The Weekly Review: Recent Episodes
The Weekly Review
Weekly review podcast looking at the entirety of human experience. Hosted by (pseudonym) Audrey Vinegar and (real name) Charlie Lott.
To tell us you love us or suggest a topic for review, email: theweeklyreviewpodcast@gmail.com.
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In this bonus-length final episode of The Weekly Review, Jean and James wrap up the series by recalling favorite projects finished and lessons learned since the podcast began. Thank you to all of our listeners who have joined us in this journey of personal productivity successes and setbacks. Although we are still not gurus, we hope our experiences have given you some insights and smiles along the way.
In our penultimate episode, we focus on Oliver Burkeman’s book Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management For Mortals. Jean talks about how the book influenced her thinking about the time she spends. James reflects on the fact that we have spent 249 of these weeks so far making a podcast that we have both enjoyed.
Jean also mentioned the Yonks app, for counting time up or down, and We Croak for random daily reminders of mortality.
In this episode Jean and James talk about recent conversations which have led to a consequential conclusion. The episode also includes topics such as cardboard boxes and getting your taxes done early as well as an implicit example of the word antepenultimate.
In September 2020, we decided to record an “emergency backup” podcast. We wanted to have one recording in the vault that we could publish if we were ever in danger of missing our weekly Friday publication deadline, because we hated the idea of breaking our perfect streak.
Due to various travel plans and a major life disruption (see Episode 246), this is the week we decided to break the glass and use our backup. The topic is evergreen: productivity lessons we learned in childhood.
On Christmas Eve, Jean had to make a hasty departure from her apartment when a water pipe burst. Thankfully, Jean is safe and well although she is dealing with the aftermath of having an unexpected water feature appear in her living room. Jean and James talk about how the experience made Jean think a lot more about the short mental checklist of items to grab on the way out the door in an emergency.
James and Jean decide not to assign themselves to-dos for the week between Christmas and New Year, other than to take stock of what has turned out to be a busy year filled with things that weren’t exactly planned.
In this episode Jean describes her recent experiences helping family members with a cross-country move. Topics include packing, old-school boarding passes, and the importance of being at the correct gate. James swaps one to-do for another to finish a long-outstanding task—plus a little musing on the foibles of human nature.
James updated his car for several reasons, not the least of which is wireless CarPlay support. On the other end of the accessory spectrum, Jean gets yet another CD-player-slot iPhone mount so she can show off her Deep Purple iPhone 14 Pro.
In this episode, Jean describes how her family’s Secret Santa for adults has made the holiday season less stressful and more enjoyable for everyone. James talks about using his trusted system to keep track of gift ideas throughout the year. Jean and James discuss giving experiences instead of things—especially shared experiences like going to a concert or show. Conversation turns to the belated celebration of James’ garage-iversary as well as the practice of receiving a stocking filled with gifts or goodies.
As is our tradition in this season, we take a moment to express our gratitude for the things in our lives that make them better. So much better. To those that celebrate, we hope you had a good Thanksgiving.
A few months back, Jean starting a journey of journaling with a goal of making it a daily habit. After an uneven start, she received some advice to try during a two month experiement. In this episode, Jean reports on her progress. Also, James ends up doing a panoply of weekly todos all in one week.
James talks about a large Black Friday purchase he is making. Jean will not go Black Friday shopping without a specific list, or otherwise she’ll buy things she doesn’t actually need. Dexter the Cat is unmoved. 😼
In this episode Jean and James both talk about unexpected travel plans due to family matters. The conversation turns to not always knowing the correct course of action, especially as events are unfolding. A trusted system can track the actions you want to accomplish—but we still need to do the work of deciding what those actions should be.
In observance of the holiday, James and Jean discuss some hacks for Halloween. Figurative hacks only! 🪓 We also reveal our favorite Halloween treats and films.
This week Jean talks about a book she read recently about managing your home and how it resonated with her. The author, who also writes the blog aslobcomesclean.com, does not claim to be a guru, just someone sharing her insights of things that work or don’t work for her—a philosophy shared by The Weekly Review. Also Jean and James are happily surprised someone left a review of the podcast!
How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind - Dana K. White
James talks about the advantages of his digital photos, the collection that never needs dusting and never takes over the dining room table. Jean had a flashback to her attempt to pare down her contacts. And we have some Siri silliness at the end. 🤖
Jean and James revisit the topic of habits as Jean tries to establish a regular practice of journaling. Jean describes a new habit-tracking app as well as her idea for an extremely focused, simple habit app. James realizes that he continues to form habits—just not the ones he would like. Jean’s nephew has a comment about her use of Chuck and James talks a bit about the OmniFocus 4 beta.
Atomic Habits by James Clear
Good Habits, Bad Habits by Wendy Wood
James and Jean talk about how things get done even if they don’t necessarily make it to our to-do lists or our trusted systems, and James reports on how his experiment in paring down Active Projects is going.
In this episode Jean describes how she uses the app Due in her productivity workflow and her weekly MEOW. She also talks about a wonderful related discovery she made just before recording the episode. James compares and contrasts his process with Jean’s. Plus, now that they both have a iPhone 14 Pro, James recaps the features to help Jean impress her nephews.
Due App for iOS
Due App for macOS
In this grab-bag episode, Jean and James talk about a variety of topics. Jean continues to refine and formalize her M.E.O.W system for doing a weekly review—see the show notes for a link to her blog post about it. Disney fan James attended the D23 Expo and gives a report of his experiences there. And Jean talks about how some tasks, like her recent need to recover from a laptop mishap, are difficult to interleave with other activities and require a focused block of time.
Jean’s M.E.O.W. System
We celebrate our annual tradition of watching the Apple’s iPhone announcements and then chatting about them. If you are looking for in-depth tech analysis of all of Apple’s products and feature updates, you should listen to a different podcast. If you want to know what we are buying, in what colors, and our reasons (or rationalizations), listen in.
This week James and Jean talk about the importance of backup equipment and backup planning for failure, inspired by a major technical issue that made Jean’s MacBook Pro unusable for podcasting.
Work Clean: The life-changing power of mise-en-place to organize your life, work, and mind by Dan Charnas
In this episode Jean describes about her recent experience in trying Forest Bathing, which James misremembers as Tree Swimming. The conversation turns to related topics such as mindfulness and that our own well-being is an important piece of being productive. James realizes he hasn’t been for a walk in the woods for a long while but is inspired to do so in the near future.
Association of Nature and Forest Therapy
Forest bathing: What it is and why you should try it
Kaiser Permanente
The secret to mindful travel? A walk in the woods
National Geographic
Your Guide To Forest Bathing (Expanded Edition)
by M. Amos Clifford
James and Jean have been traveling quite a bit this summer. We take a moment to review travel hacks and whether we’ve added anything to our travel toolkits in the pandemic era.
In this episode Jean and James talk about donuts of control, including recognizing things beyond your control. For Jean, this includes the heat wave in the Pacific Northwest. James tells the story of how hearing a song in a drug store reminded him things out of your control can be a happy surprise. Plus, a dash of out-of-date slang. 23 Skidoo!
The serendipitous song mentioned in the episode:
JeanLeloup by Simon Kearney on Apple Music
James and Jean read an article critiquing Personal Knowledge Manager (PKM) and relate some of the ideas by the author and the commenters to how we feel about GTD.
We do not use the word BS spelled out (like the original post), because we don’t want the Explicit tag, and honestly, it’s not really our style to use expletives.
Personal Knowledge Management is BS by Justin Murphy
Ridwan’s link to the post and the comment thread
In this episode James talks about his first trip to the Atlantic Time Zone in three years. Jean talks about trying to beat the heat this summer. Jean and James talk about tracking important package deliveries as James was hoping a certain light-as-air M2-powered laptop might arrive before his cross-continent trek.
This week’s episode is a little shorter than usual, thanks to the summer temperatures that have made Jean’s office a bit too warm for podcasting. James’ new approach to active projects in OmniFocus results in a new acronym. We also chat about the wisdom of getting things done well in advance of their deadlines. 🐕🐮
Clarus the Dogcow
In this episode, James talks about using a new product for hanging things on walls. Jean learns that projects that depend on other people can be delayed through no fault of your own. James gives an OmniFocus update about his new use of flagged items and two new automation scripts he wrote to turn template projects into active projects. Jean and James talk more about automation, Shortcuts, and the tradeoffs in time between setting up automation or just doing a repetitive task.
3M Claw
Omni Automation
To enhance her personal system for getting things done, Jean has added Tot to her collection of simple low-friction productivity apps, which already includes Drafts and Due. Drafts has worked for a weekly review checklist and Due keeps track of daily to-dos, and now Tot fills a gap left by Omni Focus for planning projects and managing their completion, thanks to the addition of Smart Bullets.
Tot: Your Tiny Text Companion
Drafts: Where Text Starts
Due: Never Forget Anything, Ever Again
In this episode, James talks about adding some active projects after declaring ‘active project bankruptcy’ and how quickly they stack up. Jean finishes a task just a bit too early for Christmas in July. Other topics include a fairly lightweight way to keep track of what’s in your medicine cabinet, the conundrum of where to store something so you remember where it is, and how well Charlie Brown and Totoro would get along.
Also, James mentions a game:
KerPlunk Game
Early this year, Jean decided to step back from the classic weekly review made popular by the GTD system to create a process more tailored to what works for her. For no particular reason, her process is called the MEOW which could stand for My Excellent Organizing Workflow. On this episode, Jean reviews the steps of the Weekly Meow so far, and gets suggestions from James.
In this episode James belatedly sees the parallels between technical debt in a software project and what Jean dubs “organizational debt” in day to day life. James declares ‘active project bankruptcy’ keeping his trusted system in place, but clearing the slate of projects considered active. Jean talks about a box of mail that is a longtime source of her own organizational debit.
James gives us a recap of the in-person WWDC event in Cupertino and the fun stuff he got to do this WWDC week.
try! Swift Dub Dub
Jean consolidates her digital photo libraries while James finally gets off the fence and sends an email. James talks about his descision to take a year off from producing a LIVE near WWDC event during WWDC22 and writing. James also announces he will perform his ninth annual WWDC Week In Review song on Friday, June 10 at try! Swift Dub Dub, an online conference with free registration.
WWDC
try! Swift Dub Dub
Why is it that sometimes the simplest straightforward tasks don’t get done? James and Jean tackle that question. (Spoiler alert: we don’t have an answer.) Also, Jean recaps a book titled Wintering and how it’s influencing her approach to the summer of 2022.
Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May
In this episode Jean talks about a recent dog walking experience that did not go well. Jean and James compare notes about renewing Global Entry. And James realizes that a big part of mending fences is remembering they need fixing in the first place.
Apple’s announcement that the iPod will be discontinued gave us an opportunity to reminisce about our first iPods and how Apple got us to buy them.
This episode, James is recovering from a headcold and Jean gives some updates, including a scheduling snafu for renewing Global Entry. Conversation turns to physical mail and Jean’s new undesired habit of avoiding a one big pile of unprocessed mail by squirreling it away into many small piles of unprocessed mail in different locations.
This week, James and Jean talk about side gigs and contract jobs, and we look at how these temporary and sometimes flexible commitments affect our productivity.
This episode is dedicated to Big Little News —accomplishing things that may be little in the grand scheme of things, but feel very big to get finished. Jean and James each share some big little new of their own as Jean revisits a podcasting passion project and James sheds some baggage.
This week we talk about tracking a daily goal, inspired by the web app doevery.day, by Barry (@bjhess on Micro.blog) and Shawn. Jean started tracking her daily guitar practice goal, which started out great, but then got tricky. (She was also wrong about whether it’s possible to check off a day in the past–yes, you can!) James points out that a break in a streak can be used as a moment to recommit, or not.
