Welcome to my Online Home!

...and here's those six stain similes for proper listening, also from The Nectar of Manjurshri's Speech.  Don't do these. :-)

It is said in the Vyakhyayukti:
To be puffed up with pride, to have no faith,
To have no yearning interest,
Outwardly distracted, inwardly withdrawn,
To listen with despondency: These are all impurities.

The commentary also says:

This refers respective to the pride of thinking oneself superior to the teacher and to one's spiritual companions.  It refers to a lack of confidence in the Dharma, the teacher, and one's fellow disciples.  It refers also to an absence of keen interest and endeavor in the Dharma, and indicates distraction when the mind runs after the outer objects of the senses and is not concentrated, or when it sinks into a state of dullness and torpor.  It refers too to the dismay one might feel at the length of the teaching session, or at the discomforts of hunger or thirst, or of heat or cold, on account of which one does not want to listen or else listens with displeasure.  [...] one must control one's behavior, have an attitude of utmost respect, and listen to the teachings in the proper manner.

Good "ideas" like these, to me, are only useful when they can be appropriately applied.  Even outside of Buddhism, specifically in Aikido or GTD or even social justice motivation, it seems these could be used as checklists for one's perspective.  So, in GTD, one might ask:

• Is my thinking I'm awesome at GTD keeping me from learning?
• Am I unwilling to trust that GTD has any merit whatsoever? (recognizing that some faith can only be realized by familiarity, meaning you've gotta do SOMETHING to get the flavor of it)
  
• Do I think that being organized isn't that important? (i.e. not recognizing the strain on other important parts of life, however subtle yet insidious)
• Am I tooling around with the GTD implementation specifics, like fancy handhelds or other external manifestations of a system, and not really practicing?
• Am I navel-gazing, thinking about the perfect GTD system and how I'll implement it...someday?
• Am I wallowing in how hard implementation will be, how long it'll take, how much money/time/resources, without applying GTD to This Right Here?  Am I stuck on the overwhelmingness of the big picture than I can't see managable chunks of projects and completable next actions?

Seems these stains have lots of applications!  Can you see the aikido or community change making parallels?

Labels: aikido, GTD, listening, social justice

Onward and upward! Or something.

For those that know GTD, you know what process means: take something, put it where it belongs, and leave an intelligently (and quickly!) filed reminder in a list system that I trust. Folks use lotsa things for lists... but for me, this seems to work really well. First, the lists.

Lists are of a few types in GTD. First, you've got your "next action" lists. This is stuff that you're able to actually do (meaning it's a single activity, physical, envisionable, etc.) when you're in the right context. These lists are kept by context (like "At Phone" is the list of the phone calls you could make), and (to me) ideally cross referenced by date IF something has to be done on that day from that list. Still, many of these to-dos might not have dates. The scenario this list is used? You've gotten everything done you "need" to do today by checking your calendar and dated next actions... and you feel like a-workin' ahead or on something that needs to be done, but doesn't have to be done today. So you whip out your context list.

Here's my context next action list and how I use it.

@ - My GTD next action reminders. This is a cheat - I put some fake tasks in here that remind me of how to DO stuff. Cuz, no joke, I sometimes forget. Here's those tasks, actually:

• GTD Workflow Mastery: Collect, Process, Organize, Review, Do
• GTD Choose Action: Context->Time->Energy->Priority
• GTD Daily Work: Do predefined, do as it shows up, defining it
• GTD Weekly Review (w/ notes so I can do my weekly review wherever - recurs Thu)
  
• GTD Monthly Review (same deal - recurs 1st sun of the month)
  
• GTD @: single, atomic, physical, seeable, context, committed, action verb

@Aiki-Doing - I have a part-time consulting company (you're on its webpage right now!) I know that the only time I'd do these next actions is if I'm at the computer AND online AND in "makin' extra $" mode.

@Brainstorming - Stuff I could do anywhere. And do! If I'm catching a quiet dinner by myself, I might pull out one of these. Then again, I might just have a quiet dinner.

@Email - Emails! It's all lumped together, my work and personal, since I'm doing it from the same place. I've had these split (the way phone is currently split) into work and personal... but I found that since my minutes are charged differently, I like to be intentional about separating my personal and work calls.

@Home - Stuff around the house. This might be "vacuum & mop the floors" on the weekend (which it is today, for example) or "take a look into the attic" referring to our house's attic project.

@Meeting - Agendas. Each agenda starts with the person's name, like "Cal: Talk about heterosexism and racism training day for PANC for ideas."

