How To Keep Your Family Organised Every Day #74

0:00:06.2 Robert Peake: Hello everyone, welcome again to another Change Your Game with GTD podcast. My name is Robert Peake. I'm here once again with Todd Brown.

0:00:15.2 Todd Brown: Hello everyone.

0:00:15.2 RP: And today we have a special guest as well. We have Sandhi Master who's head of training for a very large financial company. Sandhi, great to have you here.

0:00:25.4 Sandhi Master: Very happy to be here. Thank you so much for having me.

0:00:29.4 RP: Absolutely. I'm looking forward to it. The purpose of this podcast, as many of our long time listeners will know, is to help you understand principles and practices that may allow you to get more done with less stress in our busy and interesting times that we live in. Do this primarily through drawing out principles from the Getting Things Done or GTD methodology. And Sandhi, you're a long time practitioner of this methodology, teacher of this methodology. And so it's just great to have you here and have your unique perspective on GTD and on how it applies to your unique circumstances. So we'd love to just hear kind of just to start off how you came to GTD. What attracted you about the Getting Things Done methodology in particular?

0:01:23.2 SM: Circumstances. That's the short answer. Circumstances. The exact point was hyperventilation every evening when I had to go pick up my son who was at that time one year old. And one of my colleagues said, well, have you heard about GTD? That could possibly help you with that stress. And that was literally what was said. And that was the point where I realized I always felt I was very organized, but the stress was still there. And that circumstance of I need to do something to take away the stress of my day-to-day got me to GTD and spoke with my colleague. She gave me a lot of good insights. And I was like, this is something I should explore.

0:02:11.4 RP: Amazing. So really that, and you're ventilating normally now, I can tell you.

0:02:16.0 SM: Yes, I am.

0:02:17.5 RP: Your breathing seems to be rather regular at the moment. Obviously it works. Those of you that want to breathe easier. Yes.

0:02:25.1 SM: It does. It does.

0:02:26.6 TB: And I'm curious, Sandhi, as I think about, and you and I of course work together on your certification to become a trainer. I'm curious sort of what was the, after the initial benefits that you sort of started to realize around the methodology, what was it that sort of tipped you over from, yeah, this has got real benefits for me and it seems to be making a difference to, I'd really like to help my organization more broadly to reap the benefits of GTD. What was that sort of process like for you?

0:03:01.8 SM: First was just taking what worked for me initially. I didn't wanna change the world straight away. Took few things that worked, saw the impact, started with personal life. I would be very honest about it just to see. And then I started seeing impact on my work life that I could say no to the things, knowing that I'm saying no to the things and not feel bad about it. Also managing more with less time. I felt that was quite critical. One example I could, I could share was there was a moment in time I was doing a certification, external certification. I was up for promotion in my organization and I had a toddler, a two-year-old. So you can imagine all these factors compared to other things is quite a lot and very overwhelming. And GTD came to my rescue. I knew exactly when I wanted to study. I knew exactly what I needed to do at work. It wasn't just left to chance. It was less to, it was left to strategy, intentionality and control. So that's how it helped me.

0:04:11.0 SM: So if you ask me that period where most of the people would have been, this is too much, I can't handle it. It was, now I've given enough time to each of these sections to not feel bad, have a balance. And not only did I get promoted, I was able to manage a toddler with mostly smiles all around and get the certification within the time. Because I had other colleagues who were doing the same certification, for example, and they couldn't do it because there was just too much with the work and certification and other aspects of life. So I felt that's one way I could balance everything.

0:04:49.6 TB: And so if I've heard you right, the strategy, I love that trilogy there, that sort of a trinity of strategy, intentionality and control. And as I'm hearing you describe that, I think one of the things, one of the points that you're making is something that we talk a lot about in the work, which is the fact that ultimately the work that we do in getting things done and the methodology helps in both your personal life and your professional life. And you've already talked about that. And it sort of brings me back to the definition that we quite often quote about what work is. What is work? And if you asked David Allen, the author of Getting Things Done, David would tell you, look, work is anything in your life that isn't the way you want it to be. That's work.

0:05:37.1 TB: And of course, if you use that lens to view your life through, then what you're finding is, yeah, there are things that I get paid for, that are professional responsibilities. But there are also things that have to do with managing a two-year-old. And anyone who's had a two-year-old will probably say, yeah, I would certainly say that's a bigger challenge than managing a team in many ways. So I guess what that leads me to as a question is, any other insights that you have about how GTD enhances your ability to achieve and maintain that balance that you're talking about there?

0:06:16.6 SM: I'd say the first thing is clarity of thought, just being clear in your thinking. And one of my favorite things to do is a mind sweep. Doesn't matter whether I'm flying to a destination, whether I'm at home, whether it's a Sunday afternoon and I'm feeling overwhelmed about Monday, whether it's work, which is a week like this week, where there was just back-to-back sessions, conversations, it just helps with clarity in your mind. I think second is decision-making. Because your mind is so clear, the decision-making process is, again, not overwhelming. It does not tire you. You can think in the moment and you know you're making the right decision or creating the right content or your present in general.

