievable SMART goals for 2009.
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January 21st, 2009 by Stephen
After getting laid off for the second time in three months, programmer Daniel Higginbotham knew he had to make job hunting less stressful. So, he built Happy Job Search (www.happyjobsearch.com), a tool for keeping track of the tens or even hundreds of job listings people encounter when looking for a job.
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