@OfflineCPU -Things to do when I'm, gasp, offline.

@OnlineCPU - Things I need a net connection for.

@Phone-Personal - Duh! I make most of these calls on weekends or after 9. Cha-Ching.

@Phone-Work - Usually make these during the day when I'm in the car. I know that's naughty... but I find I need less emotional energy when I'm talking work. Or I just do it when I park the car someplace I get early.

@Reading - Stuff I've actually committed to reading

@Running Errands - A great list. I get in my car, I check it. I go in a store, I check it. It might have "Durham: Thrift Shop: Get a crappy bag with a nice zipper" so I can put it on my yoga bag. So I'll be in Durham, getting in my car (or planning my day), and realize "oh, I've got a few Durham errands, lemme tack that on here and here...

@SAS - My UNC internship is at SAS, and I'm religious about not bringing work home. I'm only going to do these things at my desk there, whether emails, calls, research on eldercare, sorting, etc.

And two ESSENTIAL categories that relate..

Suspended - tasks with a date set for them to be active. They do NOT show up on my lists daily, but will pop up on the day I need them on either my outlook today or my nice PDA today screen.

Waiting For - again, dated. If I send an email to someone, while it's sending (2 seconds or so?) I use the hotkeys for a new waiting for task and put a date on it. Literally, takes about 2-3 seconds. But that way, in a week if they haven't gotten back to me, I know to check in.


My projects list is also in this system. I've worked literally for years to try to find out how to best watch projects, and came up with this. Each of the "areas of responsibility" for my life is a category with projects under it.

_ Same as above - GTD project reminders for how to work the system

• GTD Natural Planning: 1.Principles 2.Vision 3. Brainstorm 4. Organize 5. Next Action
• GTD Priorities / Reviews

_Aiki-Doing - Got a list of the clients I'm working with and the work I'm doing for them.

_Basic Personal Stuff - My eating

_Body Training - Specific Aikido, yoga, tai chi goals. Treating injuries, good eating, sleeping, this goes in here.

_Community Engagement - My active community projects. I don't know if it's good or bad that this is often my largest list.

_Community Radar - Community projects I'm not active on, but I want to keep on my mind.

_Education - Projects for each of my UNC classes, upcoming seminars, etc.

_Family - Folks on my mind, so I can keep track of what's going on with them.

_Friends - same thing - notes on folks I'm close to. This isn't ALL my friends - just the folks I want to stay more regularly connected with.

_Home - Home projects, like "Clean Attic" or "Beautiful Walkway to large tree"

_Magic - my magic training projects. Stuff like "think about transitions between this routine and this one..." And Josh's upcoming Magic show at Man Bites Dog, that I'll be a part of again...

_SAS Project - Again, big picture SAS stuff.

_Zen - Basically says "meditate." lol.


Lastly, my maybe someday list. Here's where stuff goes that I might get around to someday... and maybe I wont.

~ - Misc. I don't care about sorting these as much...lol.

~Blog Ideas - I've amassed about 200 things in this category. I've written 5. That's ok. lol.

~Community - Neato community project idears

~DurhamCET -

~Education - seminars, etc. I might like to go to.

~Friends - stuff I might do for friends if I have the time down the road.

~Fun - fun ways to play I can pull from whenever

~Home - hare-brained idears for the dojo house.

~Magic - Routines I might like to add, but won't commit to right now.

~Net-Browsing - go look at this neat thing when you have time... or not!

~Organizing - stuff that might be perfectionism... so by putting it here I give myself permission NOT to do it.

~Personal - eh, I might gt some black pants that wick...but I think I have enough clothes as it is. I'll leave it there for later or never.

~Relationships - folks not quite friends at this point, but if I've got time I'll reach out and send somebody a CD or something.

~Tech - again, doodads I probably don't need. Just get it off my mind already!

~Work - Brainstorms to increase consulting advertising, etc.


That's WHERE I process. Here's HOW I process.

I'm a techie. Not quite at heart, but in training. I've got this neato thing called AutoHotKey (google it!) that let's me create Outlook tasks in a heartbeat. Let's say I'm sending an email and need to create a waiting for.

I'd type
(win-t)wfMandy re: lunch(tab)wed(alt-s)
while the email's sending, and that would

• (win-t) : open up a new task window for outlook (no matter what I'm using at the time).
• wf : deletes "wf" text, types the short-cuts for the categories list (alt-g) and selects waiting for, then gets me back to the subject
• Mandy email re: lunch : who I'm waiting on and for what
• (tab) wed : drops me to the due date and gives me the next wed.
• (alt-s) : saves and closes my new task. It'll then show up in my few task views, my PDA, and my today screens.
  

