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- [00:00]
Claudia
Foreign.
- [00:10]
John
Great to see you all here. Ana Maria thought maybe we'd talk about context some today if you're game for that.
- [00:18]
Ana Maria
I did not. I was invited. It wasn't my idea. I'm responding to a request.
- [00:27]
John
True. Anna Maria is invited because she offers a balance. Sometimes I go into areas and. And she says rail on John, but that's not how I do it. And so she offers a fun counterpoint to me. Well, Anna Maria, are you. Anything you want to say before we get started? And shall I start showing the slide deck or any other context you want to put contexts in?
- [00:56]
Ana Maria
I want to put. I'm going to put context to the contexts. No, nothing other than thank you for joining. Thank you for making the time. Welcome. I don't. I recognize many of the faces. I don't think there are a couple of you that have not seen before. So pleasure to meet you. I'm joining from Colombia from a city, from a place called Retiro, Colombia, which is outside of Medellin. I think most of you are in the US Or Europe, so I happen to be in South America, thanks to technology. It's a very small world. As John gets this light show going, I want to encourage you to continue or to keep up with the informality, in the good sense of the word. I really enjoy this five or seven minutes that we just spent, you know, kind of in an informal, fun way. Not all meetings are. Are meant to be fun or informal or like family. I wanted to say warm and loving, but maybe that's too warm and loving. But truthfully, it felt more like friends and family. So I want to keep that same kind of participation going throughout the. A little less than an hour that we have. It's not a very long webinar in terms of content because we're really magnifying into a very. Into one specific aspect, let's say, of the methodology. So feel free to interrupt, share, add, you know, oppose, ask, doubt, clarify, etc. I think John probably responded to what he certainly sees as discussion on the forums or what he hears from you guys. So we're often wanting or trying to bring up content that it's timely or that it's important and valuable to you, given what's going on in the discussions. So that's kind of the why we chose to talk a little more about context and look at if anything has changed, because maybe nothing has changed. I mean, I was just seeing David show his time design. Right. I used to have a time design once upon a time, too. Why I don't have it anymore is because I moved to digital, but not because anything really changed other than I preferring to have it, you know, in a digital solution. So we'll, we'll explore a little bit on what has changed, if anything. We'll then move into, you know, some myths maybe around context that people have. Maybe you're one of them or not. Sometimes it's interesting how we come up with stuff. So we're going to look at have we. Because there may. May not be true at all or it may be true for you. Right then John and I will share a screenshot of our lists only with the intention to show you how systems can be different, even though they're both a GTD system and perhaps that, you know, help triggers some thoughts or ideas for you. And then obviously Q and A we always kind of have at the end if there weren't any during. So if we happen to be in a very interactive kind of session, we may run out of time and not have the Q and A at the end, but we took them as we went through the presentation. So either or can work for us. Yeah, yeah.
- [04:45]
John
And a little more about what, what prompted me to suggest scheduling. This is. It almost seems like a cyclical thing that happens every few years that somebody will write in to say, what about contexts? I just read David's book, the updated version, and everything's different now. How come he hasn't given an update on what context should be now? Because everything's changed and when we get into specifics, the person says, well, yeah, I guess that that's not that different. That's not that different. So things are often changing and it may be that you're thinking that your contexts should change more than they need to change. So let's, let's get into this and we'll, we'll find out. And I'm hoping that some of you can share some of your real world examples of contexts you've tried, backed away from, tried, and are still using anything else like that. And we're always on the lookout for what's really changing versus what, what some new app is selling you as a change. So here we go. Anna Maria, would you like to read this? For those who are probably listening in a car two weeks from now, we
- [06:05]
Ana Maria
have here a definition for context that we pulled out from the book. So we didn't make it up. You may recognize it. It's actually in the Getting Things Done book. So it's the physical or psychological environment within which reminders and information are most effectively sorted. For access. So it's a pretty straightforward definition which at the same time gives you a lot of room for personalizing it. Right, because it's going to answer to what's your physical or psychological environment that you identify as the best environment, right. For which then to reach for your reminders whenever that's the right time. So in another way of seeing this or understanding this is that we're basically building a system that it's context sorted with the intention of simplifying when it's time to choose to do so. There's a bit of, if you think about it, there's a bit of, I don't want to say second guessing, but there's a bit of during organizing, putting ourselves, you know, at doing, which is the fifth step of mastering your workflow. And organizing is the third step. So when you're organizing your inventories, you're kind of already thinking ahead of what's the right place or the best place for me to get this action done. But that's not going to happen during organizing. It happens during the fifth step, which is engage. Right. So we have to kind of