I mentioned in a previous post that I had gone through some “trials and tribulations” in my personal productivity. I thought I would elaborate on that; I’ll try to keep a long story short (though, as know, I’m not very good at that).
My laptop ended up having to go in for repair – meaning that the “system I trust” (not to mention Step 7 of 7s) was going to have to be moved. On top of all of this, I decided to try to change up the system a bit. I felt that having a system I can trust completely based on the one computer / hard drive was a little risky and restrictive. So, I tried moving away from Outlook, (gasp, yes), Foresight and move to other tools – hopefully, and mostly, on-line. Productivity, however, went to zero a big fat zero, and, stress went to red-line.
First of all, I tried to move email exclusively to Google’s G-Mail. However, being that my employer is Outlook based, and we use some features that work best in Outlook, I had to divide up my work and other emails between Outlook and G-mail – making for two email programs I had to remember to check. The adding of “programs to my life” unfortunately didn’t stop there.
What to do with my contacts? I was impressed that G-mail imported them flawlessly. But, again, yet another place to go for information.
What to do with my Projects with Tasks and Calendar items? I had always wanted to give Remember the Milk a try. So, I did. Cool idea and interface to keep “lists” in. However, to keep projects organized and know what your Next Action is was for not. Plus, again, another program to remember to check and make sure I have access to.
Speaking of access, one day I was away from the office and needed access to all this information. I went to my favorite Free Wi-Fi place; their network was down. So, I went to wait for my car to be worked on – “they have free Wi-Fi,” I said to myself. Nope; their router kept kicking me off. I was cut off from my information; helpless. That was enough.
I’m back on Outlook and Foresight. I left personal email over on G-Mail – but we’ll see how long I keep chasing two email programs. What an incredibly stressful experience. But, one that tested 7S and proved it’s the right route. One accomplishment; I am Exchanged based – so * hopefully * if my drive or computer dies, I can quickly get back up and running by simply installing Outlook and connecting up.
Tags: GTD, Relaxed Productivity, Stress
