Deliverable

I know that it’s valuable to track my weekly goals here on the blog, but I struggle with the best way to do so. I’ve found a successful way to capture the day to day tasks via my GTD contextual lists (@Calls/Emails, @Household, @Shopping & Errands, @Someday/Maybe, etc.). I’ve also set up a couple of mobile folders that I keep with me to hold my project list, open loops, project notes, etc. All good stuff. What I’ve not figured out yet though is a way to tackle the “Bigger Picture” things (The book, songwriting, acting, practicing, etc.).

What I am beginning to understand though is the difference between “Next Actions” and “Projects”. David Allen
defines a project as “Any outcome you’re committed to achieving that will take more than one action step to complete.”. It’s helpful for me to think in these terms as I try to get a handle on the various things in my “Open Loops” list (especially the “Bigger Picture” items and especially “Practicing”…).

“Practice guitar” is a next action. “Practice guitar consistently” clarifies the frequency of that next action. Neither of these is a project. They are not the “outcome that I am committed to achieving that takes more than one action step to complete.” They are the action steps.

What then is the project for which “practice guitar (consistently)” is the next action?

There are a couple of ways to think about this. One is to set the goal of being able to make an accurate statement. For example:

• “I want to be able to make the following accurate statement this Sunday: I practiced guitar a minimum of 10 minutes a day this past Monday thru Friday”

This frames my practice in terms of a clear and achievable goal. When presented with the question “Did you practice guitar a minimum of 10 minutes a day this past Monday thru Friday?” I can answer with a simple Yes or No. This is effective for as far as it goes, but I need to look further.

If I create tangible “Projects” for the guitar (tangible outcomes that I’m committed to achieving) then my chance of success increases exponentially. What I’m leaning towards is creating specific measurable projects for each of the instruments that I’m committed to studying. For example, on guitar my first “project” will be to map out the notes on the first 7 frets. (To be able to successfully play an “F” anywhere on the first 7 frets… and all the other notes… if asked to.) Another project would be “To be able to play specific songs starting on any note”.

These things are measurable, tangible and specific. These are the things I’ll spend my minimum of ten minutes a day Monday thru Friday doing. I’m not sure yet if it’s necessary to track the “what” of my practice here on a weekly basis. I’m leaning towards tracking the big picture “Did you practice (or work on your book, or write songs, etc….)” items here, and leave the “what I did” details to my paper based lists. It’ll probably be easier to keep the weekly goals simple, and then cover the specifics of what I did in some type of wrap up at the end of the week. We’ll see how that goes.

I think this will work for practicing, but what about the 400 lb gorilla (the book) that I seem to go out of my way to dance around? I suspect that the same methodology will work for tackling the book. Lay out achievable time based goals at the beginning of the week, and leave the specifics to the lists. Things change… the “what” of your daily work will fluctuate. At this point on the book I think my main goal needs to be “Brainstorm and organize my notes”. The brainstorming will reveal what my next actions need to be. I’ll make a broad stroke of “work on the book for a minimum of “x” amount of time” and let the details work themselves out.

Surely more will follow as I figure more out!

Goals:
Purchase a folding box for all of my book materials. complete
I ended up going with a plastic file box. I purchased a package of folding boxes as well, but I’m going to take those back I think, though perhaps not. They might come in handy down the road. We’ll see.

“I practiced guitar a minimum of 10 minutes a day this past Monday thru Friday.”
• “I practiced bass a minimum of 10 minutes a day this past Monday thru Friday.”
• “I practiced trombone a minimum of 10 minutes a day this past Wednesday thru Friday.”

All of the above statements are accurate, with the following exceptions: I didn’t practice bass on Friday. The .jpg below captures my actual times. Thursday’s practice isn’t captured, because I did my trombone & guitar practice at school, and practiced my bass late Thursday night but didn’t log it. I’m trying not to get to hung up on the logging of my time… just the consistency.

• “I worked on my book a minimum of 30 minutes on Wednesday & Friday.

I didn’t work on the book during the week at all, but ended up spending a good chunk of time working on it on Saturday… maybe a couple of hours? (A million thanks to M. for her help with this!!!) We made significant progress and came up with an outline that think is going to be immensely helpful. I know that I feel like a big weight has been lifted. I think that you’ll see more “book related” posts in the coming weeks to be sure.

