Review: RememberTheMilk.com

Imagine having a way to manage all your to-do items. Sort them by date, place, project or other defining attributes. Imagine having access to this list where ever you are without using up all the free space in your calender or struggling with complicated synchronization procedures etc.

Well it's possible. Today I stumbled onto a web application that completely changed how I work my lists. Its called Remember the Milk. It is as close to GTD compliant as any application I have found to date. And is by far the most hassle free web interface for the task.
(GTD = Getting Things Done. A methodology that I have described parts of earlier in this blog. Based on the book with the same name by David Allen. If you haven't read it yet then read it and apply it. You wont regret it.)
In keeping with the tradition of most web 2.0 applications it is currently Beta (GMail.com has been beta now for how many years?) but functionality wise it's solid.

I have to admit that I have been hesitant about web apps. Its hard to get a decent work flow going in a web browser and keyboard shortcuts are non-existent for the most part. I have tried out other web based solutions for managing tasks in the past but most of them have been too clunky, too restricted or too slow to encourage me to come back and use them on a regular basis.

So I'll try to describe my experience with Rememberthemilk.com (RTM) out of a GTD point of view.

1. Catching tasks. First things first. RTM manages tasks. Nothing else. So you will still need your physical GTD system. Whenever you think of a task you can use a number of ways to enter it into the system.

• You can e-mail the task to a specific @rememberthemilk.com adress and have it automatically added to the inbox.
• You can go to the RTM website and find the appropriate list and enter it there.
• You can use one of the many external plugins available for different devices like the iPhone or windows mobile (requires a Pro account) or you can go to m.rememberthemilk.com from your cellphone and add it that way.
  
• You can install it into other web 2.0 services like various google services or twitter
• You can add it using various third party desktop applications such as plugins for Quicksilver and Dashboard for Mac or Deskbar and Avant-window-navigator for Linux.
• If you live in the US or Canada and you are utterly deprived of an internet connection at the moment you can even call a Jott number and add it by voice.

Everything you add, where you haven't specified otherwise, ends up in the Inbox. From here you can move it to any list.

2. Lists. Every task is on a list. Either on the Inbox list or on some list of your choosing. To add lists you have to go to the RTM website in a full internet browser and go to settings. This makes it somewhat uncomfortable to use in GTD. But on the other hand defining projects should really be done when you have some time set aside for it, such as during the weekly project review. To use RTM for GTD purposes each list can represent a project.

3. Tags. But we don't always want to sort by project. Say you are stranded somewhere with only a phone and some time on your hands. You might want to bring up a list of phone calls that need to be made. RTM lets you Tag every task with multiple tags which can then be sorted. So tag all needed phone calls, regardless of project, as "phone" or "to call" or some other tag of your choosing. You then go to m.RTM.com and sort on you chosen tag and voila! its all there in front of you (if you were smart you added the phone numbers in the list as well)

4. Locations. A neat feature is the ability to define locations in a Google maps interface that you can then use to sort your tasks by. These are similar to tags but are used more as locations then anything else.

5. Reminders. RTM can send you reminders in a number of ways. It can send you an email, an IM, or even send reminders to your cellphone (Only for specific providers in each country. I cant use this as I have the wrong cell phone provider) You can set reminders for the same day as the event or at specific times before the event.

6. Collaboration. RTM lets you share tasks with other users. I havent yet tested this feature so I wont write more then that about it.

As you can all tell I'm still in the honeymoon phase with this web app. No doubt RTM will irritate me in the future because of some unforseen shortcoming. It is nowhere near the perfect GTD app. But its closer then anything I have ever tried. But why take my word for it? Get over there, sign up for a free account and see for your self!

Keeping it Short and Simple

Often things in life seem overwhelming. Sometimes it is because we have overloaded our platter by taking on too much at once. Other times we seem to feel overwhelmed by less then others seem to be able to run with easilly. Why is that?

I believe we often make things appear more complicated and bigger then they really are. I cant be sure about this but I think its residue from our schooling, where a longer text was taken more seriously than a short text. Where the more complicated and wordy the thesis, the more respect it commanded. Of course this isn't entirelly true, quality of the work is also a major factor, but it's no coincidence that business men who write about running businesses and professors and doctors who write textbooks are in two vastly different division as far as number of pages go.