0:07:03.3 SM: So I think that's the second part for me that really stands out. And third is just weekly review. I never let go of weekly review, even if it is just sitting down by myself, even if I don't have my technology around me. I need that moment, whether it's 10 minutes, half an hour, one hour, whatever it is, I will take it because I know that has a huge impact on the week that's coming up, the weekend that's coming up. It's so critical. And I'll give you a small example. A mini weekly review that happens every day in our house is on the way back from work when I pick my kids up. And if my husband's walking with me, I always ask, so who's picking the kids next day? It's a simple thing. It's a two-minute thing. But that two-minute thing has a huge impact during the morning routine. One day, I didn't ask that question. The morning was chaos. So it's simple things, simple ways of putting that in your day-to-day, and it has a bigger impact on what's coming up next.

0:08:11.4 SM: Same with teams. So I have a big team that I manage. Even if I'm there for a 30-minute in-person or virtual conversation with my team as a check-in, I'm there. I'm not distracted. I'm not focusing on phone or emails in the background. And that 30-minute is quite rich from a quality perspective. So it helps you from a quality-quantity perspective as well. And one of my recent direct reports who's joined the organization said, but you're always on top of everything. In my mind, I'm thinking, yes, because I've seen all my emails. I know what's going on. I have an Excel which gives me insights into where everybody's at. So it's just good to hear that from the environment as well. So there are a few things to answer your question, Todd.

0:09:00.9 RP: Lots of great stuff there. You mentioned the weekly review, and you mentioned it with a smile on your face. I get the sense that you look forward to, if not the review, the benefits from the review. It's something that a lot of people fairly new to GTD struggle with for one reason or another. And I loved the way the little example you gave of a kind of mini-moment of review was just casting your mind ahead to what's coming my way and how can I be prepared for that. And I think a lot of people think that the weekly review has to be a big, cumbersome process. They feel like, oh gosh, I've got to take time away from my day to do this. So I love the way that it feels like reviewing and that idea of kind of it as a way to be kind to your future self has become more ingrained in what you do. Any tips for people struggling with the weekly review to help make them feel like it's more something to look forward to rather than something that they ought to do that takes time?

0:10:10.4 SM: That's the first thing I would say. It does not take a lot of time. It's not rigid. It's very flexible. So if it is 15 minutes you get utilize that 15 minutes. You could be on the train. You could be walking home, hopefully safely. You could be just having a moment where your meeting got canceled, which was in your calendar. And now all of a sudden you have some time, which sometimes happens. It's not time consuming and it is not rigid. That's my first ask for people to keep in mind. And the third I would say is if it feels like it's boring for yourself, do that with someone else. Partner up with a colleague, someone at home. I recently started with my son, who's now nine, where we say, oh, what's coming up next week? What's happening next weekend? So we visually put something in our kitchen, which shows what's up ahead in the week. Things like when am I traveling? And he knows. When is a birthday party for his friend? He knows. So you could pair up with someone who just increases the energy.

0:11:17.9 SM: And building a habit would be my last comment about it. It is quite fun. It is quite fun. You can give yourself a reward at the end of the day, whether it's your favorite muffin, your cup of coffee, or if it's a Friday, a beverage of your choice. So there are a lot of ways of incorporating that. One example I could share from a colleague, what they do is they travel a lot. So they do their reviews on planes at the airport and they reach the airport. They're looking forward to it. Like as soon as I can be done with this, I can focus on my journey. So that just works for them. You can customize it to what works for your lifestyle.

0:12:00.9 TB: I think that's interesting. And it takes me to the, as a reminder, one of the things I've always found, particularly in the coaching that I've done over the years, is that a test of somebody's organizational system, a really good test is, can they do a weekly review on the road? And if the answer is yes, that's a really good indication that they probably have got a system that's in good shape. A lot of people don't. And if you've got an awful lot of paper and you're reliant on physical files, that's a limitation because the files, you're probably not going to carry all of them with you. That's not good or bad. It's just one thing to consider as you're thinking about how you put your system together. I'm curious, as you think about your own system, are there any particular tools, design elements with the information architecture of it? What works for you particularly well in your own system?

0:13:01.5 SM: I keep it simple. Technology is quite complicated right now. There's a lot of options. And I think simplifying technology for your day-to-day is quite important. Within the organization, the tools that we have are quite common. Everybody uses them. My favorite is Outlook. Everything is on Outlook. If it's work related, it has to be on my Outlook, including my notes. I think a lot of times we undermine how you take notes. Where is that information available? Everything is on Outlook. In fact, everything is on my calendar, so I can access it on the go as well. So for work, it's Outlook. The second thing at work, which would be project related, I love an Excel sheet. It's simple. It's easy. You can access it pretty much everywhere now there are tools available. So that's what works for work.