be in that duality. If you want to think about it, when we're organizing, we want to be thinking at the same time. Okay, when it's time to engage, what's that environment that I need to be either physically or psychologically? And we're including both because it is true whenever you're organizing your next actions, before being too quick at deciding on the list or identifying the list, which I often see as an error in approach, we're too quick at jumping from clarify to the list without pausing for a moment and asking ourselves, okay, for this action, let me ask myself, what's the best physical or psychological environment? Maybe this is too wordy, but. But you will need to ask yourself for this next action. Do I need to be home? Do I need to be at the phone? Do I need to be at the staff meeting? Do I need to be out and about? Do I need to be in my office? Do I need to be on my computer? Do I need to be on my laptop? Do I need to be, you know, I don't know, in my, in my beach house? Do I need to be on my weekend home? Do I need to be in a creative state of mind? Do I need to be in a high energy state of mind? Like, let me think about that before I too quickly add it to the list. And just yesterday I was coaching someone and yes, there was an extraction that required the computer for the next Action to have to take place. However, it was more predominant for her to be at home where she has the computer than to just be at the computer, even though it was an action that takes place at the computer. So the way I probe is that I said, well, I understand it has to be at the computer, but I need to keep on checking. Does that mean that even the computer from the airport, if you happen to sit. Sit on a computer at the airport, would that work? Or does it. Is it better if it's the computer when you are at home? She had to think about it for a moment, and it was a much better choice to write the reminder at home than to write the reminder at computer because of what she needed access to in the moment of taking care of the action. So, yes, it required the computer. I get it, but not any computer, but the computer at home. Do you want to get so nitty gritty that then you create a list that says at computer at home? That's probably threading too thin and I would probably coach you away from it as my first reaction. But if I was then continuing to work with you, and I knew you better and knew your inventory, maybe there are 15, 20, or 30 next actions that do require that level of specificity. How do you say that, John? Specificity.
- [10:46]
John
Specificity.
- [10:49]
Ana Maria
That one.
- [10:50]
John
That word?
- [10:50]
Ana Maria
Yes, that word. So again, it's hard to give you a one answer fits all, because it doesn't. What is very important is that you pause and that you ask yourself for this next action. Again, if you want to use these words, that's great. What's the best ideal or more appropriate physical or psychological environment for me to be at? And then you pick and choose.
- [11:18]
John
And when I, when I think of physical, I also think of, in a way, a digital environment. I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday that I've known since forever. And for many years he worked in a highly secure facility that was funded by the Defense Department. And, and I, I said, what happened during COVID Did. Did any of your. Did you get. Get to do any of your work outside the fence? More or less. That's the term he used, was outside the fence. And he said, oh, no, we. We just. We still had to go inside the fence to do anything because the work was so secure that nothing was ever allowed outside the fence. We couldn't even take our phones inside the fence. It was. It was that that much of a context? So for him, there was. At work wouldn't have been enough of a context. He needed a more of like Inside the fence, context versus outside the fence. There was very little of his work he could do on a laptop, even a secure government issued laptop, unless he was inside the fence. Now that's one specific example. I've worked at companies where I could get inside the fence by using a virtual private network and tunneling through the Internet to get inside their fence. But that was a much less secure environment. So you may have very specific things where you need to be with physical files or digital files that require you to be at a certain location. Now, the location could be physically inside that barbed wire fence, or it could be digitally inside a fence by logging into a separate network or something like that. These are the kind of things to ask yourself when you're, as Ana Maria said, organizing your action reminders.
- [13:15]
Ana Maria
And you know, for years we've coached a category known as Read and Review. And we for year coach that there are even categories within Read and review, right? Like Read and Review. For this week at least, you're reading review. I don't know if I'm going to get to read and review, FYI, reading review because there's some people that have a very high volume read and review inventory. And that's really more of a psychological environment because it's not physical. So WhatsApp, for example, these days has taken place over emails for many years. In the past, when I was coaching executive, they had so many emails to write that they wanted it to really separate emails from computer because at computer they would keep more things like spreadsheets or PowerPoints or, or documents or whatever. Emails was a different category to them because they require a different state of mind, let's say, right? So now I'm seeing that being a category that just now we created title WhatsApp. Because a lot happens on WhatsApp. You know, you send messages or even you make calls or what have you. So yes, there has been some changes, no question about that. But it's more in the refinement given either the tools or where we're finding ourselves, but not really in the principles or what holds true as the definition. It continues to be the same definition.
