Every weekday I take attendance for each of my music classes. The options I have when I take attendance are: “here/not here” or “present/not present.” After several months of this teaching thing I’ve noticed that some students who answer “here” are never really all there. On the other hand, I have students who are sitting in a math class and I know their minds are actually present in my class (I know this because I often have students ditch to come to my class). My newest practice is to take attendance in my own life when I am loosing focus. Am I “in attendance” when I am teaching? Am I “in attendance” when I am reading my Bible? Am I “in attendance” when I am listening? This little life hack has helped me spotlight my current responsibilities and to do well at them. What do you do to focus?
Time and attention are precious raw materials.
After I committed to a GTD lifestyle I started discovering that my next actions lists were packed! So I created a FileMaker Database to keep track of those actions that were repetitive. In the real world we call this “habits.” Well, that lasted several months, but I kept running into the same problem. My database looks like trash and it is not fun updating my habits.
Yesterday, I (re)stumbled on the site Joe’s Goals. I love the simple look and the ease of use. Completing each goal gives you points. The ability to share your goals with others also gives me a big kick in the dooper to keep up with my habits. If you are like me, and you start things without finishing them, then check out Joe’s Goals.
I love to compete. Maybe you have some of the same goals and you can challenge me to score more points! Bring it on!
I love the whole GTD lifestyle. I just finished reading the book for the third time. Lately, I’ve been trying to implement a habits list. I first created a habit called, “Getting up on Time.” However, I found myself getting up on time, but going back to bed. So I created another habit called, “Don’t go back to bed after you get up!” Now I am consistently getting up, enjoying a hot cup of tea, and processing my inbox! This new GTD habit is definitely my cup of tea.