0:13:54.2 SM: Outside of work, I would say there are three things. One is just family calendar, which we've now created digitally available to everyone. And there is a home list, which could be shared between the family members, which again, helps a lot. And third, that's the only physical aspect of the system that I have right now, is an entry at home with anything that is physical papers that are coming up, invitations that are coming up. That's where it gets connected. And we've ingrained it in our home in so much that even when my son gets something, he knows where it goes now, put it where it belongs. So it is quite simple. We keep it simple. Because the moment I need to change, that means I need to look at it holistically and the impact that it will have on other aspects as well. One thing I've really noticed from pandemic to right now is the hybrid working. I felt there was a challenge there in terms of note taking or not having information that I need if I'm in the office and vice versa. I've been able to adjust that just using the tools that I have, like Outlook, and that works quite well.

0:15:07.6 RP: This is great. It's really lovely to hear not only your perspective, but just your sense of enthusiasm about all of this. And the time is flying by. But I'm very curious because I think a lot of people who get GTD, who are parents, are really keen to impart at least some of the benefit they've received to the next generation and to their kids. And when I heard you sort of talking about, hey, let's look together at what's coming in the week ahead. And I got this sense of being able to impart some enthusiasm for being prepared or some enthusiasm for how good it feels to be sort of well organized and thinking about your future self in ways that are gonna support you with the next things that are coming. So what's your secret? What are your tips for people that want to get their kids, not only doing some of this, but maybe enthusiastic about the benefits of doing some of this?

0:16:04.7 SM: It starts with whether it works for you, because it shows. Good thing about being around kids is that if they see you enjoying it, they will naturally pick it up at one point or the other. And you need to know your child really well. So I know for my son, I can't talk about my daughter yet. She's only three. So we'll start her journey soon, but not yet. But with him, I felt just simple things, parts of GTD I could introduce. So here are three examples. He always likes his Christmas list and starts it in January, which is great because it's all captured in one place. He knows it's there. And if someone needs an idea, that's the place he goes to. Brilliant. He's reaching that age and stage where there's a lot going on, as you can imagine, being nine and there's so much information. Once he saw me doing a mind sweep, he didn't know it was a mind sweep, but I was just writing. And he's like, what you're writing? Like, I'm just writing everything that's popping in my head. He's like, can I do that? Be my guest.

0:17:09.2 SM: So he sat down and he just wrote down everything that was on his mind. It was primarily Legos and Pokemon, but that's alright. We're not talking about the quality, we're just talking about what's on his mind. And the third thing is just being prepared for the next day. So just getting him into the habit of what's coming up next day. Is it a sports day? Is it that he needs to do art at school? Is there something that he needs to prepare? So we would think about it every day around seven o'clock. And in the morning, you're just like, nope, got it. Nope, got it. Now I know where everything is. So just preparing for the next day. And that works for him as a child. Also taking away some of that friction between parents and kids when a parent is traveling or not there. Heads up. That's just prep. That's your weekly review. That's a monthly review that I know I will tell him, we will tell him that, oh, someone's visiting us, or I'm going to go on a trip, but I'll be back in three days. It's small little bits that we can take that we can introduce to them. And my favorite, which I kept for last was two minutes.

0:18:16.9 SM: So there's a lot of whining that happens. So a lot of times we pointed out the time that you will take to whine, you would have finished this already. Does that work all the time? No. But does that work sometimes? Absolutely. And I will take those wins. And there are small little ways like this that I have started incorporating in his day-to-day. So it's fun for him as well. Like he will think about his friend's birthdays and look it on the calendar. Oh, it's a birthday. Do we have the gift? Have you wrapped it? Thinking that proactively so that the mind doesn't feel overwhelmed.

0:18:54.6 TB: I am absolutely loving the idea of the alternative. The alternative is two minutes of action or a two-minute whine. I'm gonna start to use that in all of my professional interactions as well. I think that's a great takeaway from our conversation today. Robert, I'm afraid we're getting close to the end.

0:19:13.5 RP: We are running out of time. I could just talk about this stuff all day with you, Sandhi. Thank you so much. And one of my realizations is that as a kid, the Christmas wish list is the ultimate being kind to your future self, isn't it? So it's just great to think about there's so many things in life to look forward to being prepared to do. It's such a wonderful angle on all of this. Those of you listening, if you've enjoyed this angle, this particular slice of GTD in action, we do do this as a regular podcast. So be sure to like and subscribe to all of that. If you'd like to hear more from us in terms of how we support people in taking GTD to their next level through individual coaching and seminars and the various things we do, we're at next-action.co.uk. But more than anything, I just wanna thank, of course, you, Todd, always, but Sandhi in particular. Thank you for being here, for sharing such wonderful, fresh insights about how GTD can help you and people in your situation and all of us to kind of have that enthusiasm of being sort of ready for anything and prepared. It's just great. So from me, from Todd, from all of us, thank you for listening and we'll see you next time.

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