- [14:50]
John
And this was the other thing Ana Maria asked me to add to this slide was that the context sort of lists, simplify choosing what to do. That's the point of all this, is to make it easier for you to choose what to do in the moment. It's not arbitrary or academic or anything like that. When you get to the point where you're in the middle of a busy day and you have 1520 minutes. You want to be able to quickly choose something that you can accomplish without having to go back and rethink what you've already thought about.
- [15:23]
Ana Maria
And I want to remind you that you can always change your mind because remember, when you are organizing, you're kind of giving yourself your best bet in terms of the right quoted category for when engage happens. Right? Because it's step three, organizing, step five, engaging. And maybe you missed call the shot. And when you're engaged, you realize that that actual reminder that you put the computer, it was better had you put it on again at home. At home or vice versa. So always have the freedom to change things around, which obviously it's a huge element of the weekly review. But. But even if you identify it as the wrong, you know, decision using that term, which I'm not too fancy of using, right or wrong, but let's say, oh, you know, I picked the wrong place, whatever, I wasn't thinking straight, or what have you change it right there, right then you can always change the action reminder from one context to another. Obviously, don't abuse it. Don't use that as an excuse to not do, oh, maybe I'll move this one over here now. Well, that same one, I'm going to move it over there now. And you just keep on flipping it. I'm not saying that, but there's some things that sometimes we misidentify the category. So when we, you know, John and I, as we were looking, you know what's really changed over the years? Yes, of course, technology. And I think we've already spoken a little bit about that. You know, there, you may have more tools these days. Maybe in the past you only had a computer. Now you have a desktop, a laptop, a tablet, an iPhone or smartphone. You know, it has just multiplied. Be careful, be sensitive. Also because I always think that sometimes if we give ourselves too many options, we may be using them as hideouts. Meaning when you just create too many lists more than what you really need, you may be setting yourself for failure more so than for success. So be mindful and not really get that to that level of specification, as I was saying before, unless you need it. Like add computer when at home. Okay, but just because you have all these tools, it doesn't mean you have to create a list for each one of these tools. You should only create the list if it answers to the question, is this the best physical or psychological environment for me to then reach the reminder when it's time to engage and then take a pic. But certainly that has Changed, John? I think it's, it hasn't really changed in terms of the technology. It's just the number of different gadgets that we're able to have these days in comparison to before. And particularly if you really love them and you're like an Apple fan, you will buy any, whatever, it's new even though you don't need it. You'll go buy the watch, the iPhone, the tablet, the laptop, the pad, the whatever.
- [18:29]
John
Yeah, I don't have any watch on. I saw somebody doing email on a watch the other day. Which leads me into my next thing about computers. Tablets, smartphones, smaller mobile devices have been around for a long time and having access to your stuff on those devices has increased over the years. The thing that I find is that people miss an opportunity with contexts because they think that just because they can do something on any device that it's okay to have a context that they look at when they're on that device. I really question that. Maybe I'm just working on bigger spreadsheets than some of those people who are wearing a watch, but I would not want to work on a, on a detailed spreadsheet on a watch or a phone. I want a big screen. I want an IMAX size screen when I'm working on a spreadsheet. And I want a big screen and a lot of real estate. I, I would feel like I was wearing a straight jacket if I had to do any kind of spreadsheet work, even on a, on a phone. It's, it. This is too small a screen for me to, to do that. So think about not just what can you do, but what's the optimal place for you to do that.
- [19:51]
Claudia
Yeah, John, that's, that's really interesting because in this whole discussion that always goes on about the at computer versus, you know, well, I can do that anywhere. You could. You can treat that, that context as a limiting factor. Say, you know, these at computer, those are the things I only want to do when I'm at my computer. I can do it on the train, on my phone, but I'm choosing to limit the parameters within which I'm going to engage with those tasks because it's just better for me psychologically not to be constantly having blurred edges between different things. And that thing about the watch, I, I had a meeting with a guy a couple of weeks ago and he was, he was sitting opposite me and he was sitting like his watch was facing, this is not smartwatch. His watch was facing me and that watch was going off every 20 seconds and and I'm thinking, man, I don't know how I could work like that with, with something. And he was buzzing and vibrating on his wrist and he was looking at it. So, you know that distraction factor.
- [21:01]
John
Yeah. Even if it's not distracting him, it was distracting you.
- [21:05]
Claudia
Well, I, I zoned it out because I thought it's not my watch, it's his problem, whatever, whatever's going on in there.
- [21:10]
John
Yeah,
- [21:13]
Claudia
you know, if that was me, I couldn't work.