Jean’s doevery.day tracking page
This episode was over a half decade in the making. James tells the story of a recurring task that is older than his trusted system and the consequences of it remaining untracked. Jean reminds James that they both have a long-running travel-related recurring task that may be coming due soon.
James and Jean talk about how they use the Safari Tab Groups feature, which syncs across their devices, to build pockets of productivity that are easy to use.
In this episode, Jean talks about her recent project of producing and hosting a geography bee podcast episode with James joining in as scorekeeper, or is that beekeeper? Conversation turns to bees of the spelling sort, but neither the honey nor quiliting variety. Topics also include differences between recurring mainentance tasks and single-shot tasks.
Jean figures out why she’s been so resistant to opening up her accumulated physical mail and gets a nice bonus in the process. We also talk about Micro Camp, event planning, and how negative self-talk can kill your productivity and joy.
This episode Jean and James talk about the announcements from this week’s Apple event. Discussions include whether any of the newly announced products will increase their productivity. The conversation turns to the power of rationalization in deciding to get something you want, even if is not something you absolutely need. James orders something he’s wanted for years. Also some talk of Green Stamps, paper shredding scissors, and pine-scented iPhones.
On this episode, Jean talks about her progress at adapting the weekly review process to work best for her. We also talk about a book (Dedicated by Pete Davis) and what Netflix can teach us about the paradox of choice.
In this episode Jean and James talk about their experiences trying out the Pomodoro Method—a productivity technique based on 25-minute work blocks followed by 5-minute breaks. The conversation also turns to estimating task lengths and shopping for timers. An attempt was made for this episode to last exactly one pomodoro, but it went just a bit longer.
This week, Jean talks about her project of adapting the classic weekly review to fit her style and needs better. We also talk about what attracted us to GTD in the first place. And we talk about food.
To mark the occasion of the 200th weekly episode, James and Jean talk about favorite moments and accomplishments, as well as new ideas for the next hundred episodes.
The Weekly Review Index, Episodes 101-199 Total minutes: 2932
Total hours: 48
Average length: 29.6 minutes
Special cat guest appearances: too many to count
Holidays invented: 2
Episodes recorded in person: 1
Conferences attended: 1
This week, Jean talks about journaling and how she was inspired by David Sparks’ recent journaling webinar, part of his new MacSparky Labs program that he launched this year. James reveals some of the observations he wrote in his journal a long, long time ago.
In this episode, Jean and James revisit James’ Eight Things from a couple of episodes back. Jean has been brainstorming her own Eight Things and has questions about how James came up with his list. Topics include tax preparation, the vast scope of possessions, Wordle, and a bit of feng shui.
If you missed the original episode:
Eight Things
James and Jean pay more attention to their weekly to-dos than usual. Also, James has done the math, and noted we have already used up 5% of the year 2022. That doesn’t bother us, because we’ve been feeling pretty productive so far.
In this episode James tells Jean about a whiteboard exercise that he went through a while back where he looked at how he spends his time, not just recently, but over the course of many years, and tried to find the common threads or categories of his actions.
He came up with eight things. Jean and James talk about the eight things, how they’ve helped James frame his thinking, and also a bit about proper wedding attire.
Jean and James return from the holidays with some thoughts on the new year. Jean is looking at greatly paring down the marketing emails that she receives, even from her favorite brands. James is in the process of identifying a number of important but not urgent projects to commit to completing in 2022.
This week, our Weekly To-Do was “kick back,” and we both succeeded. We’ve both had a good holiday, and our thoughts turn to making resolutions for the new year. Or not.
Thanks for listening to The Weekly Review this year. We are closing in on our 200th episode and our 4th year of podcasting together. Having nice listeners like you make it all the more worthwhile. All our best wishes for 2022.
Jean and James talk about the gifts they gave themselves this year— Apple Silicon MacBook Pros. What thoughts do they have about their new machines? Do they live up to the hype? Will new laptops mean more productivity? How’s life with that notch on the screen? Jean and James share their experiences.
Wishing all of our listeners a happy and healthy holiday season!
Both Jean and James moved since the last episode, Jean permanenently to another apartment in her building, James to New Jersey for a family visit during the holidays. With a larger apartment with more options to sort out, Jean has again engaged the services of professional organizer and all-around amazing person, Penelope Rose Miller. We talk about how organizers can help us, and how to find one who you can work with.
Organize Me, Penelope!
Working With A Professional Organizer
Leaky Open Loops and Organizing Fairy Godmothers
This episode is inspired by an anecdote Jean recently heard from a friend about a kitchen mishap which led to a change in thinking about unexpected tasks. This comes at a fortuituos moment since Jean and James both have tasks to handle in the coming weeks that were not on their radar just a short time ago. Plus, as the year winds down, Jean and James get the Weekly To Do back on track.
This week, James and Jean talk about some holiday gift ideas: things we would like to give, things we might not give, and things we don’t want to get ourselves. James shares a neat trick he uses to keep track of gift cards.
It’s Thanksgiving week in the United States, an opportunity to think about what we are grateful for this year before the crazy holiday season takes off. We take note of the technology, entertainment, science, people (and one pet) that have made our lives better this year.
Star Trek: Prodigy Flashcast
James Dempsey and the Breakpoints
Micro.blog Micro Camp
In this week’s episode, James tells Jean the story of how the fate of a five dollar connector can immediately reorder your priorities, change the course of your day, and even get your cat to lick the kitchen floor. Jean talks about her delicious upcoming weekly to-do while James gets ready to say farewell to a trusty old MacBook Pro.
We talk about the Ultimate Productivity Lesson, prompted by Ridwan in his post on the brevity of life. You can keep checking off items on your to-do list, until that Big Check-Off. In case you think it will be a downer, we manage to stay pretty chipper about the whole topic.
Ultimate Productivity Lesson by Ridwan Jaafar
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
As the year winds down to its final two months, Jean and James discuss where 2021 has gone. Conversation turns to taking a few moments to do a personal year in review before the holidays begin. Jean accomplishes a deferred task in a short amount of time. James returns from Hawaii with some logistical issues further complicated by an unexpected acquisition.
This week, James comes to us from Hawai’i, where he is mostly on vacation. His weekly to-do was “play ukulele,” which (spoiler alert) he managed to accomplish. We chat about how we manage mixing work with vacation.
Jean is still having trouble placing one phone call, and would have been happy to talk about Dune all episode long, if only James had also seen it.
James and Jean have known for a while that Apple would be releasing new MacBook Pro laptops. That created a project—decide on which MBP to buy and place an order—that was on hold until now, even if we never actually added it to our trusted systems. James has completed this project, Jean is still working on it. In other news, James’ house is now earthquake-resistant and laundry-capable, wrapping up a couple of other long-standing projects.
What happens after you finish that big project? How do you feel afterwards? This episode Jean and James talk about what Jean has dubbed the ’post-productivity hangover’. For Jean, there can be a feeling of not knowing what to focus on next. For James, there is a seemingly inevitable period of being in a funk for at least a few days. Plus, earthquakes, laundry, song liner notes, and concomitant Swedish death cleaning.
One More Thing… Liner Notes
Coincidentally, both James and Jean launched their unannounced projects this week, and now they can finally talk about them! James released a new single, One More Thing…, a tribute to Steve Jobs on the 10th anniversary of his death, a collaboration of over 30 musicians. Jean worked on the release a major new version of the app Kaleidoscope, recently acquired by her developer friends in Germany and Austria.
Listen to One More Thing… by James Dempsey and the Breakpoints:
- Apple Music
- Spotify
- YouTube
Check out Kaleidoscope 3, the world’s most powerful file comparison app.
In this episode Jean and James allude to some projects they are working on but aren’t able to talk about just yet. The discussion includes how accomplishing tasks can be very different when working on things that need to be kept under wraps. James talks a bit about working on a top secret project at Apple and how even the best laid plans of secrecy can leave unexpected gaps.
We are celebrating James’ first anniversary of establishing his Dance Party! habit. 🥳 What started as a way to automate a fun exercise break has become the basis of a great achievement in fitness. 💃🕺🎯
Dance Party!, Episode 128, September 25, 2020
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
Good Habits, Bad Habits by Wendy Wood
The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It For Life by Twyla Tharp
In this episode Jean and James talk about the recent Apple event and whether any of the newly announced products will make them more (or less) productive. James promises to put away some papers and reveals a bit more about his as yet unannounced project. Jean has an mystery project of her own and also reveals a little trick to help you play your guitar or other instrument more.
In this episode Jean takes a first action that snowballs into accomplishing a whole project. James encounters an unexpected obtacle while trying to accomplish what is usually a routine task. The conversation turns to handling the unexpected including home warranties, AAA, and Apple Care. Plus, an air of mystery surrounds an unannouced project.
It’s back-to-school season, which sparks Jean to review her GTD strategy and to re-evaluate whether there isn’t room for improvement. She did her homework, reading some interesting articles, and decided it was time to go back to two tried-and-true tools.
Oliver Burkeman, What If You’re Already on Top of Things?
Leo Babauta, Zen To Done (ZTD): The Simple Productivity System
Thanh Pham, How to Achieve Your Goals with Any Task Management System
This week, James and Jean met up in person at the 360|iDev conference in Denver. Despite the thin air, we were able to eke out a podcast recording in person. We talk about the effect of travel and socializing on productivity (more naps needed!), and how much we enjoyed performing a live show with our Breakpoint friends, both new and old.
It’s only the second podcast episode we’ve recorded in person. The first one: Episode 8: The Usual Monkey Wrench (June 14, 2018)
Jean and James are both heading to 350iDev in Denver next week and have chosen their weekly todos with travel in mind. Topics include retirement planning, processing stacks of papers, James’ Disneyland map collection, and the benefits of free money. James attempts to keep a habit streak going while on the road and Jean brings along some books to help her thrive and prosper.
Jean and James talk about how things at a macro level, like the pervasive spread of the Delta variant, and at a micro level, like unpacking a suitcase and finding shards of glass, can conspire to demotivate you. Conversation also turns to whether there should be a different category for projects besides ‘Active’ and ‘Someday / Maybe’. Plus a short discourse about a novelty Star Trek t-shirt.
Shopping for new Apple products was a big topic this week. Jean is ready to splurge on the AirPods Max and the HomePod mini, while James treated himself to a new keyboard with Touch ID. Of course, all of these purchases have productivity bonuses, no rationalizations here. 😏
Jean and James talk about the dilemna of things that hold sentimental value or other meaning. After a week clearing things from the house where he grew up in NJ, James finds that some things don’t feel right to simply throw away, but don’t have a real practical use either. Jean plans Micro Camp and approaches the finish line on a major project while James approaches a classic NJ pizza.
Micro Camp
A De Lorenzo’s tomato pie, well done with extra tomato.
James and Jean muse about what constitutes a finished project, how priorities shift when you’re not feeling well, and how travel can provide incentive for getting things done.
This episode Jean and James are in the ballpark of closing loops in progress. Jean moves closer to completing the sale of her house. James thought he would be closing a long-standing loop by bringing his car in for service for the day, but it was not as easy as that. Plus, James goes to an actual ballpark.
This week brings followup! Is James’ plumbing truly fixed? Is Jean’s house finally listed? Jean also shares contact info for her professional organizer, Penelope Rose Miller, whose invaluable help was the subject of Episode 167: Working With A Professional Organizer.
In this episode Jean and James talk about open loops that aren’t tasks to be done but life’s little mysteries to be investigated. James tells the story of a few household mysteries deferred and eventually solved and the satisfaction that brings. Jean gives an update on her house sale and move. Finally a brief discussion of everybody’s favorite productivity topic—puddles.
Jean talks about her experience over the last month, working with a professional organizer to clear all the stuff out of her house, hold an estate sale, and downsize for her new apartment. From the style of an organizer to the nitty gritty of what they can do, there is a lot to think about when hiring a professional. In Jean’s case, it’s been a fantastic experience and a way to stay sane during the course of moving.
