I remember years ago, when at DavidCo, Charles Duhigg came out with a book called, “Power of Habit”. I had skimmed through the book, but can’t say I did a deep dive. Now I’m interested to take a closer look.
Just watched him chat with David Allen at the GTD Summit (2019, Amsterdam) where he brings up habits, as it relates to GTD.
David then keyed on Keystone Habits, which was covered in the book. My basic understanding is the keystone habits are habits, if executed consistently, can yield several benefits. I’m sure it’s actually more concise than that.
The two keystone habits that David says he consistently uses are: Inbox Zero and the Weekly Review.
I’m really good at working my email Inboxes (several) to zero, but have had challenges with my physical Inbox. I challenged myself to pull everything out and see what’s in there. Now I have a couple small projects which are basically to file invoices and receipts. The benefit was that I found a bunch of stuff that I had “lost”.
The interesting observation, now that I have a clear Inbox/InTray is a sense of release/calm. I now know that if I place anything in there, it will be easily seen and taken care of.
Weekly Review. Well, that’s one area that I have completely fallen off the wagon. I do have my Weekly Review Checklist, and I’ve captured all the various pieces of paper around my desk. Now it’s just a matter of going through the process of asking, “What is this”, “What’s the Next Action”, etc.
For me, the initial task is to consistently address the Weekly Review. It may take a couple weeks or a month to completely be clear and current, and that’s OK. I’ve observed myself not start something, because I couldn’t see the end in site with a speedy turnaround – that’s not realistic.