Here’s the things I wanted to do this past week.

My sleep goals were a bit of a wash this week. I think the stress of the Thursday audition was throwing me off but that’s probably a cop-out.

I didn’t sing as much as I would have liked this past week, though I did sing… Monday, Tuesday were 30 minutes proper. Thursday & Saturday I did a twenty minute vocal warm up for my auditions. Also on the days that I didn’t play guitar for 30 minutes I started the day with 10 minutes of playing. Sort of a nod the the creative powers that be. Not sure if I’m going to make this a ritual yet, but I might.

Lot of acting things happening this past week. Auditioned once with my monologue. Got called back and read 4 scenes from sides. Also tried to go to an audition on Sunday that was a wash, but I’m happy that I did drag myself out and at least make the attempt. Oh, and I finally made my sock puppet.

I made a little progress on the book on Wednesday. Worked with the layout of the r-grams. Here classes start in a week and basically I’m screwed. I must absolutely get something done this week on it.

Thoughts? Feelings? Impressions? Frankly I need to get my day going here so I’ll leave it with what you see above.

I feel uneven about last weeks tasks. I feel like I could have pushed myself more on my going to bed / getting up times. There were a couple of days that I didn’t meet my “wake up” goals at all (Friday & Sunday). I guess the whole point of tracking when I get up is to honor self promises. To do what I say I’m going to do. There is definitely progress so I’m not going to dwell on it too much. I just want to be vigilant while I’m trying to make these new things a habit.

I had a bit of an unfocused day on Sunday, though I eventually made something out of it. The good news about this past week (and also the cause of the stressed unfocused day on Sunday, ironically) was that I now have an audition coming up this Thursday. It’ll be my first. I have a lot of work to do these next three days to get ready for it. I’m going to do the best that I can and just use it as a learning experience.

The other couple of things I didn’t get to this past week were my dance class and my artist date. I knew going into the week that both might be issues. I’m still trying to find the right dance class and though I know that I desperately need a weekly time to refill (artist date) I still have trouble allowing myself the time for it. It’s something that I must definitely address.

I completed almost all of my tasks for this past week. The only thing I didn’t do was sing on Wednesday. Sunday morning wasn’t as productive as I would have liked, but I still did get up at 8 a.m. as I’d planned. (Which meant that I went to bed by 1 a.m. the night before as planned as well…). Though I frittered the morning away, I was completely committed to going on an artists date, and managed to get out the door by 2 p.m. (The artist date was super cool.) I revised my laundry plans and completed it this evening. Just finished playing guitar for 30 minutes and singing for 30 minutes.

I like the idea of Sunday being my day to recharge and use as I please. I must give myself this type of day once a week.

Goals for the week:

Sleep
Get up by 7 a.m. or earlier on Mon/Tues | Wed/Thurs | done!

Music
Call on Monday evening to schedule a voice lesson for Friday this week | done!
Have a voice lesson | done!
Play guitar for 30 minutes on Mon/ | Wed | Thurs | | done!
Sing for 30 minutes on Mon/ | Wed | Thurs | Fri | Sun | | done!

Acting
Give headshot choices to G.M. | done!
Call Modern Age/Reproductions re: costs | done!

Housekeeping
Do laundry Monday morning | done!
Clear keyboard “hotspot” | done!
Re-organize shoes in closet | done!

Exercise
Pilates on Thurs. | done!

The updating goals throughout the week seems to work well. I have a lot of colorful dots on my calendar for this past week.

I think I’ve found a format that works well for this. Short and simple.

Sleep
Get up by 7 a.m. or earlier on Thurs/Fri done!

Music
Schedule a voice lesson for Friday this week | done!
Play guitar for 30 minutes on Thurs/Fri/Sun | done!
Sing for 30 minutes on Thurs/Fri | done!