In this episode Jean and James talk about recovering after a week focusing on the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). James ended up underneath an avalanche of email larger than usual, even after such a busy week. Conversation turns to causes for the James’ overstuffed inbox. Jean gives an update on her move. Jean and James lament over Apple Fitness stand goals and broken streaks.
We didn’t do a weekly review, but we really focused on the important must-dos this week. James debuted a new song Futureproof at the latest LIVE near WWDC extravaganza, which also featured a remote panel of Breakpoints who have played with James over the years. Jean held an estate sale at her house to clear out furniture and items that are still useful or valuable to other people. We were both a bit overwhelmed by these huge projects, and we do an even shorter episode than last week.
LIVE near WWDC
Futureproof on Vimeo.
In one of the least lengthy episodes in the series Jean and James talk about the things that currently have them short on time.
James has released the third episode telling the story of James Dempsey and the Breakpoints and is prepping for next week’s free LIVE near WWDC show. Jean is preparing to turn her home into a pop-up store for the weekend—having an estate sale to help her superfluous stuff find good homes.
Jean talks about the importance of remembering to ask others for help when needed. James prepares for going through ‘WWDC Tilt’ for the next few months following next week’s conference.
In the face of massive projects, such as the Live Near WWDC Show and moving house, Jean and James find themselves talking about an important subject: Star Wars/Star Trek mashups they would watch.
Machete Order: A New Way to Watch Star Wars
This time around, James‘ weekly to-do spills over into the rest of the episode. It’s the just-announced LIVE near WWDC 2021 event which celebrates the 20th anniversary of James Dempsey and the Breakpoints. The conversation turns to plans for the event and digging through a few decades worth of hard drives, laptops, and videotapes to find materials for the event. Jean talks about her own efforts to reduce tech clutter, including an organization near her that not only provides refurbished machines to those who need them, but also teaches how to do the refurbishing! Also, a little story of the Titanium PowerBook that could.
LIVE near WWDC 2021
Having a checklist for a recurring project is a good way to free your mind from worrying about small but important details. Before 2020, the checklist that both of us used the most was our travel packing list. On the eve of James’ first post-pandemic trip (to Disneyland, of course), we talk about what needs to be updated on that trusted list.
In this episode Jean and James talk about how life is beginning to change as they and so many others become vaccinated. James celebrates his first hair cut in over a year. Jean continues to settle into her new place. Jean is looking forward to more casual gatherings with family and friends. James misses playing music with other musicians. And looking at his trusted system, James is finding many projects put on hold can now be made active again. Both wonder if they will return to their pre-pandemic patterns or if new habits developed during the past year have taken hold.
James found the “get out of jail free card,” and Jean is happy to use it.
Upon rereading the GTD book, James came across this definition of the weekly review: “It’s whatever you need to do to get your head empty again and get oriented for the next couple of weeks.” No matter which tool you use, from simple written notes to OmniFocus, getting yourself oriented for the next couple weeks is the goal. Considering that neither Jean or James did their official weekly review this week, it was nice to let us ourselves off the hook.
PS: It’s our third anniversary! We’ve been publishing an episode every Friday since April 29, 2018. 🎂🎂🎂
In this episode Jean and James discuss the announcments from the recent Apple ‘Spring Forward’ event. Will Jean get a new M1 iMac? Does James misplace his keys often enough to justify getting an AirTag? The conversation turns to product color a number of times leading James to a minor chromatic epiphany. Both Jean and James are tempted by the new iPad Pro but may stand pat with their existing models. James is looking forward to the new Apple TV remote. Also the secret fictional origins of The Weekly Review podcast.
Jean made a big decision this week. After 13 years, she’s moving—and that wasn’t a project or goal she had noted anywhere in OmniFocus. James offers good advice, both on how to look at big decisions in the context of a trusted system and how to process house projects that will never be done now.
And we affirm our podcast’s mission statement: we don’t claim to be productivity gurus, just two friends who help each other get things done.
From Jean’s blog: Moving: suddenly but not-so-suddenly, a big decision clicks
This episode Jean and James talk about their most plentiful and precious digital assets—photos. Jean expresses frustration at not being able to find an Easter-themed photo of guinea pigs Grace and Ada from a past year. James describes how even a dark, blurry photo of time spent with friends is a great way to bring the moment back into memory.
Jean sets out to prune her photo library of unwanted photos that don’t make the cut—with unintentional guinea pig butt photos being a surprisingly common category. James continues to be a digital pack rat with even the bad photos as he continues to purchase more drive and clould storage over time.
A photo by James looking up at the Incredibles Arch on Pixar Pier at Disney California Adventure.
This was taken on the last day of James’ last visit to Disneyland before the pandemic.
A Christmas photo of guinea pigs Grace and Ada by Jean.
The sort of photo, with a guinea pig butt to the camera, that Jean plans on deleting.
We started this episode out without a specific topic, but that didn’t stop us from reviewing what things we got done this week and how we did it. We also took the opportunity to talk about Dance Party! and give James kudos for completing three months of his fun automated exercise program.
Episode 128: Dance Party!
This episode, Jean and James talk about their strategies for managing passwords. Both have seperately arrived at similar but not identical approaches. Jean admits that she sometimes saves pieces of information in 1Password and forgets it is there when she needs it. James realizes that he needs to take care of the various warnings in his password managers. Both Jean and James conclude that a little bit of time spent tending to your passwords can go a long way and both intend to add a recurring periodic task in their trusted systems to do so. Finally, the duo bats .500 this week in accomplishing weekly reviews and weekly to-dos, but who did and who didn’t? (Hint: J did but J didn’t.)
1Password
iCloud Keychain
This week we turn our attention to one of those essential but often cluttered repositories: our Contacts database. Jean embarks on a quest to clean up her Contacts, organize people into groups, update info and delete some names too. It feels a bit like the Inbox Zero projects we did when we launched the podcast, but the goal is not to reduce it zero, of course!
TWR 3: Brute Forcing Our Way To Inbox Zero
Cardhop for iOS by Flexibits
Felt, hand-written card design app
With spring fast approaching, Jean and James discuss a variety of topics in the waning weeks of winter. James procrastinates tackling some tasks as he eagerly awaits the arrival of a whiteboard. Jean reveals the proper way to dispose of 2020 wall calendars. James extolls the virtues of unplanned activities while Jean suggests a strategy to get Dexter the cat drinking from his water fountain again. Other topics include mangled math and more examples why its better to keep things in your trusted system instead of your head. It’s a wintery mix.
Life may be just a bowl of cherries…but it’s also filled with the open loops that sap mental and creative energy.
The good news is that we both completed a weekly review this week. The better news is that we have identified some aspects of our trusted systems that could be refined, making it more likely that we will continue to make those reviews weekly in the future.
For the 150th episode, Jean and James talk about enhancing your productivity by a seemingly unproductive approach—doing nothing. Or at least doing something else. Topics include sleep, background processing, and James’ dad’s oft-repeated three day rule. The conversation then turns to ways of reacting to life’s little mishaps.
Inspired by the winter weather emergencies in Oregon and Texas, James and Jean revisited the topic of preparedness. After last summer’s wildfire emergencies, Jean realized it made sense to download videos in advance in case of internet failure, rather than using power bank reserves to run the internet for streaming video. We also talk about the ideas that Ben Brooks outlined in a recent article about “go bags.”
Episode 123: Emergency Planning
Jackery Portable Power Stations
The Brooks Review: We Need to Rethink Emergency/Go/Bugout Bags
As we approach the anniversary of when many locations began shutting things down due to the pandemic, Jean and James reflect on various things that were commonplace in their lives but that they now haven’t experienced or done in over a year. Other topics include competing Groundhog Day groundhogs, the atrophy of packing skills, and whether James misses his sister or Disneyland more.
It’s the last episode in our consideration of the planning horizons above where we mostly concentrate, Ground Level (Next Actions) and Horizon 1 (Projects). This week, James and Jean talk about Horizon 5: Life, or alternatively, Purpose and Principles.
Somehow the conversation leads us to Las Vegas. Whether it’s craps or slot machines, there’s always a metaphor for life to be found in Las Vegas, as well as some excellent restaurants.
The series:
An Overview
Horizon 2: Areas of Focus
Horizon 3: One- to Two-Year Goals
Horizon 4: Three- to Five-Year Vision
Horizon 5: Life, or Purpose and Principles (this episode)
Continuing on the path of ever-widening horizons, Jean and James move on from one- to two-year goals to consider their visions for the next three to five years. Jean notes that although the word ‘vision’ might imply a grand world-changing scheme, in a personal context it could mean something life-changing or life-enhancing instead. Then the conversation takes a turn to barnacles and DNS configuration. It’s been that kind of a week.
We continue our review of GTD’s Six-Level Model For Reviewing Your Own Work, and this week we are looking at “Horizon 3.” We both discovered that it’s been a long time since we looked at one- to two-year goals, but given the major life upheavals we’ve experienced the last few years, it isn’t surprising that long-range plans have been neglected.
The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter, by Margareta Magnusson
Following last episode about the Six Horizons of Focus, Jean and James begin their ascent through the horizons by talking about Horizon 2: Areas of Focus and Responsibility. As Jean and James share some of thier own items from this horizon, conversation includes whether areas of focus are different than responsibilities, and some thoughts on how to represent this horizon in OmniFocus or the productivity tool of your choice.
How do you decide what to do next? In Getting Things Done, David Allen talks about several strategies, including the Six Horizons of Focus. The higher up you go in the list of horizons, the more you can see of the big picture. Yet things actually get done on the ground level (next actions and calendar) and Horizon 1 (projects), which is where this podcast and its hosts are focused.
It’s a good practice to step back from the nitty gritty work, and consider how it fits into bigger goals and responsibilities. We discuss our plan for kicking off 2021 with a closer look at each horizon.
(If that sounds very serious, don’t worry. We also talk quite a bit about pierogies.)
In this episode, Jean and James talk about the recently released Pixar movie Soul. The conversation delves into some of the concepts presented in the movie such as having a passion turn into an obsession. Jean and James connect that to how too strong a focus on productivity has to potential of having you lead a less fulfilling life. Also, Jean and James discuss a whimsical new invention for 2021.
Finally, Jean and James wish all of our listeners a Happy New Year!
WARNING: There are movie spoilers!
A short episode for Christmas week, which not a time known for productivity discipline. We each share one favorite holiday hack. And Jean made a special audio treat for Dexter the Cat.
David Sparks, The Gift Wrap Field Guide
Meowsic Keyboard
In this episode, Jean and James dig deeper into building habits. James makes the case that Habit Tracker apps should really be called Habit Trainers. Jean resolves to pick more concrete tasks for the Weekly To Do. The conversation turns to how seasonal changes, like shorter days, can affect daily habits. After reading a few chapters of Good Habits, Bad Habits by Wendy Wood, James starts thinking about the difference between things done routinely, and those that are truly habits—done without conscious thought.
Good Habits, Bad Habits by Wendy Wood
We met some goals this week, just not the goals we said we would meet on our last episode. We talk about the experience of sharing fitness updates via the Apple Watch and our 7-day challenge results and commiserate about the vagaries of the Stand goal.
In this episode Jean and James both find themselves accomplishing things even as they neglect reviewing their trusted systems this week. Jean finishes a month of daily microblogging and follows it up with a month of updating Micro.blog documentation. James creates and launches a website for Swift developers. Jean talks about using the Do app for daily reminders, while James lets his neighbors’ garbage cans serve as his weekly reminder to put his trash out.
Some of this week’s accomplishments:
From Day 3 of Jean’s Docsember:
What’s the difference between Micro.blog and Twitter?