My impression is that in the academic world there is a constant competition for tenure where it mostly comes down to: "Ha, ha. My latest publication was thicker (and therefore better) than yours! I'm the better Doctor/Researcher/Professor." Now I know that I am probably being very unfair with that statement and do apologise to anyone I might have offended.

What I'm trying to say is that people who are successfull in business, who are successfull in managing their own lives all understand the art of Keeping It Short and Simple (KISS, or as some would have it: Keep It Simple Stupid.) What does that mean in everyday terms? When you get an asignment to do something you might feel overwhelmed because a tiny part of you is still stuck in that academic mindset where quantity trumps all. So you feel like you have this huge task that has to be done better than anyone else.

What you need to do is take a few deep breaths and take a step back. Then look at what you actually need to accomplish. What is the minimum that has to have happened to be able to call the task done? Then break that down into simple steps to get there. List all the demanded material, the demanded competence and then start looking at where you can find it. Maybe someone else has a skill that makes them more suited to do part of the task. Se if you cant outsource that part to them etc. etc. The bottom line here is to keep things simple. Complicated != Better.

No one will reward you according to the amount of work you put in. They look at the result and reward you accordingly. How you came to that result is not interresting to them. So why not do it the simplest and most efficient way possible?

Well in order to not be a hypocrite and make this an overly long post I will end here for now. Good luck out there.

The war: Return to flight

About two weeks ago I told you that I had to start thinking about my 50000ft level visions and goals. I will here try to explain what that is. I was recently introduced to something called "the 6 level life planning model." The basic idea is that everything we do is based on the longterm plans and the image of ourself that we have. It's about the broader perspective. So in order to really come to terms with it one can divide it up in different "levels." The analogy that explains it the best is the one that was used to explain it to me: The airplane analogy.

Here are the six levels and what they represent:

• 50000ft: Life
• 40000ft: 3- to 5- year visions
• 30000ft: 1- to 2- year goals
• 20000ft: Areas of responsibility
• 10000ft: Current projects
• Runway: Current actions

Life
Who am I? Why am I here? What do I have to accomplish? Where am I going? These are all questions that need to be answered on this level. They determine more than we think about whether we are happy or not. If my current job does not match my idea of who I am then I should probably start looking for alternatives. If a project I'm working on goes against the basic values I live by then I should consider leaving it. What education is best in line with what I believe to be true about my purpose on this planet?

There situations will be more or less impossible to decide on if we haven't clearly defined these things. And don't think that just because you are a member of the church and have been spoon fed the answers to these questions since birth, that you are safe. General answers are good but they don't answer the question of what YOU, insert-own-name-here, are doing on this planet. They give pointers but the rest is for you to find out/decide.

3- to 5- year visions
What will my life be like in 5 years? Will I be in school? working? Married? Have children? Live in a foreign country? Be in the army? Decide what your vision of the future is. What will you have accomplished? Where will you have lived, what jobs will you have had? You get the idea.

1- to 2- year goals
This level blends together with the one above it in many cases and is very similar. The exception is that the goals and visions laid out here tend to be a little clearer and more defined since the outcomes are closer in time.

Areas of responsibility
What "hats" do you wear? What roles do you have in your society? What responsibilities do you have in your job? Are you a student? A parent? Do you have responsibilities in your Church? Club? Your kids sports team? etc. The list can be made long. By defining all you roles you get a clearer picture of what your life actually consists of and it gives you a chance to decide what roles are consistent with the higher levels of you life planning.

Current projects
This is where it gets easy. What projects are you working on right now? Planning trips, looking for a new couch, writing a thesis and planning a major project at work, all go into this category. This is where it starts getting "hands on" and you feel like you can work with things in a more frequent level then the higher levels of planning.

Current actions
This is where we spend most of our time. This is where we actually do stuff. Everything from taking the trash out to sending in your tax-declaration to proposing to that special someone takes place here.


