Re[6]: OT sidetracked sisters

Hello Teri,

Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 3:24:05 PM, you wrote:

> Sounds like Life Balance would be perfect for this ;) I did the
> Sidetracked Sisters box years ago, still have it. It is a nice, analog
> way to track routine and not so routine tasks. GTD is very good for
> some things but short on how to deal with housework.

I tried LB years ago but I did not like it. I forget exactly what the terms are so I might have this wrong but you had to set it up so that things would come up at the right time, using its fuzzy logic. That meant I could not depend on if I would be doing it in the right way to make the things come up at the right time. Of course it could be totally different now.

In the updated SHE book, the sisters talk about using their system on the computer. They use Lotus Notes as an example. (Book is 2001.) I posted on their forum recently about if people were using a computer for the system, but all comments but one focused on using the analog method. One person mentioned using Outlook etc but did not give any details.

I am now reading their Happiness File book. It is not about housework. It is about other aspects of your life. For example, they are going into stuff like "immediate action" cards that could be things like calling people or getting something at a store. (For Mike.. no it is not context related :-) They even have a thing for new years resolutions.. well they don't do them that way. They list everything they want to change and then stick the items in appropriate places in their box. I am not describing it very well... that doesn't sound like it would be that helpful from my description. It is a way to better your life unlike resolutions that only last until Jan 9. One example is one of them needed to return a punch bowl, but they wrote it down to do it in June. The author said you might find that strange.. why are you waiting until June?? She figured if the person had waited 4 years for the bowl, another 8 months was not going to matter :-) The point was.. do the things that are more important first. (I would still think it is not that much effort to return the bowl when you are driving by the person's house anyway but maybe she didn't know where she had stashed the bowl :-) 

I am now reading the section where each month has a different focus such as January is clearing and February is romance. In the clearing section you are supposed to look at each item you see in your house and think about it. For example, when she looked at her china she realized she had never liked it. She got it because her mom and her sister had liked it. She had spent 20 years dusting china she hated. So she gave the pieces to her sister and mom, and then got herself china she actually liked. She told an example of a participant in their seminar who did not think the clearing would apply to him. He lived in a house he was trying to remodel. No appliances etc. With bare walls etc what could there be to clear? They agreed he was probably right. When he stood at his front door, he realized he did not want to live in the house, or even in the city he was living in.

-- 
Brenda