Processing, in practice, looks like emptying my inbox (which I usually do as I get things, it's just so fast), emptying my paper inbox at the end of the day, and emptying my PDA of voice recording notes. All of those things I quickly use some hotkeys for and turn into tasks. Processing into Outlook nabs me some pretty nice views, which is what all this processing is for, in a sense: to give me snapshots of what I need, when I need it, so I can make good decisions and not drop any balls.

And I'll do a view showin' soon!

Labels: GTD, pda

Sometimes I enjoy a reminder of what it takes to really listen to a teacher. As both a teacher and (moreso) a student in martial arts, and a student at UNC's MSW program, I enjoyed something I found (for the second or third time!) on listening and wanted to share.

So today I took some time to read a new book - commentary on one of my favorite, if not my favorite Buddhist teaching: Shantideva's Bodhicaryavatara - The path of the Bodhisattva - available online or in paper format in my current favorite translation. I've read it often, maybe about 50 times through at this point, and I enjoy commentaries on it. For those not familiar with that term, it's pretty common in Buddhism for sutras or teachings to be commented on and have those commentaries get famous in their own right. So, back to what I'm reading: the Nectar of Manjushri's Speech: A Detailed Commentary on Shantideva's Way of the Bodhisattva.

In the introduction to the commentary, the author reviews a few Buddhist reminders about listening. First, the three defects of a vessel:

Concerning the three defects of a vessel, it is said:

• Inattentive, you are like a vessel overturned.
• Forgetful, you are like a ruptured vessel.
• Stained by the afflictions, you are like a poisoned vessel.

So: don't do those! :-) In Aikido, that seems to parallel as well. I notice these as a student and teacher, but prefer to share my experience embodiing the listening "whoopsies" myself.

While sitting in seiza listening to Steve Sensei or another teacher, if I find myself with a wandering mind on what I'm going to do after class, or some situation from my "outside" life, that's me as the vessel overturned. If I'm watching, but not really taking in what he's saying and then miss basics like footwork or handwork clearly off, I'm like a ruptured vessel. If I'm of a "peace ninja" type mind, thinking how Awesome I'm going to be when I get up and do that technique myself, I'm like a poisoned vessel (maybe it's got mold in it or something, I don't know). So the antidotes, from aikido, seem to be:

• To deeply and ravenously search out the energetic relationship being demonstrated. What is sensei's core doing? How is his spine moving, what are his internal movements? I sometimes lean forward and try to drink in the situation. That keeps me from feeling as "overturned"
• To ensure that I'm also looking at the basics. If all else fails, "forward foot goes back, then step" or whatever. If I can't even lock down on the rough hand and foot movements, how will I hunt down the internal movement that the structure enables?
• To watch humbly, mindful of the non-competitive spirit of aikido. I am not in class to become a dangerous martial artist, a dangerous man. I am there to clean up my spirit and not roughly pull someone all over the place. To me, it should feel like guiding their energy around, making sense of the uke/nage relationship.

So, food for thought!

I'll follow this up eventually with the six stains - another simile for bad listeners!

Labels: aikido, Buddhism, listening

OK, time for the often-done "how I work GTD."

First, here's what I DO (which guides how I'm implementing my system):

• I'm active in around 10-20 community projects at a time, and "track" about another 10 that I'd like to stay on my radar
  
• I'm going to school for a masters in social work and two certificates (one from UNC and one from Duke) in nonprofit management
  
• I train a lot in Aikido and Tai Chi (and yoga cross training)
  
• I like hanging out with friends
  
• I teach a few martial arts classes at Duke in the PE department
  
• I have a part-time nonprofit/social justice technology consultant practice with about ten clients at a time.
  

And apart from what I do, here's some specifics of how I like to do it which impact my implementation:

• I'm tech savvy, very much so, but don't like living off my computer
  
• I live in a wonderful house with a housemate, and have a small "work area" that I don't want to be in my room.
  
• I like to be able to capture things both on paper and verbally.
• I've lost large amounts of data on paper or otherwise before - a stolen planner, etc. - so I wanted a system that backs itself up.
  