The airplane analogy is an incredibly apt one for this. If the runway is all cluttered up with trash (Stuff in our lives that hasn't been properly taken care of) its impossible to take of with our plane and go to the higher levels. And at the same time we might, once we make it to the higher levels, realize that a lot of the actions we are doing on the runway level are actually part of projects that don't fit into our life plans. So while we need to spend most of our time taking care of everything on the runway level we definitely need to make frequent trips to the higher altitudes to assess where we are in the bigger picture. Here we can add and remove projects and areas of responsibility based on our life- and 1-5 year- goals as well as adjusting our goals according to our perception of our direction in life.


I myself haven't been terribly good at this but I have started looking at the higher levels. The last week however my runway had a bad case of being cluttered so the last few days have been spent on clearing the way. Now I once again feel I can have a look at those higher levels again.

I'm signing of for tonight but will be back soon with more. Dont forget to check out my new miniseries "the Good life".

Ups and ... Ups!

Athletes, scientists, engineers, coorporate officers etc. all speak of a state of being that they all strive for and sometimes find. It's called Flow. It's the feeling of being in total control of yourself and having perfect focus on the tasks at hand. When in flow you wont be distracted or thrown of by external events but will rather adapt to them and solve them as you go. Never taking your focus of the goal. David Allen, in his book "Getting things done", speaks of a state called "Mind like water" where the mind, having rid itself of all distractions, is ready to absorb and deal with any problem it may encounter, without missing a beat on its way to its goal.

Most of the time, this state of being is just a goal, a vision of what we want our lives to be like. But sometimes, in the rarest of moments, we get to experience it. For an elite athlete it might be while running a race. He/She finds the perfect rhythm, the perfect distribution of body balance, the perfect breathing pace and somehow feels previously unknown strength push him/her along in an ever increasing speed that is just right and in that moment he/she easily, without even noticing the extreme exertion he/she is making, glide past his/her competitors and win the race. For the scientist/engineer it might be that one afternoon when all the pieces fall into place and everything becomes clear. The afternoon they solve that big problem they haven't been able to quite get their heads around for the last few weeks. The afternoon that all the new ideas appear and fall into their proper places enabling the CEO to finally plan out the new organisational structure. That one performance where the singer doesn't miss a single note and the music is perfectly timed down to the microsecond.


That's flow.

Why do I mention this then? Well, I think I have been coming close to it sometimes lately. If I were to describe my life right now it would only take one word: Awesome! That word I don't use lightly. I tend to not like using it at all. I feel like things in my life are falling into place. I have almost caught up with my own life and am starting to feel good about my situation in general. That's a feeling I haven't really felt since shortly after my mission. I remember times as a missionary when things were fantastic. People didn't want to talk to me more then usual. They weren't easier to persuade, the weather wasn't any better then other days, I hadn't had better food or anything like that. I just felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be, doing exactly what I was supposed to do and better yet, doing it in exactly the way I was supposed to do it. When I was in this state it didn't matter what people around me said or did. Nothing could break my spirits. Regretfully I wasn't in this state the majority of the time.

It think the key to why I'm feeling so good about myself lately is the fact that I am proactive instead of reactive. That I make choices and act on them, instead of having choice pushed upon me and only time to try and pick the least painful alternative. Someone once said that getting a few things done is several times more effective then standing in front of a mirror and repeating "I am someone and I can achieve anything I set my mind to" to yourself a thousand times. It gives a lot of confidence when you see that you have actually done the hardest part, which is to begin, and that you are not only telling yourself that you are a someone but rather showing yourself.

If that last part isn't making a lot of sense it is because I'm getting really sleepy now. I hope you can all find flow sometimes in your lives. As for me. I seriously need some sleep:P
Good night all!

Getting the right tools, removing obstacles

Our brains are in many ways the most brilliant creations in this world. They are highly versatile information processing units capable of discerning patterns on levels far too deep and too abstract for any machine. They are capable of combining and cross referencing vast amounts of very different kinds data and in them find reason, meaning and conclusions. They are also capable of "making stuff up" i.e. of producing intricate systems of data based on real input but having no real counterpart. They are able to feel enjoyment, try getting a computer to do that!
Finally they are excellent crisis managing systems. Able to think in several directions at once and combining instincts and experience and then add some "made up stuff" to find a solution to any given problem.