- [21:15]
John
Yeah, well, let's see, I wanted to mention, Jeremy said that the just an AT computer list has become less helpful for him because so many things can be done on a computer. It needs to be more, more well defined than just AT computer. And Ridwan, I see you have something to say too.
- [21:36]
Ridwan
Oh, yes, yes, yes, I do, yeah. So, you know, like, few months ago, like few months ago, I created a context called as admin. I don't know how I came about with this particular context. I just assumed that, you know, maybe I've got to update some spec sheets and I've got to do some sort of, you know, like CRM updates and things like that. So I thought I'll just, you know, like create an admin, sort of, you know, the context and start populating the list. And it's been like, you know, a few months now and I have stopped, you know, like, you know, like I've stopped going with that context and now I don't know what kind of activities would be, you know, like classed as an admin sort of, you know, you know, like actions. So I think, you know, like, basically like I just wanted to share that sometimes, you know, like we actually create context with some good intentions and I guess, you know, like down the line it might just not go anywhere I suppose.
- [22:39]
Ariane
Can I add just a comment as well? I guess I've had added context try to subdivide the computer list and I always go back to just having a computer list. And my only difference is I have a computer, like my work computer and my personal computer. And that's enough differentiation for me because. Yeah, I think. Read one. I've also had, I think an admin list once, an email list once, but I found that those contacts would distract me from actually, well, what do I need to do for this? I'm from a computer and I just wanted to see the things that I'm able to do at the computer and I will decide if it's going to be an email or it's going to be a spreadsheet. I have to Work on. So, yeah,
- [23:35]
Ana Maria
you may all remember perhaps, but a lot of it, Ariane and I agree with what you just shared. A lot of what drives having more or less context is going to be volume, but also the fact that we can get actions done away from what only used to be one location, let's say office, right? So as soon as you are able to have more than one context, whether in which you can get an action done, as in, for example, when cell phones came to the marketplace, that started changing things because first you could only do calls from work, but now that you have the cell phone, well, it kind of made sense to then create a list that would allow me to group everything that had to that could be done with a phone. Right. Because now my phone was not just subject to me being in the office and so forth. Right. So that's how sort of the origins of why we started adding or needing or choosing to have context. Because truth is. And I'm kind of jumping ahead, but I'll come back to this slide. You don't have to move this slide, John, because truth is, Ariana, that one could do with one next action.
- [24:51]
Ridwan
Swiss.
- [24:52]
Ana Maria
There is nothing incorrect with that. And particularly, let's say if we're having a digital solution, it alphabetizes for us. So very quickly we put all action reminders that start with the verb call or group together all action reminders that start with the world search online, however you create that. So in a way you just created context within the next actions list. But as the volume increases, it just becomes cumbersome because we have to scroll up and down. So it's a convenience factor. It's not an obligation factor, it's more a convenience factor. And it's perfectly fine for us to. Like you did, Ariane. Well, you know, I created this list and that list and then I realized it wasn't working for me because then I was missing out on other things. Right? And that's exactly why I refer to as the hideouts. That's why I'm very particular about what's the right number versus the wrong number, when it's too many, when it's, if anything, always error for less. I would say if you were to corner me and say, well, where should I error? What should I error for? Right? Well, always error for less number of list titles than for more number of list titles, because you just testified to that idea and it's extremely dangerous because then it's easy to put that over there and then not look at it. Right? Because then it's so Much easier to look at emails because they give me an immediate payoff. That's why we serve Instagram. Right. It's an immediate payoff. So and then that way I have to look at, you know, updating the spreadsheet because it's a lot of work. So we're funny that way. So if anything, I will go always let us error for less number of lists than for more number of lists. But again, volume is a huge factor.
- [26:37]
Unnamed Participant
Yeah. So I like what Ana Maria just was sharing about. Less context. And you know, because I think I tend to be like that. I have, you know, an errands list and maybe a calls list I do have waiting for. But then everything else is kind of on my, you know, it's all online basically. I might have an. I do have an at home though there are things that I can only do at home that don't involve the computer. But the point is with that online list, it can get long. And to me, I don't know that this is, I feel like this is anti gtt, but I feel like I want to look.
- [27:18]
Ana Maria
You can confess, we'll edit the recording.
- [27:25]
Unnamed Participant
I want to look at that long list when I'm doing my weekly review and looking ahead to the week coming up and say, okay, when am I going to do these things? And maybe I'm only going to do, you know, maybe there I have 50 things, I'm going to pick 10 or whatever. But so, and then I kind of feel like the context is. It's almost like when, like this week I'm going to tackle these things. And then every day I think, okay, I see that list and what am I going to pull from? So I don't know how you think about it.