Acting
I mail/email headshots & resumes to all the Backstage ads that I’m eligible for by Saturday afternoon. | done! (Mailed one, emailed one, emailed one for promo gig)

Really easy for me to feel like I didn’t accomplish anything this week. I went to the RL dinner/show thing on Monday night (which went well), but I still put off calling TM & RJ. I didn’t read any of my plays (to look for possible monologues) for my upcoming class, though I did read “Death of a Salesman” on the train to VA yesterday, so I guess technically it does count for the week. (No monologues there, but I may have found one in “Class Action”. I need to double check that play because I think it might be written for high school level kids…). I didn’t read the two chapters of my monologue book.

I did no actual work on the book, though I did meet EK for lunch on Friday. In addition to catching up we also kicked around a couple of possible ideas for the logo. I didn’t email that logo company with questions about their policies.

Baggage ending up being the most creative thing that I did this week. It felt good to have the creative energy flowing again collaborating with FS. We put together a show that I’m proud of and performed it on Friday night. That’s a good thing. Alot of Thursday was spent digging out the old Baggage CD’s and working with Logic. I didn’t really track the time spent on this, but it was a good bit of time. Some on Wednesday, most on Thursday, and then the rehearsal/performance on Friday. I ended up with a nice performance video that I may put up on the web at some point. (Really tough for me to not be so self critical about this. The question that I keep asking myself is “Is this something that I’m proud for people to see who aren’t my friends?”. “Is it professional quality?”.)

Organization wise, I didn’t even attempt any of those goals. (Assess/Sort left closet drawers, stuff under bed, shoes in closet). I guess in the back of my head I definitely had the sense that these were “It would be cool if I got to these, but it’s not pressing” type of goals.

As to my “New Habits” goals, I didn’t get to any of them. I did play trombone on Friday evening and it sound ok, but from a tactile “how did this feel, and what am I really capable of musically” I know that I’m coasting big time on the horn. Nowhere near playing at my potential. It hasn’t been where my focus has been for a long while. I never wanted to become one of those players who “just gets by”.

Anyway, a bit of a different format for my post here today, as I’m out of my environment abit (visiting family), and not doing this post as my usual “start Monday” thing. I guess I’m feeling like being really hard on myself for this past week. Definitely some good things happened:

• I loved my mask class on Thursday evening
• I loved the energy of working creatively again on the performance for Friday night
• The process of finally getting back to the Baggage files helped me learn a little bit more of Logic, which is a tool that I’ve not dealt with at all but need to. I also realized that it’s been two years since I last did anything with this. I think now that I finally have at least done a little bit of tweaking some of the files, it will be easier to repurpose this thing and use these recordings in some way.
• I love the time that I get to spend with M.
• It was cool to see myself on the “big screen” on Sunday. That left me a little bit hopeful, which helps.
• The meeting with SE on Thursday was 50/50. She wasn’t crazy about the fact that I jumped in and took this monologue class without consulting her (though I think she eventually realized that at 5 classes it wouldn’t kill me, and dealing with new material would be helpful). I think though one of the things that I took from it is that ultimately even if she hadn’t said positive things about my time there (she was very supportive actually and had quite a few good things to say…) ultimately it wouldn’t have mattered. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am a better actor than I was when I went in. That is what ultimately matters.
• I picked up the tapes from ST from the Salon on Sunday. I’d not expected to be able to get that done.
• I’m realizing that my inner critic is more insidious than ever. So easy to downplay the significance of things. The fact that FS and I were able to put on that show on Friday is pretty huge. I was using all of my talents. All of my creativity. I was acting as an actor, a director, a pianist, a trombonist, a mover/dancer. We left that show with a cool video and the desire to work again when she returns in September. That’s pretty damn major, even if it wasn’t on my list of “to do’s” for the week.