So how is it that while we all walk around with these miracle machines in our heads (we all got one at birth, free of charge!) we end up making all the huge mistakes we do? How do we end up overwhelmed by the amount of work we have to do or the information we take in? Why do we forget things that are important and remember things that are trivial? The answer is that while our brains are brilliant they are also really dumb. Our brains absolutely suck at advance planning, prioritizing and reminding. To our brains every decision has the same amount of importance, whether it is to read the news paper or to take out a bank loan, to buy a bike or invade a country. Our brains don't see the difference in priority. It also has the worst sense of timing.
If our brains could think properly they would remind us of the letter we need to mail before we walk out the door. They would realise that its not a big deal that you forgot to get a package of milk at the store because at least you got all the food needed for tonight's dinner party. If it could really think it would have reminded you of the milk while you were in the store. Thus saving you the trouble of forgetting it in the first place.
Some part of our brain is stuck in the present. So if you tell your brain that you need to do something it'll think that you have to do it NOW. It assumes that you need to do that thing ALWAYS. And if you tell your brain to remember two things you need to do it'll get really frustrated, because it wants you to do both NOW but it knows that thats impossible, so it thinks you are failing.

The third truth to know about our brains is that they never forget. They might not remind you when you most need it. But they will remember. They remember every broken agreement, even if you don't. They remember the thing you promised that you would do today and will hold you accountable for not doing it. Even if they never remind you.

So how do we get past this then? We need external tools to help our brains with its weaknesses. The brain is happy to give away the tasks its not good at ONLY if it trusts the replacing tool. So a well kept calender can relieve the brain of the burden of having to remind you of planned events. But if your brain suspects you are not keeping the calender up to date it will take back that task and start worrying over your planned appointments. likewise other tools can replace other functions. I have mentioned the lists I've been keeping. They are tools that take over the task of prioritizing and reminding of the small tasks that need to be done. They also enable you to think only once about each task instead of having to go over the bigger plan every single time you have some time to work on it. there are many different tools out there to help us. There is not one universal tool that will solve everything and do the work for us. Instead we all have to work out a system that helps us the most.

There are however some good general pointers in this direction. Any tool we use has to be fun and quick. Any tool we don't like we don't use. The same if we think the tool is good but is complicated to use. So don't fall for the "more functions is better" approach to getting organized. In the end it comes down to if you use it or not. If you find that you don't use a tool because its too complicated, boring, unreliable, etc. then find a tool better suited to your personal style.
I myself for example use filing cards to capture all the thoughts I have. On them I write my lists, ideas and general good information I need. I then process what's on the cards to turn it into actions, things I can do. If I cant do anything about it there is really no use occupying my brain with it. I use a combination of google calendar and a wall calendar on a whiteboard to get an overview of the "hard landscape" in my future.
I won't talk more about tools now but will point you to a book that has helped me a lot in this struggle of mine. Its called "Getting things Done" and is written by David Allen (Isbn 0-14-200028-0) and cost me about 120 SEK at www.adlibris.se. I highly recommend it. The things he speaks of are basically common sense but as we all know common sense is not really all that common.

I would also like to mention something about removing obstacles. We have a way of placing obstacles in our paths to bettering ourselves. It usually consists of behaviour, hobbies and pastimes that we know are bad for us and actually promote the kind of bad lifestyle we are trying to get away from but that we feel attached to and don't willingly leave behind. They are usually things we do to escape the reality around us. A lot of the entertainment we consume function this way. For a moment we "escape" our bad situation. But we resurface afterwards, having by this time added guilt to our feelings of failure, prompting us to once again escape and so it goes on.

If we are to truly change we have to break with these habits. I have finally been able to break with one particularly time consuming and utterly pointless habit only recently. And I can already feel the liberation of all the time I suddenly have on my hands (time to use wisely and get stuff done) and the decrease of guilty feelings that came with it. So if you are clinging on to a time-consuming "escapistic" habit or hobby then man up and break with it. It might seem harch and yes it forces you to confront reality, but the rewards are great and come faster then you think.

