Becoming the most effective human being ever: Step 1

Happy new year's eve, everybody!

In the spirit of getting a fresh start to a successful 2013, we recently encouraged our readers and those on the Pink Ponies Etsy team to develop an effective calendar management system in case they don't already have one that they find useful.

Bulletpoint 1: An effective calendar management system is not the same as having a smartphone with a cute calendar app.

bluetricycle.etsy

The girls on the 3P Etsy leadership team received pretty pink planners and notebooks this Fall to make planning and managing personal and professional goals less of a chore (crossing our fingers it worked).

Last week, we asked everyone to divide and prep their calendars according to these instructions. (If you haven't gotten a chance to do this, please read these guidelines and share your thoughts.)

The guidelines posted in the link above are a loose and simplified version of DavidAllen's famous GTD system which is a popular system followed by many top executives.

For example, we think GTD's Projects Lists are as essential as having a calendar itself.
Links to free project list templates

Next, we encouraged dialogue around said topic by asking what types of activities must be done monthly to have a successful 2013?

 The brainstorming exercise produced responses from clear to a bit vague to a bit jargon-y:

• ·       "Outsourcing" (unclear activity)
• ·       "Deepcleaning bathroom tub" - good
• ·       "Take a closet inventory" - good
• ·       "Save data to external harddrive" – good
• ·       "Shred documents" – good (more often?)
• ·       "Goal check-ups" (who? What? Where? How?)
• ·       et cetera…

We found all responses great! Why? Because brainstorming isn't supposed to produce perfect answers! It's important to make note of everything on your mind during a brainstorm exercise. You can always review your responses later for more clarification and editing.

Bulletpoint 2: When going back to clarify activities, a good rule of thumb is to ask, "Can I envision myself doing this?".

fig.1 

For instance, I can clearly picture myself "deep cleaning the bathroom" (figs. 1, 2), but I'm not clear on what exactly I'd be doing on a monthly "outsourcing" activity (reference to bullet point 1). What does outsourcing look like? What would I physically be doing as an outsourcing activity. If you can't picture it, it's not an activity.

fig.2

Join us and brainstorm with us by following the dialogue on Twitter via #PoniesGTD (@PrettyPinkPro)!

(Stay tuned for Becoming the most effective human being ever: Step 2 in 2013!)

All the best,

Meg

for Pretty Pink Ponies

P.S.
Would you say reading blog posts without 'actionable' content (read: homework and exercises) are productive or unproductive?

P.P.S.

Here's what I really look like deep cleaning the bathroom:

Links to more chic 2013 calendars