72. Back From Vacation

Transcript

Automatically transcribed and lightly edited. Timestamps omitted for readability.

Morten: Hi and welcome to another episode of the Getting Things Done podcast from Vital Learning. I am Morten Røvik, and I am here with my good friend and colleague Lars Rothschild Henriksen. Privet, Lars.

Lars: Privet, Mr. Røvik. Good to see you and good to be back. I really missed recording these, these episodes. So happy to be back and recording once again. We always start off with— yes, it is indeed. We always start off by reminding everyone about the purpose of the podcast, which is to help you learn GTD or become even better GTDers. So as always, we hope that this episode supports you in that. If you're new to GTD, we recommend that you go back and listen to episodes 1 through 6 to get an introduction to the basics of GTD, and today's episode number is 72, and today's topic is back from vacation.

Morten: And we're back, and we are back from vacation. And, uh, we've— in the pre-show, we talked a little about what we would talk about, and, um, the first thing we want to touch upon: how was your vacation, Lars? How did it fare?

Lars: Yeah, it was great. And, uh, as I was saying to you, I, I really think that Norwegians must need GTD to be as productive as they can be when they're in the office, because with that kind of nature that you have and with that amount of blueberries that we found in the mountains, I would sit there at least for an hour every day just enjoying the scenery and the blueberries. So yeah, no, we had a fantastic vacation. And you?

Morten: I know, I just hear that you got a new middle name. It's not Rothschild anymore, it's Lars Blue Teeth.

Lars: Blue tongue, that's, that's for sure. We, we all were, we all were like that. Absolutely.

Morten: After eating blueberries, for those of you not accustomed with blueberries, that the wild ones give you a blue tongue and blue teeth. So, but good, good. Um, and I'm just a little, um, a comment on that about being productive, needing, getting things done, is that, you know, the Norwegians are summer creatures in the, um, in the in the fall and the wintertime and the springtime, we are working critters. We work and we are productive. But when summer comes, it's kind of like, oh, let's throw all the clothes out of the window and run out into the sun and enjoy life and do other things. So we like our summer. And this summer has been fairly good for those who stayed in at least here on the southern parts of Norway. So good, good to hear that you enjoyed Norway. And so welcome everybody, Norway is here. And give me a ping if you want to say hi when you are here. No, I went to Turkey with my wife. We spent a little more than 3 weeks there. And it was because we have family in Turkey. We visited a lot of family and we didn't have Visiting family is not really a vacation. It's a little work, but it's fun and it's engaging and all the people are really happy to see us. So that's nice. And then we had a few days where we really relaxed in the district of Bodrum and Datça. So that's good. Yeah, the vacation was good, but I just wanted to comment on how I'd fared with my resolutions. I said I will try a full Lars and the full Larsist.

Lars: Give the listeners a follow-up on this. So how did it go with regards to emails and staying offline?

Morten: Exactly. Because, yeah, well, just to give people who didn't listen to the previous episode a recap is that I was pondering doing the full Lars with the full Larsist, go fully without emails for the whole vacation. And, um, uh, what I did, which I'm really happy with, which I will continue doing, I have actually not reinstalled, uh, I uninstalled LinkedIn, Facebook, uh, Twitter, and Instagram and Snapchat. So on my phone, and, uh, the, you know, the reason I haven't installed them again is because I don't miss them, but I probably have to turn, turn a few of them on again just to be in communication with people because, you know, people sometimes send you messages in these platforms. But that was really freeing, is that I understand and I can see from my phone that I use a lot less screen time when those apps are not present. And what I also did is that I uninstalled the Gmail app on the phone. But I must admit that my fear of missing out led me to go into the Pipedrive app to see if there are some interesting emails I had to look at. And, you know, happily but also unfortunately for my vacation, but happily for businesses, that I have a couple of things that I really needed to handle that was urgent and important. Two requests from two potential clients who wanted to get started very early in August. So I had to, if I hadn't responded to that, I might have missed those opportunities. So I did go semi-full Lars, let's say 75% full Lars. And I didn't, I didn't read email every day. I read maybe once a week. So, but just to, yeah. So I'm happy with the results and I'm a little proud of my, that I actually, you know, avoided my fear of missing out. So much that I did. How did your non-email vacation go?