Falling and rising

I regret to have to give you a somewhat sombre report from the war. You remember how I mentioned earlier that my lack of sleep was not going to work out in the end? Well I think it is starting to have some serious effect on me. I find that I'm constantly tired, my willpower drains really fast and I've gone back to getting almost nothing done. I can also feel a slight semi-depression coming on. I guess I need to pull myself up by the bootstraps and get to work on my life again. the question is when... Anyway, in order to give myself some extra sleep I'm going to stop writing this and get to bed. Hopefully I will feel better in the morning. I leave you all with this quote:

Virtue is a state of war, and to live in it we have always to combat with ourselves.
- Jean-Jacques Rosseau

I'm Back!

Its been allmost two weeks since I last wrote. I've had a lot to do and have done some computer reinstalling/maintenance and in the middle of all that forgot about keeping my blog updated. Sorry for that.

Lately there has been a lot of ups and downs. It's interesting to note how big an effect emotional states have on my productivity and general well being as a person. I find that when I'm emotionally unbalanced I tend to make bad decisions. Even about seemingly unrelated things. For example I tend to need to be around people more which can make me choose to do things that are fun with people instead of doing things I know I have to get done. This leads to a semi-fun evening during which I feel guilt about what I'm not getting done and stress over the fact that I'm going to have to squeeze it in later. This of course does nothing about the emotional imbalance that prompted the behaviour in the first place but rather worsens it as feelings of guilt and worthlessness slowly settle themselves into my mind and heart. I also tend to have poor economical judgement and waste money that I know I'll need later. As if I could somehow buy myself some emotional balance and happiness. I always find ways to justify and make calculations that I know aren't really based on the facts. This leads to more stress and guilt and adds to any feelings of low self esteem or social insecurity.
So how do I combat this behaviour? If anyone has a definitive answer to that then please give it to me! The only answer I can think of is self discipline. To force myself to go against my instincts in these cases and get things done instead.
And that's the hard part. I cant exactly say that things have been going great lately. I've had a lot of fun, but things have been mounting up again. If I ever expected this to be a short battle I've been proven wrong. It's going to take a long time before I've got good life handling skills set in my personality. But the war goes on. This coming week I have it as a personal rule that I wont be going on any spontaneous outings unless I've got my stuff done. I will however be going on a few pre-planned things still :) I cant cut away my social life all together.
Well that's enough for today. I hope you all have a great Sunday!

Thank you all for your encouragement. It really means a lot to me, really...

Getting stuff done
Ok! This is it! Brace yourselves! I'm actually going to make good on my promise and tell you about the lists! Everyone has probably had an encounter with the to-do list. It is loosely related to the "checklist" but only in that it is a list on which you place check marks (or cross things of) other than that there aren't many similarities.

To give you a better Idea of what a To-Do list is I'll give you some things that a To-Do list isnt. A to-do list is not:

• A list of goals
• A list of wishes
• A list of suggestions

Have you ever started out on a To-Do list only to fill it with work enough to fill weeks ahead? Have you ever written lofty ambitions such as "Finish reading that book", "Write essay" or "Work on project"? Have you ever succeded in finishing those entries on the list? Did you do anything on that list? I often made that mistake in the past. Giving myself fuzzy "Tasks" to do things I wish I had the discipline to do but didn't really expect to accomplish. Ive also had lists of tasks that I couldn't do for days because of circumstances beyond my control. By the time the circumstances were the right I had forgotten all about the task.

The to-do list is a tool. Not a master. It will not do the job for you (Another hard learned truth) It will not give you magical strength to go and do everything on the list. In the end any choice that is made comes back to one person. You. So the first thing you need to do is to set rules for your list. A rule could be to always carry your list. Another could be that no entertainment can be had until every task on the list has been processed (Done, delegated, defered or dropped) Never leave loose ends on the list. You should be able to throw away your list at the end of the day and write a new one for tomorrow without having to transfer unprocessed tasks to the next day. Leaving unprocessed tasks on the list at the end of the day is a terrible detriment to your self esteem and your resolve.