James’ newly launched site:
SwiftVersion.net
During this holiday week in the U.S., James and Jean take time to reflect on things they are thankful for in their workflows, both hardware and software, as well as new habits like Dance Party.
For his “Weekly To-Do,” James tried to find the shutoff valve for his water main, but it eluded him. Maybe one of our listeners will have a suggestion… or James will eventually call the plumber anyway. Jean’s Weekly To-Do was watching the Neflix series The Queen’s Gambit, and she managed to get it done. 😏
Jean and James can’t resist talking about the newly announced M1 Macs and the adorable HomePod mini. James’ daily dance party now spans the entire house with the addition of this diminuative new HomePod. Jean’s decision to hold off on purchasing a new iMac is well-rewarded by the introduction of faster, quieter Macs. The conversation turns to the effects these new Macs might have on our productivity. Also, Jean commits to a screening while James commits to solving a household mystery.
We’re starting to get over our election year anxiety, and now we can get back to getting things done, or at least organized so they can be done. Jean gave up on email triage once the political fundraisers swamped her inbox, and she’s getting back on track with Mailstrom and Chuck. James decides to subscribe to Sanebox for another year.
Get $25 off Sanebox (referral link)
Get $5 off Mailstrom (referral link)
This week in the midst of the stress of awaiting election results, Jean’s beloved guinea pig Ada died unexpectedly from a respiratory infection. Jean shares memories of Ada and her feisty personality. Jean and James talk about the productivity pros and cons of pets, and tell stories of how their pets past and present have brought so much into their lives. Special feline guest Dexter the cat also shares his views.
Some things got done. Some things did not. Getting anything accomplished in this last week of October is a good thing, considering the stressors and distractions of election season. We also look to the Scandinavians for inspiration on not only surviving the winter season, but embracing it.
What Scandinavians Can Teach Us About Winter (New York Times)
2020 General Election Early Vote Statistics
The Solo Stove: Bonfire model, the outdoor compact fire pit that @cheesemaker aka Jon Hayes recommends
Despite continuing to stay at home during the global pandemic, in this episode Jean and James find themselves on and off a wagon, in the same boat, off the grid, on a roll, in a car getting a shot in the arm, and very briefly stopping by a Ladybugs’ Picnic. It was not a typical seven days at all but most certainly a week in the life riding the varying levels of productivity of 2020.
Video: The Ladybugs’ Picnic
This week, Jean had a secret weekly to-do, in addition to the one she announced last week. James successfully moves his websites away from WordPress. And then, in keeping with our pumpkin spice season tradition, we talk about the new iPhones we plan to order and why.
In this episode James shares a quotation about meditation that he heard during a Mindful Qi Gong class that he has been taking online. The quote talks of seeing meditation as an act of friendship towards yourself, as opposed to a way to ‘fix yourself’ or ‘improve yourself’. It also mentions removing the ‘subtle aggression of self-improvement’. Jean and James talk about those ideas but from the perspective of the focus on productivity and how sometimes we feel driven to get more done. The conversation turns to perhaps thinking of our trusted system as an act of friendship to ourselves, to allow us to not worry about the things that have been captured and that will surface when required, so we can focus on doing the things we feel are most important in our lives.
The quotation is from the book Meditation: Calming the Mind by Bob Sharples. The book seems to be out of print but an online search should turn up used copies. (Note that neither Jean nor James has read the book — just the quotation from it.)
Jean is reading the book Good Habits, Bad Habits by Wendy Wood, and it is providing many insights based on scientific research around the question of how to establish strong habits. James reports on his new Dance Party! habit, which is going well thanks to the combination of automation, repetition, and fun. Dexter interjects with habit advice for cats (we think), and even Siri has something to say.
In this episode, Jean and James talk about trying to establish regular exercise as a habit. James reveals that dancing may be the only form of excercise he truly enjoys—except maybe hikes through the woods and walking ten miles a day at Disney parks. James talks about configuring the Apple Home app to have his HomePod automatically play a dance music every afternoon. Instant Dance Party! Jean and James talk about the new Dance workout on Apple Watch and are excited and optimisitc by the prospects of regular daily enjoyable exercise. Jean also talks about the wonderful September 21 video from this year.
9/21/20 video by Demi Adejuyigbe
James and Jean review the latest Apple product announcements and consider which new devices and services will promote better productivity. The new Scribble feature in iOS 14 definitely has the potential to reduce friction when capturing to-dos. Fitness+ is appealing, even if we can’t include our cat and guinea pigs on the Apple One Premium family plan.
In this episode, James talks about his experiences using SaneBox for the past few years. With his inbox and email subscriptions under much better control, James is weighing the decision of continuing to use Sanebox or possibly letting his subscription lapse. Jean and James talk a bit about the western wildfires, including those near their homes. Plus, James celebrates his three-year garageversary.
Get $25 off Sanebox (referral link)
Get $5 off Mailstrom (referral link)
Previous email episodes
114: It Has Been 399 Days Since The Topic Was Email (Jun 19, 2020)
57: I Have to Laugh (May 17, 2019)
52: Emailiversary (April 12, 2019)
28: The Big Email Processing Episode (October 26, 2018)
3: Brute Forcing Our Way ot Inbox Zero (May 11, 2018)
Picking up some steam after last week’s episode, James is on a streak of two weekly reviews in a row. Jean planned to get hers done, but low energy and inability to focus foiled her ambitions. This episode then focuses on one of the causes of these issues: lack of sleep. We’re no sleep experts, but sharing our experiences with each other always helps us gain some perspective and get ideas of new things to try.
Stress Management: Breathing Exercises For Relaxation (Univ. of Michigan Medicine; includes the 4-7-8 method)
This episode Jean and James talk about times when you are not feeling well but still feel guilty for not getting things done. The conversation proceeds to putting times like that into the context of your trusted system. Dexter the cat makes a guest appearance as the topic turns to cat and guinea pig productivity.
As severe lightning, power outages, a heat wave, and numerous fires affect California, Jean and James talk about emergency planning. James talks about some planning he had done earlier this spring helped this past week. Jean talks about how preparation for past events helped her to have things when needed in the present. James reflects on his gratitude that he has not had to evacuate due to the fires as many have but realizes he doesn’t have any sort of evacuation plan. Both Jean and James put a project to prepare an emergency plan into their trusted systems.
In this episode, James and Jean explore the connection between action and motivation, which relates to last week’s episode about procrastination. Waiting for motivation to strike us is a well-known source of procrastination, whereas taking any action to get going on a project often generates the motivation to actually finish the thing.
Thanks again to J.D. Roth of Get Rich Slowly, whose article Action Creates Motivation provided some much needed inspiration this week!
Jean and James talk about procrastinating on one task by making progress on another. Using this technique, James launched a website for his free utility app BuildSettingExtractor. Jean’s weekly todo took longer than she thought it would when it unexpectedly took her down memory lane. The conversation turns to whether procrastination-based productivity is a good thing. Is it just part of the GTD practice of choosing the best thing to work on next in the moment or if it might mask a real resistance to getting the procrastinated item done?
Here’s the result of James’ procrastivity this week:
BuildSettingExtractor
This week, James and Jean talk about small changes we have made lately to improve productivity and/or life. Whether it’s prepping for phone calls with a list of the info you need, or finding a quick solution to help your cat get up on the bed, little things can make a big difference. Don’t discount them, just because they’re easy.
Jean and James follow up on episode 113: Turn Good Intentions Into Next Actions and discuss using your trusted system to help effect the change you wish to see in the world. Jean talks about the recent events in her home town of Portland, OR and actions she is taking. James encourages everyone to put voting-related tasks into their trusted systems. Also, Jean makes a phone call and James unpacks a big box.
Listeners in the US, check voting information for all states here:
Vote.org
James and Jean look at how adjusting expectations can have a positive effect on motivation and energy. Summer tends to be the season of travel, long weekends, outdoor fun, and big post-WWDC development goals, so it can be helpful to recalibrate and adjust to the current reality, and even learn to appreciate it.
In this episode Jean and James talk about experiencing a very different summer than most. Jean is spending much more time in her backyard. James is giving his yearly tradition of visiting relatives in Canada a pass this time around. Also this week, some strategies for balancing the effort of filing and organizing paperwork with the effort of finding paperwork later when you need it. And finally, Dexter the cat needs a grooming.
In this episode Jean and James talk about their experiences with this year’s online Apple worldwide developer conference (WWDC) compared to past years when they have attended in person. Both are surprised by the number of similarities in how they felt before and after the conference even without spending a week away from home. Also, Jean takes a short staycation and James briefly reimagines WWDC sessions as a new episodic Apple TV+ series.
This week, we focus on James’ epic short project, a video presentation of The Liki Song, including over two dozen musicians and performers.
Since 2012, James Dempsey and the Breakpoints have held LIVE near WWDC, an evening of music, fun, and laughter playing some of the nerdiest developer music around.
An online WWDC meant bringing this yearly tradition online as well, so we’ve gathered the largest virtual group of Breakpoint performers ever assembled for a special event.
James talks about the logistical and technical aspects of pulling together so many moving parts in less than a week, and how such an all-consuming project affects one’s usual approach to getting things done.
Live-ish Concurrent With WWDC 2020
(Previously known as Live Near WWDC)
When this podcast launched, James and Jean talked a lot about managing email, because their inboxes were stuffed and overflowing. Thanks to our weekly reviews, new email tools, and a friendly sense of competition, we managed to get to Inbox Zero. We didn’t necessarily stay at Inbox Zero, but it was still a big improvement.
Jean had a issue this week and didn’t receive any email for 2 days. It led her to rethink her email hosting provider. We also talk about the new features Hey from BaseCamp is touting, though neither of us is interested in trying it right now.
Get $5 off Sanebox (referral link)
Get $5 off Mailstrom (referral link)
Previous email episodes
57: I Have to Laugh (May 17, 2019)
52: Emailiversary (April 12, 2019)
28: The Big Email Processing Episode (October 26, 2018)
3: Brute Forcing Our Way ot Inbox Zero (May 11, 2018)
In this episode Jean and James talk about ways to use your trusted system to continue supporting causes once they are no longer in the headlines. James talks about his GTD strategy for non-fiction books, including those listed below. Jean describes the power of sending a physical letter to elected officials. And both explore various ways of turning your good intentions into recurring next actions.
So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
James and Jean talk about the trouble with focusing when work commitments don’t feel relevant or important compared to what’s going on right now in the world. Jean didn’t get her Weekly To-Do done, and explains why. James found himself writing a new song, which we share here and discuss his songwriting process.
Take care, everyone.
If you are not sure to how to help those who are struggling right now, consider making a donation to the Equal Justice Initiative.
This week Jean and James talk about the book Atomic Habits by James Clear. James just finished reading it and describes how the practical steps described in the book dovetail nicely into his mental model of his practice of GTD and building a trusted system. Jean and James discuss a few other habit-related books they have read. James takes a concrete step to putting the ideas in Atomic Habits into action.
Atomic Habits by James Clear
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg
The Craving Mind by Judson Brewer
Jean and James revisit the 15 Styles of Distorted Thinking, discussed in Episode 81, and note how our current circumstances have given rise to new or different patterns of distorted thoughts that hamper our productivity.
Disclaimer: as we frequently like to say, we are not gurus. We are not experts on productivity or psychology. We are just two friends talking about what works for us.
15 Styles of Distorted Thinking
PDF: 15 Styles of Distorted Thinking
Fits on one page, can be printed and used with a ticker file or hung up on your refrigerator
PDF: 15 Styles of Distorted Thinking plus 15 Rational Alternatives Offers a strategy for each of the 15 Styles of Distorted Thinking.
After spending a number of weeks at home, Jean and James reflect on how routines have become a bigger part of their lives. Jean describes how weekly routines help keep the days from running completely together. James talks about how he seems to be adding many small routine tasks to his trusted system, many of which take only a minute or two. And James talks about Dexter’s adorable drinking water fountain.