After speaking with M this evening, it occurred to me that perhaps I’ve been thinking of things in reverse. I’ve been focused on “I must practice “X” amount, or I must do “X” thing. Like it’s some type of contest. What I really love is making stuff. I love that feeling of saying “I made this”. “This is my creation”.
The tools and skills (trombone/piano/voice/speech/bass/guitar/recording studio/etc.) only exist to serve and make possible the creations. They are not an end in themselves. Playing trombone 3 days a week for 15 minutes isn’t the right way to think about it. “Performing “X” piece of music on a certain day”, or “Creating this recording” are goals. Playing trombone is just a tool/skill to achieve those goals. If I set a goal of “I will perform at this level of excellence on this day”, then I need to practice only enough to meet that goal. No more or no less. I need to focus on creating compelling goals. The reason I don’t practice trombone is that I have no compelling goals. The gigs that I see presently in NYC do not excite me. I need to either find a way to look at the available gigs differently, or I need to create my own compelling opportunities to play. Friday’s performance was the type of performance on trombone that is more interesting to me. The type of performance that engages all of my skills. I had enough skills to make the trombone playing passable, but I know that it wasn’t the best I can do. Perhaps then I can use this as an opportunity to set a compelling goal. “Public performances with FS when she is here in September”. Boom. More compelling goal. Also a goal that could potentially engage all of my creative elements.

So, I leave this post feeling alot better than when I started. Really interesting to see how things progress. Onward!

The week in review…

Acting – Business

• Create an “Acting Pack” to keep in my bag at all times that contains: Up-to-date Resume, 5 of each Headshot complete / see below
• Create a resume & headshot file in my filing cabinet that has 20 of each headshot ready to go, (complete) and 40 resumes printed on decent paper changed / I purchased creme colored paper and will print them as needed (complete)
• Purchase a decent folder at Staples to serve as my “Acting Pack” and resume paper for printing my resume’s at home (Tuesday) complete / I opted to just use one of my existing folders for now.
• Carry this “Acting Pack” with me every day this week. complete / I began this on Thursday after my interview.
• Visit Backstage.com at least once this week. Check the listings. Save all potential’s as .pdf. / forward / I didn’t do this this week. I guess I’m a bit intimidated by the thought of actually sending out my resume/headshot, which is the reason I’d be looking in Backstage in the first place. Need to address this.
• Get a haircut / complete
• Interview for Monologue Workshop (Thursday) complete
• Visit the U. Office w/updated resume / forward / Didn’t do this, but I feel the pressure building. I suspect there will be movement on this very soon.

Acting – Creative
I visited The Strand and Westsider Books and researched possible plays for my monologue class. It turns out that Westsider Books actually has a terrific selection of plays to choose from. It’s much better than the Strand, and you can actually sit down. (I visited the store on Broadway between 80th & 81st. Apparently their other location 72nd between West End and Broadway has an even better selection.). I ended up purchasing 3 plays to go through more fully. “Class Action” by Brad Slaight, “Our Town” by Thornton Wilder, and a collection of 2 one acts… “Sweet Eros” & “Witness” by Terrence McNally. I plan to make reading and researching plays a more regular part of my schedule, as this is something I’ve never done. (Actually am amending this to my original entry that I posted last night… this was a bit of unplanned creative acting work that came about spontaneously after my interview on Thursday. Thought it was important to document everything I can about last week. I have a tendency to overlook things that I’ve done, or not give myself full credit for them.)

New Habits (Potential)
Well, I made a start here, and had success one day with this. I also discovered a new time management/project tracking tool which may prove to be helpful. Clock Timer is a nifty little web based utility that allows you to track the length of time you’re spending on various tasks. The beauty of this is it’s simplicity. I wish they allowed you to track how much you spent on each task each day, but for now I’ll just take a screen grab and file it in a “completed tasks” folder. (This feature may actually be there, but I only used it one day.) I’m hoping this will be a simple way to provide myself with a reality check… to let me know how much time I’m actually spending on various tasks. The point of this is not to track this time spent like it’s a competition. (I’ve done this in the past… as though I’m going to get some type of medal if I could only spend “x” amount of time practicing/working on a project/etc.) The point is to give myself some clarity about where time goes, and how much time I’m actually spending on various things. So, though I didn’t meet my established “goals” with regards to playing bass/trombone/etc., I’ll treat it as a work in progress.

Even as I set out to document here how long I spent on Trombone/Bass/etc., I ran up against what I always do. Once you capture the amount of time spent on a thing, it’s a pain to calculate the total time spent for the week. (That’s why I wish that Clockwork would just keep track of things by date…). Maybe it’s enough that I capture it without tracking the totals? It’s going to take another few weeks to find some type of balance with this.

Bottom Line?

• On Wednesday I played trombone, played bass, sang, worked on my speech, and transcribed commercial copy.