Ok, I keep talking about this as if you already know my definition for a good to-do list. An entry on a to do list has to meet these criteria or it doesn't belong there:

• It is a task, not a project or a calender item.
• It can be finished in a single sitting
• It can be carried out within 24 hours.
• It isn't dependent on other tasks that aren't on the list.
• If it requires special tools, that is stated.
• It is short, clear and precise.

Remember my little speech on the next logical action? The to-do list should only contain the next logical action of your current projects. If you have future tasks planned of future events as a part of those project they should be written on a project-plan or in a calender. Not on your to do list. The to-do list is not a running record of your future ambitions (Remember, it gets scrapped every night.) Its just a memory aide.

At the end of each day it is time to throw away your hopefully finished list and make a new one for the next day. This should be done by comparing your finished tasks to your running projects and figuring out the logical next steps that can reasonably be carried out during the next day. This is where you bring out the ideas you've written down during the day as well as your calender. When this is done throw away the old list and make sure you carry the new one with you. Personally I carry a small pack of filing cards held together by a binder clip. The top car always has my daily to-do list while the cards behind it contain brief points about my running projects, (Projects aren't just work. Most things in life can be defined as projects. Church callings, looking for a job, preparing for a musical number, gathering a soccer team for FestiNord etc. are all projects.) Whenever I think about solutions or generally have new input or ideas about my project they get written down on those cards. If any of them translate into actions that can be done that day they also end up on the to-do list. At the end of the day I go over my cards and figure out how to turn them into tasks to put on the to-do list.

Well, that was a lot of method and not a whole lot of me:) I can tell you that this is all very nifty but worth absolutely nothing unless you provide the motivation needed to go through with everything. I myself sense that my motivation to do every point on the list is sometimes not the best. I have deferred several points on the list to the next day because I didn't want to do them. Don't let that become a habit! Do you intend to do it? Then why dont you? If you don't intend to do it... then why is it on the list?

I hope this has all been of some help. Until next time:

Cool runnings!

Where to start

As I mentioned in my first entry my process of cleaning up my act started with realization. When the full extent of my predicament finaly came to me I also started wanting to do something about it. At that point it would have been easy to lie to myself, blame someone else, justify my way of life (I had excuses that I did use on myself for some time) and generally just drown those bad feelings in entertainment or things like that. After all I had done that every other time. But the thing is that there is allways a point where the excuses fade, the entertainment looses it's lure, the justifications are weak and we come to realise that we have ourselves and ourselves alone to blame for our actions and choices.

This is not a nice feeling, but it is good.

Not good as in enjoyable. Rather it is good because it brings humility, and humility is the first step to change. It is important not to sink into despair and become paralysed with anguish. How this is done I dont know. I just know that this time I didn't let myself succumb. I guess what saved me was that I have always had an image in my head and my heart of what my life should be like. No detailed plans or anything like that, rather just the feeling that I can do anything and that I'm meant for greater things. So being lazy and slacking through life is NOT according to the plan. I guess I came to the point where I could no longer accept that kind of behaviour of myself. So in rebellion against my own natural man my spiritual man sprang to action!

1. Do it!

My first action was to Do. Spencer W. Kimball didn't choose the motto "Do it!" because it sounded cool and was easy to remember. He chose it because he understood the value of action. Instantaneous, definitive action towards a goal. If we dont Do then things Don't get done. It really is that simple. I started out by doing the tasks I knew I had and could do right where I was.

I came home from a meeting of which I was keeping the minutes. So transcribing them and emailing the protocol to the people in the committy was the first thing I did. Having finished a task that I would usually put of until the last minutes was very empowering. Suddenly I didn't feel like a looser that didn't get things done. Instead I felt confident that whatever I decided to do and actually did, was possible. This is where instantaneous action comes in. The longer we deliberate over if we are going to do something or not the more chance we give the adversary and our natural man to talk us out of it. If we instead do the thing we decide immediately then there is a lot less internal opposition.