This episode’s “Weekly To-Do” morphed into a full-fledged topic, as Jean recounts how reactivating a simple to-do brought back difficult memories of procrastination and avoidance during especially challenging periods of mental health issues. James reminds her that she is hardly alone in having used these “strategies” when stressed, and it’s counterproductive to beat ourselves up when we’ve missed something, even something important.
This episode explores some ways that even pleasant surprises can upend your plans. James tells the story of how an unexpected package delivery necessitated a quick leveling up of skills. For Jean, the opportunity to be with her family at a safe distance led to a choice between the gathering and ending a personal project early.
James and Jean have their second week of “The Weekly To Do,” a new feature (with a bonus jingle!) where we pick one item from our to-do list and commit to getting it done by the next episode. We are both 2 for 2 on this accountability strategy; Jean’s organized her streaming subscriptions and James’s coffee maker is no longer nagging him to clean it. In the context of real life, which is hard to distinguish from The Onion lately, those are big wins!
Felt App, Hand-Written Cards for the Modern World
Man Not Sure Why He Thought Most Psychologically Taxing Situation of his Life Would Be The Thing to Make Him Productive, from The Onion
Musicland, Bel Air, Maryland
(run by James’s friend Larry Noto)
Quarantine Viewing recommendations:
Star Trek: Picard
Survivor
In this episode, Jean and James dive into the new “Weekly Accountability Task” segment of the podcast, including a catchier name suggested by a listener and the world premier of the segment’s musical intro.
Jean has an update on her planned return to Slovenia while James gives an update on his quest to get a REAL ID driver’s liscense. The conversation turns to a variety of extended deadlines including for filing taxes. James talks about the technique he is using in OmniFocus to keep recurring projects like paying taxes correct for future years while adapting to this year’s new dates.
The new segment name and the new jingle it inspired was suggested by Beck, one of our listeners. Thank you Beck!
On our 100th episode, we announced that we were going to add a weekly check-in on a specific task to provide mutual accountability at the task level, not just at the weekly review level. Apparently, we didn’t add this new feature to our trusted systems, and (no surprise!) we forgot about it until now.
We are still looking for a name for this new segment of the podcast, something catchier than Weekly Accountability Task, but at least we have launched it with both of us committing to a task for next week.
In this episode, Jean and James discuss topics from two articles. One talks about resisting putting pressure on yourself to be hyper-productive, especially in these early days of adjusting to the realities of the coronavirus pandemic. The other talks about how with new and unfamiliar experiences in day to day life can lead to feeling like life is surreal. James unveils a new tag he is using in OmniFocus to put projects and actions on hold because of the shelter in place order in the Bay Area.
Conversation turns towards the notion of not being able to make concrete plans you can look forward to such as travel, but that instead, you can look forward to specific things you will do in the future, even though you cannot plan the details.
Why You Should Ignore All That Coronavirus-Inspired Productivity Pressure
Why Life During a Pandemic Feels So Surreal
OmniFocus
This week Jean talks about how she looks forward to doing her weekly review now, even though a lot of tasks will be deferred or deleted, because it helps to feel a bit more in control. James not only got his weekly review done, he got his email inbox count down to zero. Jean also wonders how to use her 2020 year-at-a-glance calendar which is starting to look pretty empty now, as future events get cancelled.
This episdoe Jean and James talk about how they are adjusting to changes due to COVID-19. The conversation explores the notion of actions having a context—the necessary requirements to get a task accomplished—and how some next actions that may have seen trivial a week ago are now postponed indefinitely. Jean suggests taking the opportunity to review the existing context tags in our trusted systems and James describes how he has had to discontinue the garbage can game he plays with his 92-year old neighbor.
To mark the occasion of the 100th episode, James and Jean talk about our favorite moments and accomplishments, and talk about new ideas for our second hundred episodes.
Some stats so far: Total minutes: 2517
Total hours: 42
Average length: 25.5 minutes
Number of special guests: 4 (+ 1 🐱)
Holidays invented: 2
Episodes recorded outdoors: 1
Podcasting conferences attended: 1
Episodes mentioned:
1: My Whole House Is An Inbox
8: The Usual Monkey Wrench
16: The Unbearable Lightness of OmniFocus Bankruptcy
19: That’s Too Devious, Jean
20: Organizationiversary
21: A Day Without A Dot 🎉
33: On The Hunt For The Perfect To-Do List App, with Special Guest Aleen Simms
35: James Is My Trusted System
39: A Very Long Story, with Special Guest Rosemary Orchard
41: Productivity + Fun = PodCon 2 in Seattle
42: Life, The Universe, and What’s In Our Junk Drawers
47: The Time Sensitive Micro Project
52: Emailiversary
54: A Very Tasty Pepper, with Special Guest Ish ShaBazz
69: The Odyssey of the Ford Taurus
87: Reviewing Our 2020 Calendar Strategies, with Special Guest David Sparks
92: Cat Bombed, with Special Guest Dexter
94: The Clean Slate
In this episode the topics range from the practical to the fanciful. James and Jean revisit the notion of a clean slate. James has begun thinking about his weekly review as a way to start with a clean slate which has been helpful motivation in the past few weeks. In more fanciful matters, Jean and James talk about desired superpowers and James contends that a common inspirational phrase is a load of hooey. Finally, the winner of the “When will James Do His Next Weekly Review?” contest is announced!
James announces that he has completed a weekly review after a spell of not doing one (while being otherwise productive). We talk about how it feels to get that done, why it took this long, and what lessons we can learn about getting back on track. We also discuss about how tags and flags can be a help or a distraction in tackling our tasks in OmniFocus.
This episode Jean talks about progress on her proposal to add a guinea pig emoji, including the emoji proposal process and some details from the reasearch Jean has done so far. Using this particular project as an example, Jean and James talk about how their trusted system might help them to get things done, but doesn’t necessarly help you get things done early or ahead of a deadline.
Thanks to an email from a listener, Jean did a weekly review this week on the theory that it’s better to do a shoddy one than not to do one at all. James is still getting things done, but a full weekly review is still on his list. (Which means the contest to guess which week James does a review is still on. Details below.)
Send us an email at sayhello@theweeklyreview.fm with the subject “Weekly Review Week Guess” and pick the Sunday of the week that you think James will actually complete a full weekly review. The correct guess will score something fun from the many cool pop culture tchotchkes at his house.
Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV+ and more. With the proliferation of streaming services, home entertainment has become more complex. In this episode Jean and James talk about their streaming subscriptions including strategies to keep from breaking the entertainment budget. Also, Jean moves to the next iCloud storage tier and James wonders if he should dump Hulu and watch Picard instead.
App for tracking subscriptions:
Bobby
Inspired by an article by J.D. Roth of Get Rich Slowly, Jean and James talk about the appealing concept of starting with a clean slate. The conversation covers a range of variations on the clean slate theme—from hotel rooms that contain only what you’ve brought on a trip, to declaring OmniFocus bankruptcy and starting again, to the thought that a weekly review is a way of getting to a clean slate state, without starting from scratch every time. Plus, a movie pitch and a sure-fire idea for an app.
The clean slate by J.D. Roth at getrichslowly.org
This week, we ask the question: how exactly did our parents manage their tasks? Both James and Jean have parents who held jobs, raised children, got advanced degrees, and successfully retired without the benefit of OmniFocus or GTD. We reminisce about what organizational strategies we remember from our childhoods, how our parents’ examples influenced us, and how life was simpler back then.
In this episode Jean and James set out to talk about including follow-up tasks in projects to make sure loose ends are tied up. But James‘ friend Dexter the cat has other plans and becomes an unexpected special guest. James coaxes him to share some of his feline organizational tips while other topics range from some OmniFocus wishlist items to unexpected trips.
Our contest is still on:
Send us an email at sayhello@theweeklyreview.fm with the subject “Weekly Review Week Guess” and pick the Sunday of the week that you think James will actually complete a full weekly review. The correct guess will score something fun from the many cool pop culture tchotchkes at his house.
We start off this year answering a listener question about when and why to use Due versus Omnifocus for reminders. James confesses he still hasn’t done his weekly review and talks about why he is okay with that, while Jean flies under the radar and doesn’t even mention her weekly review (which she hasn’t done either). We wrap up with some travel hacking tips and then James surprises us all by offering prizes for guessing which week he will do that weekly review.
- Send us an email at sayhello@theweeklyreview.fm with the subject “Weekly Review Week Guess” and pick the Sunday of the week that you think James will actually complete a full weekly review. The correct guess will score something fun from the many cool pop culture tchotchkes at his house.
It’s the beginning of a brand new year and in this episode Jean and James take a look back at 2019 with some resolutions and accomplishments and look forward to getting things done in 2020. Topics include getting away from or sticking with social media platforms and getting a new health care plan.
The holiday season can be a time to gather together with those we care about. It can also be a season of not only giving, but receiving. In this episode, Jean and James talk about receiving gifts that can become projects in and of themselves. Topics include everything from clothing in the wrong size, to making a cash gift more personally meaningful, to thoughts on how to handle a gift from someone you care about that leaves you scratching your head with what to do with it.
The holiday season is in full swing. Did you forget to get yourself a gift? Here’s a suggestion.
As we prepare to enter these too busy times, don’t forget to give yourself the gift of spending some time doing absolutely nothing this season.
Patrick Rhone, Rhoneisms, December 1, 2019
The Case For Doing Nothing, Olga Mecking, New York Times, April 29, 2019
We have a special guest this week: David Sparks from the podcast Focused, among many others. David and his co-host Mike Schmitz recently did an episode on the best use of calendars, and we asked David to talk about some of his favorite calendar strategies, including hyperscheduling and a year-at-a-glance wall calendar.
David and Mike even designed a special 2020 FOCUSED Wall Calendar, available for purchase from NeuYear. Jean bought one, and is looking forward to 2020 a little bit more now.
Thanks again, David, for coming on our podcast.
James and Jean talk about that awkward year-end period, wedged between two major holidays in the U.S. (not counting Black Friday and Cyber Monday), when important year-end matters vie for attention with holiday-related shopping and travel. How do you stay on track during these challenging seasons? (No, seriously, it’s not a rhetorical question. Help us out with your strategies!)
The Depth of Our Madness, Focused podcast, Episode 85, Oct. 29, 2019.
The FOCUSED 2020 Wall Calendar. “Life is more than cranking widgets.”
During this Thanksgiving week episode Jean and James talk about things they are thankful for. This includes their trusted systems which not only help them accomplish things but also lets them have piece of mind when spending time with family and friends.
The conversation veers into technology more than originally intended: James is very thankful for his new 16-inch MacBook Pro. Jean contemplates getting some Air Pods Pro and James unveils his new service to help people rationalize buying things they want to buy anyway.
Happy Thanksgiving to all our listeners!
In this episode Jean and James talk about different modes of operation. James observes a long-standing pattern in his behavior that automatically flips between project-focus and organizational-focus. Jean and James brainstorm some ways to try to keep this pattern from causing weekly reviews and trusted system updates from slipping.
Plus, a karaoke discussion about projects versus external lists as well as the odd karaoke song selection at the resort where Jean and James attended the Release Notes conference last month.
Jean attended WordCamp Seattle over the weekend to catch up with the latest topics of interest in the WordPress user community. A session on task management caught her attention, so she attended and got some fresh perspective from a non-Getting Things Done point of view.
Many thanks to Annie LaCroix of Brainy Boss for an excellent and thought-provoking presentation.
In this episode, Jean and James talk about some items that have on their project lists for a long time, progress made, next actions taken, and the wonderful feeling of finally completing a long-running project. Also, James celebrates an anniversary and Jean describes how she is using OmniFocus to make the transition back to activity from convelescence.