• If a tech system, I'm big on speed - I want spend my time BEING organized, not organizing.
• I want my stuff protected by duplication, but not have to do anything twice. I want as much at my fingertips as possible
• Some investment is ok, but I generally don't have good experiences with fancier tailored systems. I'll tailor it, thanks.
• I want to be able to see my tasks by due date AND by category, but have filing be Fast

So given those things, here's the big overall for my system. I'm going to measure it based on my favorite three GTD measurement tools: the Workflow Mastery assessment at Matt's Idea Blog, David Allen's belts, and GTD Mastery 100.

My essential tools:

• Microsoft Outlook, with some customizations
• Autohotkey for some select but very tactical hotkeys (I love you!)
• Thunderbird
• a tricked out used PDA (Dell Axim x30 - I've had eGenio for a while, but I love this axim)
• a black purse with pockets ("man bag?" C'mon, it's a purse.)
• a buncha notecards, two black pens and some colored pens for brainstorms, meeting notes or whatever.
• a big old 4 drawer file cabinet and manila folders (Hanging files is for the birds)

I'm going to go with the Workflow Mastery rubric (Collect, Process, Organize, Review, Do) to talk about my system, then do my tools one by one.

Collect
According to David Allen, there are three success factors in collecting. I like Matt's extended list though, so I'm going to go with that

?Stuff? enters my life via a small number of collecting points (physical in-basket, email, voice mail, etc.) ____ YUP
I regularly do a mind sweep to empty my head of nagging thoughts that have my attention. ____ YUP
I use my email in-box only for collecting; it does not mix collecting with action or reference. ____YUP
I empty my collecting points (including paper and email) every 24-48 hours. ____YUP
I have collecting points set up both at home and work. ____YUP
Fellow workers and family use my collecting points for notes, memos, etc, instead of leaving in unexpected locations. ____YUP
I always have a Ubiquitous Capture Tool (notebook, PDA, etc.) nearby to capture things that are on my mind. ____YUP

My three buckets are thunderbird email inbox, my physical inbox on my desk (for whatever, including my paper notes that I could take during meetings if I wanted to), my PDA voice capture list which syncs with outlook in the "notes" section as recordings. I can ubiquitously (?) capture by voice, paper, or just dropping a thing into a spot - and so far, I haven't been able to get to fewer than this since I LOVE the voice capture piece. :-)

Thunderbird Email
Nothing stays in my inbox long - and by long I mean a day at max, usually just a few seconds. Inbox represents something NOT processed - anything processed gets quickly taged as work or personal (by pressing a single key) and filed into a respective folder filing system, which I'll go over later. All in all, each email takes no more than a few seconds to process into a trusted reminder that'll show up in the few views I want it to by category and by date both on my computer and my PDA - a tiny bit of processing up front with a high pay off makes processing that collection bucket to zero easy.

My Physical Inbox
This is easy - whatever notes (if any) I've taken during the day I'll just stuff in my pocket. When I change at the end of the day I just dump them into my inbox at home - or have already processed them in the last 15 minutes of my day which I religiously reserve at work for processing my work tasks (note: turning your notes into next actions and project brainstorms is billable, folks). They go into the inbox, then they go out. If I took a picture with my camera that day, it gets tossed (nicely!) into my inbox. Articles I clipped? Inbox.

And that inbox stays EMPTY. To me, if my inbox is getting stuck, it's because my filing system doesn't rock (as in less than 30 seconds to get it to where it belongs) or my decision making on something is stuck. By working on fixing those systems over the last few years (though nobody's perfect) my inbox stays about 95% zero like my email - and if it doesn't get cleared in a day, it certainly will in another. My housemate drops stuff (mail, notes, etc.) into my inbox (or on my chair, which I put in my inbox) and I put stuff in hers.

PDA Voice Capture
I LOVE this. I like to ramble... or leave myself short messages. It's faster than calling my answering machine and then having it sent by email, as is now possible - I rummage in my bag one handed, even when driving (whoops! I mean, both hands on the wheel!), and by feel can get the sleek silver of the protective case on my PDA. I pull it out, and with my pinky squeeze the voice capture button. PDA turns on, a little beep, and then "add eggplant to the grocery list" or "brainstorm about writing a children's book someday about social justice and anti-racism stories...." - whatever. Those notes sync with my outlook and drop themselves into the collection bucket of "notes" where I speedily turn them into next actions, waiting-fors, project notes, suspended actions, calendar, whatever - with my outlook organization system, processing (as I'll go over) is a snap.

The Rest
I'll do Process, Organize, Review, Do later, yo. Just felt like starting these GTD postings right!

Labels: collect, GTD