Maybe the amount of time is irrelevant. Perhaps all that’s important is the consistency. The amount of time that I spend on thing will find it’s own balance.

Finances
Balanced my checking account. Brainstormed a method of tracking my finances effectively.

Other: Things on my bulletin board that I cleared

• Installed Office 2004 complete
• Scanned Far Side comics complete
• Scanned old photos complete
• Moved old business cards to closet drawer complete
• Completed Birthday Card project complete
• Moved the remaining small projects from bulletin board to GTD Tiddly Wiki. complete / The bulletin board is now completely free to be used for my “Important But Not Urgent” projects. (Book, Baggage, etc.) I’m hopeful the blank canvas will help me complete these projects.

Thethings that I moved to the GTD Wiki for later processing were mostly small. (Sort/Assess Let Closet Drawers, Sort/Assess things under bed, Sort/Assess remainding old software/audio disks). They fit into the “Not Urgent, Not Terribly Important but Things I’d Eventually Like to Do Nonetheless” category.

Here’s how the week shaped up:

Physical
I feel I’m maintaining my current physique, but I’ve hit a bit of a wall with my upper body work. I’m continuing to put in the 20 minutes, 3 times a week…. but I find that on Friday my workout is not really focused. I have to find more options that will help me obtain my physical goals in a healthy way. Also this week I did my pilates on Tuesday and Friday.

• Pilates video on Tuesday & Thursday complete
• Upper Body Workout – 20 minutes (varied exercises alternate dumbells with pushups… see how my shoulders feel…). complete

Acting (Film/Stage/Voice-over) & Filmmaking – Creative

• Review and rehearse Ernest lines until they are second nature complete / Though the scene didn’t go as well as I would have liked and I was pretty down about it after class, I think I’ve come to terms with the end of the class (this was my last scene). Bottom line this is only the beginning. There will be other scenes, and I will take what I learned here and use it for my next scenes.

—

• Record the lines to R. Purkapile onto the computer
• Outline the first word of each line of R. Purkapile as a guide for memorization
• Paraphrase R. Purkapile
• Examine R. Purkapile line by line for actions. Write them in.
• Review and rehearse R. Purkapile lines until they are second nature. Prepare for performance in class on Friday.

I decided to not do the R. Purkapile. It wouldn’t have been the right way to end class… basically ending it on a monologue that I hadn’t prepared adequately. I need to examine I think why I didn’t want to do this… I think I let fear get to me on this one.

Acting – Business

• Update my acting resume complete
• Change the placement of my backup headshots so that they’re more accesible when I need them complete

—

• Create an “Acting Pack” to keep in my bag at all times that contains: Up-to-date Resume, 5 of each Headshot, (what else? Performances I want to see? Acting contacts?)
• Create a resume & headshot file in my filing cabinet that has 20 of each headshot ready to go, (complete) and 40 resumes printed on decent paper
• Purchase a decent folder at Staples to serve as my “Acting Pack”
• Purchase some “fancy” paper for printing my resume at home
• Carry this “Acting Pack” with me every day this week.

— I visited Staples and checked out a couple of alternatives. I think I found one that may work, which I’ll probably pick up this Tuesday. Will also pick up the resume paper then as well.—

• Visit Backstage.com at least once this week. Check the listings. Save all potential’s as .pdf. complete / This I’ll roll into a weekly habit…
• Visit the U. Office w/updated resume (remanded) I keep putting this off and putting this off. I’ll feel the hurt in a month or so if I don’t do this… I’m not sure why I’m so hesitant.

Organize

• Eliminate “Sort/File/or Discard” folder on desktop (7.2 MB) complete
• Assess the contents of my existing A-Z filing system on my main HD. (Are these things filed in a way that I will be able to maintain and remember?) Discard any files that are no longer valid. Refile as needed. / This will be something I do on a regular basis. Didn’t directly do much of it this week. Falls into the category of “Important but not urgent at the moment”

Habits
The evening/morning routines have been very helpful. I kept to them Monday-Thursday, and even ended up doing them Friday night as well. I’d forgotten that I’d included the “Sleep in my bed Monday-Sunday”. Kept to this except for Saturday night.