This week, James and Jean talk about a tool used in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: “15 Styles of Distorted Thinking,” a list of common traps our minds fall into when assessing reality, and how those traps prevent us from having the stress-free approach to productivity we are seeking.
Disclaimer: as we frequently like to say, we are not gurus. We are not experts on productivity or psychology. We are just two friends talking about what works for us.
15 Styles of Distorted Thinking
PDF: 15 Styles of Distorted Thinking
Fits on one page, can be printed and used with a ticker file or hung up on your refrigerator
This episode Jean and James talk about getting back into the groove. As Jean continues to recover from her knee injury, getting back in the groove includes picking up her first Lyft passenger in many months and all the little steps that took including finding a power cable. For James, the seemingly simple task of trading in an iPhone threw him out of his groove for a while. Also, a brief poorly-informed discussion of the space program.
Groove is in the Heart (Apple Music)
This week, James and Jean talk about big projects that have been on their lists a while and finally got completed. Why a project finally gets traction is a good question. Deadlines can be helpful (or be flouted). Sometimes the right time and motivation present themselves. In any case, the clearer your next actions are, the more likely your projects move forward.
Still coping with post-travel and time zone exhaustion, Jean and James recap some of their favorite things about attending the Release Notes Conference in Mexico. We managed to check off goals both personal and productive at a gathering that supports both.
Release Notes Conference 2019
TWR 71: Processing That Giant Stack of Physical Email
NY Times: How To Cut Down On Unwanted Junk Mail
WALT: Watched Animation List Tracker
For this international episode, James was in Cancun in advance of the Release Notes conference while Jean was in still in Portland getting packed and ready to come to the conference. Jean and James talk about issues with out-of-date packing lists, strategies for updating external checklists like packing lists, and how Jean’s current mobility issues have affected her travel plans and packing list.
Is there a packing list app that you love using? We’d love to hear about it as well as any tips, tricks, or lifehacks regarding packing lists. Feel free to contact us on Micro.blog or Twitter at @theweeklyreview or send us an email at sayhello@theweeklyreview.fm.
Release Notes Conference
James and Jean are on a streak of doing their weekly reviews! As we reread the original GTD book, we take a closer look at weekly review “trigger” lists offered by the author and others, and come up with some modifications of our own for ferreting out uncaptured open loop items.
Getting Things Done by David Allen (audio book)
Building Your OmniFocus Workflow by Ryan Dotson and Rosemary Orchard
In this episode find out if Jean and James’ remarkable weekly review streak continues. Since it’s iPhone season, the discussion naturally turns to the new iPhones and Apple Watches, favorite new features in the new products and iOS 13 and whether to upgrade to the latest and greatest.
About a year ago OmniFocus 3 for Mac added the ability to add multiple tags to projects and actions. James recently reviewed all of the tags he has created over the past twelve month.
In this episode James shares his discoveries with Jean, talking about tags he’s found useful and some he’s found to be completely useless. Jean shares thoughts on her use of tags. James describes a new way he is using flags in Omnifocus and Jean and James briefly discuss using guinea pigs and cats as organic reminder systems.
OmniFocus
James and Jean have completed their weekly reviews for two weeks in a row! 🎉
This week we talk about the importance of defining projects. Jean has a bad habit of saving projects as individual actions and not spelling out the steps. Without assigning clear “next actions,” your weekly review will cease to inspire you to get anything done. By clarifying the next step for each project, you’ll never stymied by the question “What should I do now?”
How does it feel to do a weekly review after a long hiatus? That’s the topic of discussion for this episode as Jean and James discuss doing their first weekly review in a while. Jean describes her strategy to getting things done until she is back on her feet again. James reveals how many projects he has in OmniFocus. Jean and James give an update on their efforts to reduce the amount of physical mail they receive.
Direct Marketing Association DMA Choice
Opt Out of Prescreened Credit Offers
There are some great online tools to deal with email inboxes, but what can be done about all the paper mail that comes to our doorstep? Jean and James talk about how they cope with that daunting stack of envelopes, flyers, and catalogs that can pile up especially during extended periods of travel, and discuss solutions for cutting down the amount of junk mail received.
FTC: Stopping Unsolicited Mail, Phone Calls, and Email
NY Times: How To Cut Down On Unwanted Junk Mail
Direct Marketing Association DMA Choice
Opt Out of Prescreened Credit Offers
Paper Karma app
While criss-crossing the country in July, James listened to the Getting Things Done audio book. In this episode, James talks about his newly refined thoughts about his trusted system and how hearing about GTD through a different medium helped him to understand the system in a different way. Jean and James recommit to doing some form of weekly review each week.
This week we turn our focus from Jean’s “tumble in Trieste” to James’ latest adventure in the Canadian maritime province of New Brunswick, where his father was born and raised. After the death of his father last year, James and his sister had many of the typical issues to deal with, plus one unique challenge: how do you best dispose of a U.S.-registered automobile in Canada? (Hint: Roadtrip!)
This episode follows up on Jean’s mishap on her trip with Jean discussing some reflections and lessons learned. Topics range from travel-specific subjects like travel insurance and packing for a day trip to more universal thoughts like being willing to accept help when offered and trying to keep a positive attitude even when things have taken an unexpected turn for the worse.
In this episode Jean tells the story of her ill-fated day trip to Trieste, where she injured herself and had to cut short her summer in Slovenia. Jean talks about her odyssey from an Italian piazza to her arrival back home in Portland, Oregon. Along the way, a few thoughts and tips on what you might want to bring on a day trip even if you are trying to travel light.
For this episode, Jean is in Slovenia and James is about to take a trip to the east coast.
Jean talks about the possibility of declaring OmniFocus Bankruptcy. James suggests that it would be a shame to lose all the work already done capturing items into the trusted system. Jean and James talk about handling to-do items that you will definitely not be able to get to when on a trip.
Finally, a little more about things you can’t wait until the last minute to do, as well as the fate of traveler’s checks.
UPDATE: This past weekend, Jean tripped and tore a tendon in her left knee while on her trip to Slovenia. She had to return home early due to the injury and is now back in Portland. You can send support and well-wishes to Jean via The Weekly Review or directly at @macgenie on Micro.blog or Twitter.
This episode was recorded before Jean’s injury.
Lep pozdrav iz Ljubljane! / Greetings from Ljubljana! 🇸🇮
In our first intercontinental podcast episode, Jean talks about how living away from home, either in a hotel or a small apartment, makes it possible to form new habits that can stay in place once you get back. It’s a lot easier to:
- stay decluttered when your place is small
- prepare (not necessarily cook!) three simple meals a day when your kitchen is minimal
- walk 3-4 miles per day when you don’t have a car.
Leaving things to the last minute is the bête noire of the organized person, right? But Jean and James have found that sometimes the last minute can be your friend, as long as you are cognizant of what absolutely must be settled in advance. Sometimes the choices you make at the last minute can surprise and delight you.
Photo: New fleece cage liner purchased for the guinea pigs in a very whimsical pattern, a last minute choice over DIY fleece liners, which would have been a boring solid dark color.
James is finding that even thought it has been a number of weeks since WWDC, he is still living in his head, not checking in with his trusted system, but still feeling productive. Jean talks about creating a daily ‘punch list’ of items to do on that particular day.
Jean makes the suggestion of setting an OmniFocus reminder to check OmniFocus daily. James is revisiting the book The Power of Habit to try to turn a daily check-in with his trusted system into a daily habit, even when he’s off in ‘in my head’ land.
Mentioned in this episode:
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
Libby App
Jean leads off a discussion about the delight of making spontaneous plans and how to decide whether they are feasible in the context of all our other commitments. Making time to be with the people you love has become Jean’s top criteria when deciding whether to make new plans on the spur of the moment. James points out that GTD is designed to make spontaneous joy possible, not to squelch it.
Photo: Spontaneous friends: Jean with New Zealand friends Devon and Maryanne, hosted by LA friends Allison, and Steve
This week Jean and James talk about their time at WWDC 2019. Bringing a long-planned project to its conclusion, the LIVE near WWDC concert was well-received. The annoucements from Apple hold promise to make developers and users alike more productive. Also, James is trying out new style of blogging, inspired by Brent Simmons. Jean is making preparations for her trip to Slovenia.
Show Links:
Brent Simmons
My Blogging Setup These Days
James Dempsey
The Shortest Path To A Great App
And in the name of Twitting Quitter:
An evergreen post by Jean MacDonald
A Guide to Micro.blog For People Who Have A Love/Hate Relationship With Twitter
Your trusted system holds commitments you have made to others and also to yourself. From there, you can fulfil your commitment or drop the ball. In this episode, Jean and James talk about a third option—renegotiating your committments.
This episode also represents a renegotiated commitment of its own — shorter episodes for the summer while Jean and James are traveling and not able to record every week.
Plus: Jean gets some Slovenian phrase homework and James mentions the comedic properties of the phrase “Where is my hat?” in French.
James and Jean review their plans for WWDC week in San Jose, and what is still on their to-do lists. James reveals the secret phrase needed to obtain The Weekly Review stickers (hint: just ask!), and Jean talks about efforts not to overthink the Micro.blog meetup.
There are still some tickets left for Live near WWDC. Get yours today to avoid disappointment, because they will sell out before the show on June 5th. We hope to see you there!
If you want to come to the Micro.blog Meetup, here are the details.
This past week, App Camp For Girls announced some difficult news. In this episode, Jean talks about her history as founder of the non-profit and aspects of the program, including the curriculum and volunteers, who have had such an impact on many lives. James describes some of the challenges of producing a big benefit concert with changes being announced just weeks away from the event.
On June 5th, Jean and James will be performing nerdy music in San Jose:
LIVE near WWDC
James explains that the show will go on and other details in this show update:
LIVE near WWDC 2019 Update
So we lasted a whole five weeks since our Emailiversary show (Ep. 52) before we took up the topic of email processing again, probably because it has been a hard week and we are behind on email. Luckily we both have a sense of humor about it.
We also discuss listener follow-up to last week’s episode Whelmed, with a pledge to try a new suggestion as soon as we get unwhelmed after LIVE near WWDC.
Links:
Get $5 off Mailstrom and Chuck (referral link)
Get $5 off Sanebox (referral link)
As the annual James Dempsey and the Breakpoints LIVE near WWDC benefit concert for App Camp For Girls approaches, James reports he has spent the past few days being ‘whelmed’ with show preparations.
Jean and James talk about these sort of times when you are so focused on a set of urgent tasks at hand that you might not look to your trusted system for guidance for a day or two. James wonders if it is okay to operate keeping a finite number of pressing tasks in mind for a short period of time.
Have you been ‘whelmed’ before? If you have tips, tricks, suggestions, or life hacks of how you deal with similar situations, we would love to hear from you on Micro.blog, Twitter or email us!
On June 5th, Jean and James will be performing nerdy music:
Jean returns from a week in Florida with her dad and siblings, where they took on the task of clearing out the home that the family has occupied since 1963. She shares her fresh insights into how to deal with stuff that has sentimental value, how to organize a family photo swap, and the joys of hiring a junk pickup service. Jean also describes the benefits of doing hard work on a project that has an immediate payoff.
Photo: Jean and brother Bob, circa 50 years ago, uncovered in the decluttering.
Jean and James talk with Ish ShaBazz, an app developer whose company Illuminated Bits recently released Capsicum, a new approach to the task management notebook. We learn what led Ish to the idea of building a notebook app, the power of round-trip translation with Boomerang, and how it felt for Ish be featured in the documentary App: The Human Story.
We also find out what the weather was on our birthdays in our respective hometowns in Florida and New Jersey, a nifty little feature of Capsicum’s integration with historical weather information.