2. Make a list

Of course we can't do everything immediately. Sometimes we think of things that aren't possible in the place we are or at the time we think of it. Normaly I'd make a mental note that I would then promptly forget until about a day later at which time it would cause me considerable guilt. And guilt is dangerous. Sometimes it makes us do the thing we feel guilty about. But equally, if not more, often we shy away from things that make us feel guilty and instead do something with less guilt attached to it. This of course leads to more guilt and so the spiral goes downwards.

The other, better, way to deal with it is to write it down. In a perfect world we would also plan a time and a place when to carry out the task. Sometiumes that isnt possible, but we'll talk about that in my next entry. Any ways.. I thought of some things that badly needed doing and wrote a list to myself. I wrote only things that I knew I could actually accomplish within the next 24 hours. Not doing things that are on the list can be terribly detrimental to your resolve, so don't put things on there that you feel uncertain about. But more about that tomorrow.

3. Rules

A person who isn't governed by rules is ruled by chaos

The one thing that will decide if change is real and permanent or just a temporary guilt trip is the rules we set for ourselves and follow. The first rule I set formyself that fateful tuesday night was that I was not allowed to access anny form of entertainment (not even msn) until my tasks were done that evening. And I stuck by it. The next rule I set was that I was not allowed more then a certain amount of entertainment in the next 24 hours and that any item still on the list took priority. And so it has continued. It's the rules we set and follow that make the difference between success and failure.

This entry has gone on long enough and I'm sick of typing now. :P In my next entry I'll be talking about what a to-do list is and how to work it effectively. Until then... Sayonara!

First of all: Thank you for your comments and support! When strugling with a weakness it always helps to know others care about you. Now for todays entry:

Planning and Yak shaving

At this point I bet about 90% of you are thinking "What in the world is Yak shaving?" If you have never heard of it then it's high time you become aquainted with it. You have all done it and probably do it on a regular basis.

I dont know the origin of the word but for those who don't know a Yak is a large hairy animal living in and around the Himalayas. Shaving one is not a task undertaken lightly. Yak shaving however has nothing to do with yak's or shaving. It has a lot to do with planning though. You could say it's everything that planning isn't. I'll explain it with a story.

John decided one day to get into shape. To do this he realized he'd need a gym pass. He also needed som exercising clothes. He then realized his wallet was missing. He looked everywhere for it until he remembered it was in his car. He rushed out to the parkinglot only to realize his wife was using the car that day. He decided to call her so he went back inside only to find that the phone was not in its holder. Looking for the phone he noticed what a mess the kitchen was and realized he would never find the phone if he didn't clean up the kitchen. So he started moving some things and throwing away some trash when he came across the TV-guide and noticed that a football game he had been looking forward to was airing that day. So ge got a soda out of the fridge and sat down to watch it. Having completely forgot the gym pass and excercise.

Sound familiar? Yak shaving is the art of making a decision only to discover that to do A you need to get B, and to get B you have to do C and in order to be able to even start with C you have to make sure D is in place and so it goes on until you reach that first "key event" that makes the rest possible or you give up in frustration, the latter being by far the most common.

I have spent a considerable part of my life Yak shaving. The result is that everything takes 10 times longer then anticipated and most of the time the sheer scope of all the things you have to do in order to get the thing you want now makes you back off and decide to do something else. Like watching TV. Or look at another clip on youtube.

Yak shaving is the epitome of the Reactive lifestyle. Always reacting and adapting to the surrounding trying to make the best of the moment never really making and sticking to long range plans. So how does one escape the reactive lifestyle and beat ones tendency to yak shave?

The main driving force behind the Proactive lifestyle is planning. When we think of planning we usually think of lots of papers and time sitting down thinking hard and writing big statements and putting dates in our calendars. The first lesson of planning is that no plan, however elaborate will succed if you cant find the next logical step.

For example. How does the plan "Go on a mission" sound? I'll tell you right now it's a terrible plan! (I got your attention now didn't I? :P ) But wait! you say. Isn't going on a mission a great plan? Yes going on a mission is a wonderfull experience that I recomend to everyone. But the statement "Go on a mission" is not a plan. It's an ambition. It sais nothing about what it means, what will be required of the young man/woman/senior couple, how one goes about going on a mission etc.

