Sunday, February 15, 2009

A little about my GTD System Part 2 0 - A bit on my weekly review

I do a weekly review once or twice a week and I don't do it on a set day. When I do a review is based on a few things.

1. My anxiety levels
2. If I ever have the thought "What exactly is the best thing to work on?" and I can't come up with an answer by looking at my lists

David Allen describes the weekly review as getting clear, getting current, and getting creative. I kind of break this into steps and at the same time I kind of don't. For example:

Get Clear
I usually start with a breathing exercise. This can be 1 or more cleansing breaths, a formal centering exercise, or maybe even a few push ups (clears my head by focusing on the physical rather than the mental, this is even better if it is a clap push up because I have to be completely present or I fall on my face). If I am not clear on which part of my system I am going to review first (yes, I base this on need, I don't do my review in the same order every time) I do a quick mind sweep, I do this either in notepad on the PC or on a memo pad (sometimes I just love the feel of pen on paper...and sometimes I hate it). This isn't a list of things to review, this is a list of things to get off my mind so I can review my system, I can add these to my system after I am done with my review, if it is bothering me that they are in my inbox I file it under mindsweep and set a next action in my @office list to process the list. I also keep a stack of index cards or a memopad handy for a mindsweep during my review, if anything interrupts me I drop it onto this sweep. I do not do my review with closed door because I consider this a test of my system and a chance to practice dealing with interruptions. This entire process takes 5-15 minutes.

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