Mentioned In This Episode:
Capsicum
Boomerang
App: The Human Story
In this episode Jean and James discuss how finding the right tool or appliance can change your daily routine for the better as well as have a significant effect on your day to day life. Jean tells the story of a hair dryer so good that it has put a bit of a strain on her relationship with her longtime hairdresser. James talks about switching to an electric razer that keeps him from letting his beard grow - eliminating the need for a periodic unpleasant whisker ‘hackathon’. Both describe the tradeoff between the expense of a really nice applicance or tool and how its affects can make your life better over time.
It’s been a whole year since Jean and James started their quest to get their email inboxes under control. Find out how they did over the past twelve months. Jean talks about the satisfaction of banishing marketing emails from her inbox. James reveals the secret little cheat that has kept his inbox from overflowing and steps he is taking to eliminate it. Plus, a bonus Emailiversary greeting card to download.
From all of us, to all of you, a very merry emailiversary!
Emailiversary Greeting Card
Links:
Get $5 off Mailstrom and Chuck (referral link)
Get $5 off Sanebox (referral link)
Jean and James continue to ferret out overlooked inboxes and lists as part of our efforts to make sure that obligations and projects are correctly categorized. This week we look at a common spot where Someday/Maybe dreams hang out: the domain names that we own. We look at a few of the domains for which we have had ambitious if not actionable plans for, and talk about how to make the tough triage decisions.
One of those domains that we are definitely using is livenearwwdc.com, the information central for all things about LIVE Near WWDC 2019, the annual James Dempsey and the Breakpoints benefit show for App Camp For Girls, June 5th in San Jose! Tickets will go on sale soon, and you can be notified first by signing up for our mailing list.
Jean and James celebrate their 50th episode by actually doing full weekly reviews.
The discussion includes recommiting to doing full weekly reviews and techniques to help get back on track. In a celebratory mood, the conversation ranges from including a review of your lofty goals in a weekly review, to some behind-the-scenes podcast production revelations, to dealing with pet poop.
Events during WWDC week (June 3-7) in San Jose, CA:
LIVE near WWDC (Jean and James)
AltConf (James)
Links:
As James continues to identify the points of friction that have hindered regular weekly review completion, Jean looks at doing daily reviews to process all the inboxes that silently accumulate obligations as a way of minimizing the weekly procrastination.
Links:
Get $5 off Mailstrom and Chuck (referral link)
Get $5 off Sanebox (referral link)
Tally, a quick counter app by Agile Tortoise (@agiletortoise on Micro.blog)
Note: Our Twitter handle has changed!
The weekly review is a key piece of keeping your trusted system humming along, but it can also feel like a daunting, onerous task to be avoided. This week James talks with Jean about his diagnosis as to why he has not performed a full weekly review in a while. Topics include the crucial step of clarifying, the difference between unprocessed and work-in-progress items, some thoughts on inbox zero, and rethinking when a project should be actively tracked as opposed to living in the someday / maybe list.
Note: Our Twitter handle has changed!
Now you can find us on Micro.blog and Twitter at the same handle: @theweeklyreview.
This week, Jean tells James about her latest productivity strategy, the micro project, and how she used a repeating 30-minute timer to get ready for the trip and actually leave the house early with all her pre-flight actions checked off. It is amazing how much you can get done in a short amount of time if you prevent yourself from dawdling.
Please take a moment to rate The Weekly Review in the iTunes Store. We really appreciate it!
This week Jean and James discuss collections and the seemingly conflicting goals of accumulating collectables and reducing clutter. Jean describes the few things she collects and how she resists the temptation to begin new collections. James talks about his treasure trove of Disneyland Guidemaps and reveals why it is a practically perfect collection for him in every way. Conversation turns to digital collections and James’ fascination with hotel carpet designs.
Mentioned In This Episode:
Author Jean Stafford
Ann’s Restaurant
Reno Air
James’ visual history of Disney California Adventure:
By definition, curveballs are not anticipated and they don’t fit neatly into your time management system. Last week was not the best week, and we have been working through some unanticpated disruptions to our plans to be productive since then. Turns out, the universe is still not done throwing us curveballs, but we do find a couple of silver linings.
Get $5 off Mailstrom and Chuck (referral link)
Get $5 off Sanebox (referral link)
This week Jean and James discuss those unexpected things in life that can mentally and emotionally knock the wind out of you. James shares the sad news of the sudden passing of his cat Dinah. Jean talks about a long-planned trip being disrupted by a combination of feeling under the weather and temporary dental work.
This week’s episode is in memory of Dinah.
She was such a sweet and beautiful cat and companion.
This week, we look at some principles of budgeting your money and whether these principles can also apply to budgeting your time.
You Need A Budget aka YNAB
YNAB Podcast: Rule One
In this episode, our interpid organizers delve into that alternate dimension that seems to defy organization: the junk drawer. Join Jean and James for suggestions, tips, and laughter as they discuss items ordinary and extraordinary (but mostly ordinary) that they have found in those ever-present drawers that sometimes seem might contain life, the universe and everything.
Have you found something interesting, amusing or astounding in your junk drawer?
Do you have a tip for keeping your junk drawer organized?
We’d love to hear from you on Micro.blog, Twitter or email us!
James and Jean are back from PodCon 2 in Seattle, a gathering of podcasters and podcast fans of all stripes. They share some of the fun moments as well as their tips for getting the most out of a conference.
TripIt
Mac OS Calendar Suggestions
Photo: Rosemary Orchard, David Sparks, James Dempsey, Jean MacDonald, Brent Simmons at the Automators Podcast meetup hosted by the Omni Group.
In this episode, Jean and James talk about those times when organizational fun turns into organizational fatigue. James describes his experience going off the rails of his trusted system while traveling over the holidays. Jean recounts her difficulty establishing daily habits. Jean seeks grace in the new year while James managed to successfully transport a fragile, vintage ukulele cross-country.
We have a special guest this week, Rosemary Orchard, co-author of Build Your OmniFocus Workflow. Rosemary was inspired to create a task management system that worked the way she wanted it to, thanks to by her school experience with planners and a little website called 43 Folders.
Special event! Rosemary and her Automators co-host David Sparks will be attending PodCon in Seattle January 19-20, and they are organizing an Automators meetup. James and Jean will be attending too!
As the new year begins, Jean and James review the model of natural planning described in our favorite personal productivity book. Jean talks about her plan for leaving corporate social media platforms in 2019 and how that will affect how she connects with the people in her life. James talks about a few spots he can get stuck in the planning process and how that affects his ability to get things done. And both Jean and James take a moment acknowledge the magic of the postal system.
As the year 2018 draws to a close, Jean and James decide to take a week off from worrying about the state of their inboxes as they look ahead to plans for the New Year. We look at the efficacy of resolutions and when is really the best time to resolve to do better. (Spoiler alert: January 1st isn’t the best date.) On both of our calendars: to continue doing The Weekly Review Podcast. See you in 2019!
On our 2019 Calendars:
PodCon, January 19-20
dotSwift, January 28
Gallifrey One, February 15-17
LIVE near WWDC, TBD but likely June 2019
In this episode Jean and James reach into the holiday grab bag to see what they will find. Topics include gift wrapping, making your own personal ‘Best of 2018’ list, thoughts on gift exchanges and sharing experiences as opposed to giving things. Plus, Jean closes out 2018 by closing a lingering open loop.
The gift wrapping tutorial mentioned in this episode can be found at:
Gift Wrap Field Guide
Jean and James do a trusted system status review. Are we still keeping in our heads? (Spoiler alert: a few things.) Are we still using our email inboxes as to-do lists? (Spoiler alert: sometimes.) Nevertheless, a weekly podcast is a clear sign that we have built trusted systems that are effective at meeting goals.
Get $5 off Sanebox (referral link)
Get $5 off Mailstrom (referral link)
Jean and James talk about making bigger plans that go beyond keeping on top of the day to day routine. Jean challenges James to a game of twenty questions about a big plan for the coming year. James talks a bit about an upcoming trip to Europe. The conversation ranges from pursuits like learning languages to necessary todo items like renewing a passport.
Do you have any big plans in mind?
Share them with us on Micro.blog, Twitter or email us.
The Weekly Review welcomes its first guest! Aleen Simms, founder of App Launch Map and long-time App Camp For Girls volunteer, has been on the hunt for the perfect to-do list app. She even has a bulleted list of 10 requirements for what she is looking for. Jean and James suggest various ideas and strategies that might help Aleen get the task management life she wants, but we all agree that no app or system fits our needs perfectly.
Listeners, if you have suggestions for Aleen, let us hear them! You can reach us on Micro.blog, Twitter, or via email.
For the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, Jean and James talk about travel tips, flight anxiety, and packing lists. They also tell anecdotes of trips gone awry that show sometimes life can be enjoyable when you don’t reach your destination quite the way you planned.
Do you have any travel tips, hacks or stories?
Share them with us on Micro.blog, Twitter or email us.
James and Jean share little ideas and hacks for making the holidays less stressful. We also take a moment to reflect on what we are thankful for, and it turns out we are very thankful for our favorite software.
Do you have any holiday hacks or productivity gift ideas? Share them with us on Micro.blog, Twitter or email us, and we’ll regift them to the community.
Our Gift Ideas
Kiva.org Gift Cards
Davero Farms and Winery
Brother P-touch Label Maker
What We’re Thankful For
Omni Focus 3
Mailstrom and Chuck
Micro.blog’s Microcasting
… but we are especially thankful for our listeners and all the people who made it possible for us to launch a this podcast.
In this episode Jean and James talk about the capture phase—getting things out of your head and into your trusted system. Topics include capturing commitments with a short timeline, some Siri frustrations, Post-it Notes, and techniques to avoid being mortified when attending the opera. James offers up a fleeting ten dollar word or two. Both Jean and James manage to go an entire episode without mentioning Mailstrom or SaneBox.
Do you have a life-hack for capture you’d like to share?
Let us know on Micro.blog at @theweeklyreview or Twitter at @weeklyreviewfm.
Articles and tools mentioned in this episode:
iMore Article: Siri: The ultimate guide
Do Not Distrub Tool: Parallels Toolbox for Mac
Apple Article: Use Do Not Disturb on your Mac
iMore Article: How to set up and use Do Not Disturb on Mac
(Jean mentioned she uses Parallels Toolbox for Mac for Do Not Disturb. James forgot to mention he uses the built-in option-click on the Notification Center icon in the toolbar to turn on Do Not Disburb.)
Trick or treat? It’s the week of Halloween and a major Apple product announcement, aka two productivity busters. We look at human failure in scheduling and Jean’s epic red wine bottle disaster. There’s no trusted system that can overcome human fallibility, and life sometimes throws you a curve ball that your task management system will not be ready for.
On the productive side, we process some email episode follow-up from last week, including Jean’s discovery of the iOS app Chuck, put out by the Mailstrom folks, for effectively slashing your inbox while mobile.
Our Email Processing Tools
Get $5 off Sanebox (referral link)
Get $5 off Mailstrom (referral link)
In this bonus-length episode Jean and James compare and contrast two services they use to keep their email inboxes manageable: Mailstrom and SaneBox. Each service has its own core ‘superpower’ and philosophy as well as areas where their functionality overlap.
We’d love to hear from you about your experience with these services or other ways you’ve found to manage your inbox. Just mention us in your Micro.blog: @theweeklyreview or on Twitter: @weeklyreviewfm.
Our Email Processing Tools
Get $5 off Sanebox (referral link)
Get $5 off Mailstrom (referral link)
Jean and James trade stories of productivity milestones, as well as tasks they need help with. Jean finally completed her 2017 tax return, with help from PDFpenPro and TurboTax. James is working on an app that he’s not ready to announce yet, and he’s using Sketch to design the interface. We finish up with an extended discussion about how to decide what gets tagged “Next” in our OmniFocus systems.
PDFpenPro
TurboTax
Sketch
What’s The Forecast?
