{"id":141,"date":"2012-07-28T13:36:15","date_gmt":"2012-07-28T13:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rosarioconsulting.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/?p=141"},"modified":"2012-07-28T13:36:15","modified_gmt":"2012-07-28T13:36:15","slug":"reduce-your-stress-level-with-keeping-a-plan-of-awesome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/reduce-your-stress-level-with-keeping-a-plan-of-awesome\/","title":{"rendered":"Reduce your stress level with keeping a plan of awesome"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- Facebook Like Button v1.9.6 BEGIN [http:\/\/blog.bottomlessinc.com] -->\n<iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Finspiredtoeducate.net%2Finspiredtoeducate%2Freduce-your-stress-level-with-keeping-a-plan-of-awesome%2F&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowTransparency=\"true\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px; height: 30px; align: left; margin: 2px 0px 2px 0px\"><\/iframe>\n<!-- Facebook Like Button END -->\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/rosarioconsulting.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/peacefulLake1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-147\" title=\"http:\/\/www.shotsforpassion.com\/\" src=\"http:\/\/rosarioconsulting.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/peacefulLake1.jpg\" alt=\"Mind like water\" width=\"500\" height=\"292\" srcset=\"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/peacefulLake1.jpg 500w, https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/peacefulLake1-300x175.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I have the great pleasure of sharing my life with my wife who teaches college Biology. \u00a0\u00a0We have a number of friends who are preparing their final plans for the fall semester. \u00a0\u00a0I have to admit the process of planning and executing a quality class can become overwhelming. \u00a0As a designer of software, I have profound respect for all educators. \u00a0\u00a0I believe that we need to celebrate and support our teachers in much more profound ways.<\/p>\n<p>Ok. \u00a0Back to feeling overwhelmed by work.<\/p>\n<p>During a brief period in my life, I worked in music ministry, IT, and church communications. \u00a0\u00a0I will always treasure the community our church staff built together. \u00a0\u00a0We, however, were VERY busy at this time. \u00a0\u00a0I struggled to balance all of the needs and demands: organizing binders, planning choir practice, making edits to the church website, meetings, four worship services, planning for retreats, etc. \u00a0I was also taking graduate school classes in computer science at UCF.<strong><strong><strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>During this time of life, I discovered \u201cgetting things done\u201d (GTD). \u00a0\u00a0For a great summary of \u201cGetting things done\u201d by David Allen, please visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wikisummaries.org\/Getting_Things_Done:_The_Art_of_Stress-Free_Productivity\">http:\/\/www.wikisummaries.org\/Getting_Things_Done:_The_Art_of_Stress-Free_Productivity<\/a> .<\/p>\n<p>I have to admit that I still do not execute this system perfectly. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I, however, find myself using ideas from this system every day. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Here are five reasons why I value GTD:<strong><strong><strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cMind like water\u201d &#8211; David Allen stresses that your mind will induce stress when it\u2019s forced to remember all the stuff that you need to get done. \u00a0\u00a0This stress can become a roadblock to moving your work forward. \u00a0Without putting your work into a central system that you can trust, you will feel negative stress. \u00a0\u00a0Consider creating one and only one \u201ctodo\u201d system that you trust.<\/li>\n<li>It gives me a place to see all my work and find the top 20% &#8211; In terms of execution of tasks, I check my GTD system every day. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I am currently using a Google document that I share with my wife. \u00a0\u00a0In a work context, I review and prioritize my major work items every week. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If I have 10 things to do, I am searching for the top 2 items that have the maximum impact. \u00a0\u00a0With my task items collected into a central system, I have more information to decide if I can do more work. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0This system helps me say \u201cno\u201d to projects that are not important.<\/li>\n<li>The process enables me to revisit old ideas &#8211; I am human just like everyone else. \u00a0\u00a0I often bookmark cool blog articles and ideas in my system. \u00a0\u00a0It often delights me to find these old ideas or nuggets of wisdom.<\/li>\n<li>It turns my day into a game &#8211; I like scoring points in my day. \u00a0\u00a0Do I finish everything on my goal list every day? No. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0At the end of my day, I can feel good about my productivity since I have a green \u201cdone\u201d icon next to tasks that died that day. \u00a0Wahoo!<\/li>\n<li>The process pushes me to break work down &#8211; It\u2019s in my nature to tackle big problems. \u00a0\u00a0You can only eat an elephant one bite at a time. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0GTD provides a formal rule for taking big projects and breaking them down into smaller items. \u00a0\u00a0If the item is quick, I try to do it now. \u00a0\u00a0( I need to be better at this rule. )<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><strong id=\"internal-source-marker_0.5215523422230035\"><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/strong>In future blog posts, I will try to comment upon the tools I have used. \u00a0For now, please check out Scott Hanselman\u2019s great resources and podcast on the topic:<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.hanselman.com\/blog\/HanselminutesPodcast268PersonalSystemsOfOrganizationReyBangoInterviewsScottHanselman.aspx\">http:\/\/www.hanselman.com\/blog\/HanselminutesPodcast268PersonalSystemsOfOrganizationReyBangoInterviewsScottHanselman.aspx<\/a><\/p>\n<p>For now, I strongly encourage you to check out GTD by David Allen. \u00a0\u00a0I can honestly say that I use these ideas every day. \u00a0\u00a0Am I stress free? No. \u00a0\u00a0I know that my mental stress level is lower because of David Allen\u2019s work.<\/p>\n<p>How do you keep yourself organized to reduce stress in your family or work? \u00a0<strong><strong id=\"internal-source-marker_0.5215523422230035\"><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<!-- Facebook Like Button v1.9.6 BEGIN [http:\/\/blog.bottomlessinc.com] -->\n<iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Finspiredtoeducate.net%2Finspiredtoeducate%2Freduce-your-stress-level-with-keeping-a-plan-of-awesome%2F&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowTransparency=\"true\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px; height: 30px; align: left; margin: 2px 0px 2px 0px\"><\/iframe>\n<!-- Facebook Like Button END -->\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have the great pleasure of sharing my life with my wife who teaches college Biology. \u00a0\u00a0We have a number of friends who are preparing their final plans for the fall semester. \u00a0\u00a0I have to admit the process of planning and executing a quality class can become overwhelming. \u00a0As a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,6,9,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":149,"href":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141\/revisions\/149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspiredtoeducate.net\/inspiredtoeducate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}