Kourosh Dini's Blog, page 18

A Daily Review Habit

“Falling off the GTD wagon” (or any task system for that matter) can be all too easy and all too disrupting.  Especially, when you’ve grown used to a system, the gradual loss of trust in that system can come with feelings of anxiety, the need for constant damage control, putting out fires, losing follow up tasks, losing communication trails, losing the state of projects, and more.

To keep a system useful, it needs to be reviewed regularly. I often say that I’m not sure a system even exists unles...

After a project

Releasing a book is an odd experience.

After a long period of steady work, with no real deadline other than my own desire to move on to the next thing, it’s done. I flip a few levers, push a few buttons, inevitably realize I forget something, scramble to do that, and then… well, I guess it’s done. Of course, there’s follow up, making sure that things are running smoothly, hoping that it’s well received, and the like.

But it’s done. And the specter of a next project lingers in the background.

I’m...

GTD & Creativity

Can GTD be used for creative work?

In short, yes.

But, lets consider the debate from either side:

Dave Lee writes that 2-minute or less tasks, typical of GTD, can be problematic. He then offers a solution of organizing work by session. Steven Bradley talks about identifying fuzzy work. He considers the importance of focus for creative work. In an interview with Todd Henry by David Allen, Henry describes the importance of creating rhythms in our work. He also focuses on the importance of...

A Guiding Principle of Task Management

A guiding principle of any solid task management solution is a clear mind. For example, the popular productivity solution Getting Things Done focuses on what it would take to honestly clear the mind, and then designing our environments and systems accordingly.

It may seem odd to consider a clear mind as a centerpiece in building a working system. In many ways, we would hope such a state to be more of a desired end result than as an approach.

But a solid organizational system develops in an...

Chaotic Workflows Part 4: Creating Space for Practice

Welcome to the Chaotic Workflow series. Check out [Part 1](https://www.usingomnifocus.com/2017/0...), [Part 2](https://www.usingomnifocus.com/2017/0...), and [Part 3](https://www.usingomnifocus.com/2017/0...) here.

In the last several posts, weve been addressing chaos using at least three major categories:
Saying No
Satellite Task Systems
**Creating...

Quarantine! – the music video

My friend Dan Precision of 88 Fingers Louie fame came up with an awesome video in his time of quarantine set to the tune of Blondies Call Me:

(Dan actually mastered my Peace and the Piano series which is, clearly quite different.)

Chaotic Workflows Part 3: Satellite Task Systems

Welcome to the Chaotic Workflow series.  It started off as a A Teachers Plight series after Id received an email from a teacher having a difficult time with building her workflows.  Its been a nice jumping point to discuss several ideas related to chaotic workflows in general and so the names been changed.

In Part 1, we defined chaotic environments and considered an important difference between task management and workflow mastery. In Part 2, we looked at shaping our environments by...

Chaotic Workflows Part 2: Saying “No”

In the last post, [Workflows in Chaos](https://www.usingomnifocus.com/2017/0...), we looked at the importance of making _settled decisions_ and a difference between task management and workflow mastery.

Moving on to _addressing chaos_, lets consider at least three major categories:

Saying No Satellite Task Systems Creating Space for Practice

Today well examine the first.

 

Saying No

The first line of defense is to learn how to say, No, in all the...

Peace and the Piano – Volume 3

Volume 3 of the Peace and the Piano series releases on March 31st, 2020:

Peace and the Piano Volume 3 by Kourosh Dini

Chaotic Workflows Part 1: What is Chaos?

How do you work in chaos?

A teacher recently emailed me about her workflow troubles. Ill refer to her as M. Ms troubles parallel many of those felt by those who struggle with chaotic conditions.

M has given me permission to describe her problems with and wishes for task management. Ill be quoting Ms thoughts alongside my own. What started as a few paragraphs became what will likely be several blog posts.

As I am not a full-time teacher, there are certain to be blind spots in my considerations...