A good plan always has a logical next step. The next isolated smallest possible single action that will get you further along the road to your goal. It could be "Tell my bishop next sunday that I wish to go on a mission." Now we have a plan! From that single action many more will spawn. If analysed and broken down into its smallest possible parts you can start piecing together exactly what needs to be done. Then in a daily list you write only the actions that are the next logical step. Then do these and keep refilling the list with up to date logical next steps and before you know it you will be sitting on the plane flying to the MTC confident that you did everything that needed to be done when it needed to be done. (I on the other hand did it mostly the other way. Looking at the big actions and just barely got everything done in the last minute. All the while feeling really stressed.)

I'll end todays post with this. I promised myself my posts were going to be shorter then yesterdays but that doesn't seem to be possible. Tomorrow I'l give some more insight into how working with lists got me back on track. I'll just say this. Looking at todays list I realize that I wouldn't even have remembered half the stuff I did today if it hadn't been on there. And it was only the most important stuff I put on there. Well good night for now! See you all tomorrow!

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I thought it was high time to break the finish dominance in the Blog forum. :P

For those who dont know me, I am a 25 year old design student currently taking a break from school to work for a year. I am living the free single life in Göteborg and have been mostly enjoying it so far. But about a week ago I came to a poignant and lifechanging realization: I'm Lazy!

I have allways suspected it and have even joked about how that is one of my main traits. I am not talking about regular, to tired to have a hobby lazyness here. I'm talking about being Lazy. (Notice the capital L) I suspect it started at the end of last summer when I found out that one of my closest classmates had died in a Motorcycle accident. That semester started on a very sombre note and never really got any better. I told myself I was over it and could keep going as usuall but when the schoolyear ended I was way behind on my credits and absolutely hated being anywhere near the schoolbuildings. (During my first and second year I practically lived there) Looking back at the year I realized I was slowly slipping into a pattern of not getting things done, allways scrambling to finish assignments in the last minute possible and never really excelling in anything. I failed test after test and my confidence in my ability to actually pass a test was withering away. In the midst of all this my scripture studies and my prayers went from bad to worse. A few times during the year I made attempts to get back on track and was successfull for a week or so at a time.

All this time I realized my situation was going out of control, but I didn't seem to have the strength, or rather the method, to get myself out of it. Toward the end of the schoolyear the magnitude of my crisis was beginning to dawn on me. I slowly forced myself to get back to the scriptures and start praying again. That lead to the temple where I after a terrible sleepless night in the guesthome came up with a plan, or rather the beginnings of one. I decided to take a break in my studies and work for a year and use that time to get back on track. This felt really good and I felt the Lord confirmed that this was the right thing to do. I figured I'd get back to my job from last year and work there, raking in the cash (It was pretty well payed for a starter-job.) This was however not the Lords plan. My job application got rejected and I ended up in an extended period of unemployment. My economic situation deteriorated and my problem with not getting things done resurfaced. All this I knew but I kept pushing away the feelings and burried myself in different ways to entertain myself.

What finaly woke me up was a meeting in my church calling last tuesday. I came there terribly unprepared and came away feeling that I wasn't getting any of my responsibilities done. I felt really down and for the first time it really hit me that I wasn't the only one getting hurt by this. My problem hurt my calling and the people that it affected. I was feeling really sorry for myself until Elder Tolboe told me that hard times hit us all but what defines the person is what we do with them. That immediately made me think I was a looser. But then I rebelled against that thought. How could I accept that of myself? Being a looser was never a part of my plan!

That night I came home and immediately, probably out of stubborn quiet rage at myself, got all my assignments done. I then wrote a list of things that had to be done the next day and put it on the keyboard of my computer (The computer being the main distraction for me.) To my own amazement I actually did the whole list, which included boring tasks that I'd put of for weeks, and made a new one for the next day. A week has now passed and I'm still going strong. I'm nowhere near perfect and there are still many areas I need to work on. In this blog I'm going to let you follow my progress and tell you about some methods that have helped me so far. But this post is allready way too long so I'm going to leave that for tomorrow! See you all then!