- [27:58]
Ana Maria
It's not anti Claudia, because remember, when we look at prioritizing, we look at the four criteria for prioritizing. The first one, whether we like it or not, is context alluding to the fact of where is my body? Because if your body ain't in the right place, you can look at that list. Is that basic? Right? But then it comes time. How much time do I need? And you can kind of do time backslash date if you want to kind of, you know, be anti GTD in that way. I mean, I get it. And I'll tell you the, what I see as the danger with that strategy. Okay. And then you have energy, which is, you know, any. It can be interpreted anywhere from low energy to high energy, state of mind, mood, whatever words you want to put. Put on around that. Right. That has never worked for me because. But for some people it does, right? Like I feel in creative, when I'm up, when I'm down, whatever. And then you prioritize. So kind of as you're doing your weekly review and you kind of coming to terms with yourself because again, if we're fooling someone, we're only fooling but ourselves, right? So when we do our weekly review and you go look, I don't think 50 Cloud, come on, give me a break. You know you're not going to look at the 50 throughout the week. Come on, girl, you know yourself better than that. Let's make a sub list of this list and let's give it a try and let's give it a try and call it an online for this week. And then you kind of pick and choose and then you test it and you see how it works for you. Because what's. And then if by the end of the week it didn't work out, then you know it wasn't a great solution. Because unfortunately what that solution is not taken into account. It's doing work as it appears, which is part of the threefold nature of work where we talk about prioritizing. That's why prioritizing is so complex. Yes, of course. When I'm doing my weekly review, I feel that I'm going to tackle these 10 things during this week. I mean, come on, why not? They're very important. You know what you have for all the right reasons. Right? But then the world as we know goes upside down, it does its thing and then you don't get to them. So be careful. That, that's the, that's the one danger I see for it. This is why GTD for as structured as it looks, it provides a lot of freedom because it's never designed to tell you, you know, when to do it. Unless of course, it's a day specific action or a day specific reminder in that place it goes on the calendar. So it gives you a lot of freedom. So an in between, let's say option if I was coaching you to give it a try because there's nothing better than giving it a try and then coming back and deciding what's better or not. You can call it at online for this week, question mark. I'm not cheating by doing that. That's where I was looking. You're just really just giving yourself a chance. You're going to give it your best shot. You have, you have all, you know, the, the right elements in place. But things could, can change. So don't make it too black or white. I'm just trying to give you some gray. Okay? If a week goes by and another week goes by and you go, come on, Claudia, you're beginning to do some cheating here. You know, grow up and. And call this thing by the right name, then you put it in a different list, and maybe you're gonna have to start thinking, rethinking about this online. It might just not be giving you what you need, because it might just be it's growing too much. And as I said, that's a good answer for identifying additional context if needed. I find for me, for an Amaria. I'm not going to say it's true for everyone else, but if my list gets longer than a screen full, like if I have to scroll too much up or down, that's already too long. And it might be an opportunity for me to then think further or deeper on what's a better category or a better context. It's just a guideline. I'm not saying it's in the book or it's written anywhere. Just find for yourself, Claudia. Maybe you say, you know, for me, it's more than 20. When I hit 20, that's kind of my number. Let me think of a better place then and try it out.
- [32:26]
Unnamed Participant
That's great.
- [32:26]
Ana Maria
Yep.
- [32:28]
John
Very good. Thank you all for being on with us. Thank you, Ana Maria, for helping to balance me out in this, and really appreciate the contributions from all of you. You all added so much with your comments and specific examples about how you're applying contexts. So thank you.
- [32:49]
Ana Maria
Thank you, John, as always, for inviting me. It's always fun for me to come and chat with you and spend time with you and, I don't know, figure out what crazy thing I'm gonna say or not say, but hopefully it's helpful. Thank you very much to you all and stay safe. Thanks. Thank you. You too.
- [33:09]
Claudia
Thank you.
- [33:09]
Ana Maria
Take care, guys. Bye. Bye. Hey, I love the crazy.
- [33:14]
John
And that's my favorite part, so never stop.
- [33:19]
Ana Maria
Take care. Bye. Bye. Take care.
- [33:21]
John
Absolutely.
- [33:21]
Claudia
Thanks.
- [33:22]
Ridwan
Bye.
- [33:22]
Ana Maria
Bye.
- [33:22]
Ridwan
Bye.
- [33:32]
Ana Maria
Sa.