Jean and James discuss that dilemna of the digital age: Use third-party apps or the apps built-in to iOS and macOS? Jean uses a fair number of third-pary apps while James tends to stick to the built-in apps, with a few exceptions. Topics include launchers, timers, clipboard managers, and a shout out to the built-in Reminders app.
We’d love to hear from you about the third-party or built-in apps that you use and what makes them useful to you. Mention us in your Micro.blog: @theweeklyreview or on Twitter: @weeklyreviewfm.
Third-Party Tools We Talked About:
Alfred
Jean and James explore the potential for increased productivity by incorporating RSS feeds into their daily workflows. Jean has been using RSS readers for years while James jumps in with both feet and reports on his experiences. Both are excited by a feature of the RSS service Feedbin that can move email newsletters out of your inbox and into a feed. Also, James makes the biggest faux pas yet in his brief podcasting career.
RSS Tools We Talked About:
Feedbin
Recorded on September 21, the Autumnal Equinox or, as we know it, iPhone Delivery Day. James’s phone was delivered right before we started while Jean’s was still out on a UPS truck circling Portland. We were maybe just a tiny bit distracted. But we do manage to discuss some of the new productivity features in iOS 12, such as Screentime, Shortcuts, and Memoji. (OK, maybe that last one is an anti-productivity example.)
Jean and James share their excitement for the upcoming releases of macOS Mojave and OmniFocus 3 for Mac. James follows up on last week’s calendar discussion with some thoughts on using the Forecast perspective in OmniFocus 3. Jean considers options for finishing her taxes since her longtime accountant has retired. Jean and James assure TurboTax that neither of them have a railway pension.
Listeners: We encourage you to do your weekly review, if you haven’t already. And after you finish your weekly review or if you reach a goal like hitting Inbox Zero, we’d love to hear from you on Micro.blog (@TheWeeklyReview) or Twitter (@WeeklyReviewFM).
Organizational fun begins with the calendar. James and Jean talk about the journey from paper to digital calendars, to iCal on the Mac and the array of choices from third-party developers. We also discuss our approaches to the important question of what things actually belong on a calendar versus what should go into our trusted task management systems. Finally, we look at how sharing a calendar requires one to define even more clearly what is really happening and what is not.
XOXO Festival, Portland, Oregon
Fantastical
BusyCal
WhenWorks
This week James celebrates his one year organizationiversary! Jean and James mark the occassion by swapping stories of garages, cooking, oppresive summer heat, and some thoughts on using your trusted system to help in establishing habits.
This week we take a deep dive into managing a particular type of unwanted email, the many messages we get that are meant for someone else named Jean MacDonald or James Dempsey. This kind of “personal” spam inspires us to brainstorm all kinds of plans to take advantage of the fun life of travel and parties that our doppelgängers enjoy. James dissuades Jean from her potentially felonious idea to fix the problem.
Listeners: We encourage you to do your weekly review, if you haven’t already. And after you finish your weekly review or if you reach a goal like hitting Inbox Zero, we’d love to hear from you on Micro.blog (@TheWeeklyReview) or Twitter (@WeeklyReviewFM).
Our Email Processing Tools
Get $5 off Sanebox (referral link)
Get $5 off Mailstrom (referral link)
In this episode Jean and James recount tales of cross-country relocation and new car purchases spurred on by a desire to avoid DMV-related tasks. Jean continues to rebuild her trusted system from the ground up, while James is reworking his daily and weekly workflow to use the new capabilities of OmniFocus 3.
This week, we talk about the crucial role of laundry as a step in getting back on track after a trip. Jean discovers that “Unpack” doesn’t work as a next action. James shares some insights from the beta of OmniFocus 3 for the Mac. Jean wonders if it’s worth tagging tasks with a duration. And we congratulate listener @agilelisa for hitting Inbox Zero. We need to design some stickers to send out to reward listener milestones!
Recuperation and recommitting is the theme this week. Jean has been under the weather and James has been on an epic roadtrip to the Great White North on a family visit. How do you get yourself back on track when something knocks you off your routine? Can you renegotiate your commitments with yourself so you can move forward without guilt or stress? (Or can you at least get your Star Trek artwork framed so you can hang it in your office?)
Lee Draws 365 Star Trek Scribbles
Jean returns from her trip to Chicago and talks about being on the verge of archiving her Omni Focus database and starting from scratch as part of her initial capture reboot. James spent some time re-reading the book Getting Things Done while travelling to New Brunswick, Canada and describes how it has helped refine his thoughts around his trusted system.
This week Jean reports on re-initializing her trusted system and discovers that processing papers can be more profitable than expected. James describes how he uses deferred items in Omni Focus and talks about planning for an upcoming trip.
This week, Jean reviews her plans and reasons for starting over with GTD. She shares her ideas with James for clearing her calendar to focus on the initial processing of everything in the “inbox” that is her office, while also making space in that office to work. James talks about the importance of having the right equipment and furniture—especially easy-to-use file cabinets.
Following on the conversation from last episode, Jean and James each find themselves mid-way through their weekly review. The discussion of what a weekly review should consist of continues. Jean finds it to be more comprehensive than she has been doing. James finds that very full inboxes can take up almost all of the time alloted for a review.
Listeners: We encourage you to do your weekly review, if you haven’t already. And after you finish your weekly review or if you reach a goal like hitting Inbox Zero, we’d love to hear from you on Micro.blog ([@TheWeeklyReview]) or Twitter (@WeeklyReviewFM).
Prompted by our sad admission that neither of us has done our weekly review this week, we get back to basics and examine what a weekly review should consist of. As we dig into the list of what needs to be done at each review, we recognize our stumbling blocks and strategize how to overcome them.
This week, Jean and James discuss some approaches to keeping the flat surfaces in your home and office from becoming places for clutter to accumulate. We take a virtual look inside Jean’s medicine cabinet and talk about the ‘scan and shred’ approach that has freed James’ kitchen table from being an open-air filing cabinet.
Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500 The scanner James has been happy using.
New York Times Tidy Home Challenge (subscription required)
Listeners: We encourage you to do your weekly review, if you haven’t already. And after you finish your weekly review or if you reach a goal like hitting Inbox Zero, we’d love to hear from you on Micro.blog (@TheWeeklyReview) or Twitter (@WeeklyReviewFM).
This week we reply to our first listener question about processing and batching incoming email. We also catch up on Jean’s ongoing story of making decisions and phone calls to get her car serviced. James talks about how his single share of Disney stock generates a surprising amount of inputs to be processed.
Tires Tires Tires, the story of overcoming writer’s block while getting the car serviced.
Listeners: We encourage you to do your weekly review, if you haven’t already. And after you finish your weekly review or if you reach a goal like hitting Inbox Zero, we’d love to hear from you on Micro.blog (@TheWeeklyReview) or Twitter (@WeeklyReviewFM).
This week Jean and James record out of the studio for the first time. They talk about how their trusted organizational systems held up to the demands of the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in San Jose. Topics include handling an unexpected monkey wrench thrown into the works for the James Dempsey and the Breakpoints LIVE near WWDC 2018 benefit concert for App Camp For Girls, and planning on some time to recuperate and recover after a busy event week like WWDC.
Photos from LIVE near WWDC 2018, courtesy of photographer Adam Tow.
Recorded at the historic McMenamins Edgefield in beautiful Troutdale, Oregon.
Listeners: We encourage you to do your weekly review, if you haven’t already. And after you finish your weekly review or if you reach a goal like hitting Inbox Zero, we’d love to hear from you on Micro.blog (@TheWeeklyReview) or Twitter (@WeeklyReviewFM).
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This week, Jean and James talk about the phone context and how phone calls can be as enticing as a red hot poker to get done. Also, real time problem-solving with Jean and her car’s maintenance.
Listeners: We encourage you to do your weekly review, if you haven’t already. And after you finish your weekly review or if you reach a goal like hitting Inbox Zero, we’d love to hear from you on Micro.blog (@TheWeeklyReview) or Twitter (@WeeklyReviewFM).
Get $5 off Sanebox (referral link)
Get $5 off Mailstrom (referral link)
This week, we celebrate James’s extraordinary accomplishment of reaching Inbox Zero, down from over 100K messages! We talk about the role of the inbox as a temporary waystation for email that needs to be processed, and we share our strategies for processing email. And we can hardly contain our excitement over the release of OmniFocus 3 for iOS.
Mail Act-On by the SmallCubed team
MsgFiler by Adam Tow
OmniFocus 3 for iOS by the OmniGroup team
If you’ll be in San Jose during WWDC week, you’ll find James and Jean performing LIVE near WWDC at the James Dempsey and the Breakpoints benefit concert for App Camp For Girls. Tickets are available at http://livenearwwdc.com . 💃🕺
Congratulations to Eddie Hinkle for hitting Inbox Zero.
Listeners: We encourage you to do your weekly review, if you haven’t already. And after you finish your weekly review or if you reach a goal like hitting Inbox Zero, we’d love to hear from you on Micro.blog (@TheWeeklyReview) or Twitter (@WeeklyReviewFM).
Get $5 off Sanebox (referral link)
Get $5 off Mailstrom (referral link)
This week, Jean and James discuss attempting to bounce back from weeks that turn out far from perfect as well as trying to balance personal accountability with not beating yourself up too much when things don’t go as planned. The conversation moves to identifying the next actionable task in a project and how that can take ‘big rocks’ and turn them into manageable pebbles.
Listeners: We encourage you to do your weekly review, if you haven’t already! And after you finish your weekly review or if you reach a goal like hitting Inbox Zero, we’d love to hear from you on Micro.blog (@TheWeeklyReview) or Twitter (@WeeklyReviewFM).
And if you’ll be in San Jose during WWDC week, you’ll find James and Jean performing LIVE near WWDC at the James Dempsey and the Breakpoints benefit concert for App Camp For Girls. Tickets are available at http://livenearwwdc.com .
This week, James and Jean review their respective crazy weeks (ukulele conference! three nights of nephew wrangling!) and how their task management goals suffered. Progress was made, because we didn’t let ourselves give up and adapted our methods to fit reality.
Listeners: do that weekly review, if you haven’t already! We find it to be a great stress reliever, even when we are way behind on what we are trying to get done.
Going to be in San Jose on June 6? Come out for a fun night of geeky music and support App Camp For Girls at the Seventh Annual LIVE near WWDC show, featuring the inimitable James Dempsey and the Breakpoints! (Jean will be there, as always, playing guitar on a couple of numbers, as well as many of your favorite Mac and iOS developers.) Tickets are on sale now!
This week, James and Jean look at that gaping maw that devours time and motivation that we call email. We’ve tried a couple of tools for clearing out our inbox, and we are pleased with the results.
Have you done your weekly review yet?
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The true test of a system is whether it works when the going gets tough. Our well-planned recording schedule was unexpectedly thrown off when James’s father passed away a few weeks ago. James talks about how having a trusted system and doing weekly reviews helped him keep his focus where it belonged during a stressful time.
Welcome to the first episode of The Weekly Review. Whether you are new to task management or you’ve fallen off the wagon a few times, this podcast is for you.
Once a week, Jean and James review their progress toward a more organized (and less stressful) way of life, and talk about highlights, challenges, and questions. Two friends, who are not productivity gurus, hold each other accountable for sticking to the program and doing that important weekly review.
This week, we review our histories with getting organized and make plans to tackle some of the big projects like email box reduction and home decluttering.
We also debut our fabulous original theme song, The Weekly Review.
🎵 Credits: - 🎼 Composed by James Dempsey - 🎹🎸 Instrumentation and Production by Jonathan Mann - 🎤 Lead Vocals: James Dempsey - 🎤🎤Backup Vocals: Jonathan Mann and Jean MacDonald
On episode three, videos are discussed, with a particular emphasis on the oeuvre of comedy actor Robbie Williams.