I listen to a lot of podcasts, I have since getting turned on to the work of Leo Laporte and the Twit.tv network around 2006. I immediately fell in love with Mad Magazine’s Dick DeBartolo and Leo taking on the latest gadgets over at the Weekly Daily Giz Wiz.

Recently, I’ve taken a managerial position and needed to deal with lots of incoming information from my life.

I was introduced to the GTD system “Getting Things Done” from the David Allen Company, and it changed the way I work, live, and spread my attention. Any explaination I give about my inbox and my workflow likely won’t help anyone. If you are struggling and feeling overwhelmed, I strongly suggest doing your own research into GTD.

My favorite podcast to give my attention to during the week is the new “Back to Work” podcast on the 5x5 network. Hosted by Dan Benjamin and Merlin Mann, the podcast covers time and attention, family time, priorities, meditation, and is not afraid to be silly and at times both insightful and entertaining.

“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear”

As people, we’re the sum of our experience. I’m ready to be taught. I’m not wrestling with the “Why” so much recently, as the “How” and the “When”. I was ready for the GTD, I’m ready to hear what Dan and Merlin have to say. I’m ready to ask my friends for help. I’m ready to wake up earlier and excercise and have a full day and be tired at the end.  I’m ready to write every day.

I’m ready to listen to my therapist, who recently Yoda’d me into the concept of “Do or do not… there is no try.” She threw a pen on the floor and said, “Try to pick that up”. There was no trying, there was only the action of reaching down to thar rug and picking the pen up. I’m here now applying this ‘globally’. (to use a publishing term!)

Finally, I’m ready to try and fail.

In the lastest episode of Back to Work, Merlin and Dan rib about bloggers, hosting, the challenges of working on projects outside of your day gig. Merlin suggests getting started with being a blogger by writing every day for a month, keeping your posts private, and posting twice a week. Dan’s experiences and philosophy about developing an iOS app in your free time is somewhat antithetical to Merlin’s encouragement. Both gentlemen are inspiring teachers, encouraging us ‘knowledge workers’ to do, and not to try to do. This is getting unstuck.

“To make something really good, you can’t do it all”. — Merlin Mann

I’m getting unstuck today, I’m giving up 100% control today, and now that I’ve written my post for today and recorded a podcast, I’m going to go for a swim.

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Clay,
July 10, 2011