Lars: Lars did not do a full Lars.

Morten: Tell us all about it. Newsflash, newsflash.

Lars: You need some kind of graphics for that one on the video version of the podcast. No, so I did set it up the way that we talked about with the out-of-office, send me a text if if there's anything that needs my attention. And I got a text, so I got a, I got a few texts. So I had to go in there and check also new clients that were looking into our work and needed some feedback on that. And some meetings had already been in progress worldwide, and now it had come to Denmark. So I needed to stay present and jump on that one and give some feedback. So, so I had to connect online and do that. And, you know, as I did that, I quickly sweeped out most of the things that were in there and just set up the folder for me to review when I came back. And that was actually, you know, it's still a good way to do it, to, to make sure that nothing was, was missed and, and got to, you know, stay in touch with the, with the clients as needed in that, in that timeframe. So overall, still very happy with the results, although it was not a complete, complete disconnect for the, for the whole time.

Morten: No. Did you keep your, or maybe you didn't have that at all, that you like LinkedIn social media at all?

Lars: I don't have them on my phone, but I do check them in the browser version. So from my perspective, it's more of the tracking stuff that I'm not too keen on.

Morten: Did you bring your computer?

Lars: So I brought my iPad Pro with me that I had, but part of my vacation was in Yeah, I don't know if it's remote to Norwegian standards, remote in Danish standards, remote to the level that the camping site where we were at did not have any power available. So that kind of solved that issue for me. There was no connection, no batteries, no electricity. Yeah, exactly. So that kind of made that decision pretty simple.

Morten: Okay, they had Wi-Fi, I'm sure, but no electricity. Maybe.

Lars: I didn't have any battery, so how would I know?

Morten: Okay.

Lars: Yeah.

Morten: Okay. So, so for me, uh, an improvement, um, from last year and definitely a step up from my practice. And I enjoyed it. You know, it's, it's the fear of missing out. It's there for emails, but for the social media, which I was totally off 5 different platforms, that's, that felt really good. I felt I was more present. So when I, when I, and this is, it is, you know, one of my pet peeves when I talk to people is that we get addicted to those, to your mobile and social media are created to create an addiction. So just to be able to disconnect and make that, you know, it is a kind of a digital detox because the first few days you are a little, what's happening here? Oh, I don't have this. You go in for snacking in in somewhere when you're a little bored. But I think boredom is good. You know, creativity is born through boredom, or at least it's enhanced if you're a little bored. So I'm going to be more bored in the future, which is good.

Lars: Yeah, I like that.

Morten: So yeah, our next topic in this vacation, post-vacation episode, it was you've done a yearly review. I saw some photos before I went blackout for social media, but you did it in very beautiful surroundings. Yeah, exactly.

Lars: No, I did my, this year's half-year review. For those who have not been following the podcast for a while, I did a more in-depth episode of what I used to do back in a previous episode. So go look around episodes around June from last year or the year before maybe. Um, no, the, the way that I did it this year was that, you know, I, it, I, I do it very much now on sort of an intuitive basis, sort of, you know, what do I feel like? I feel like I need to revisit Horizon X. And, um, as I've been, been working through more and more and more of the Level 3, um, seminar materials, I, I recognize that as well. And I think for me, so, so the way that I did it was more of a You know, yeah, I would say more ad hoc. So in the beginning of the vacation, I would normally just leave it for later and really make sure that I had, you know, become very calm, very relaxed, very much, you know, disconnected from work. But this time it felt more right for me to revisit the Higher Horizons already relatively early in my vacation. So I would sit there and fortunately for me, I had the battery still available back at that time. So I could sit there and run through my different horizons, did that at the summer house and more. Not the, you know, I did part of my review. The photo that I posted was more of a, you know, a review later in the vacation. I did a sort of a quick scan and reflection earlier in the vacation. And the reason is actually what I have now, you know, looking back, I think I made a mistake before going on vacation. So that's part of my my checklist now. I did not do— maybe it sounds silly— a reflection on whether I was ready for a vacation. I think that's the best way I can describe it. There was some mind sweep that I needed to do that I had not done. And if I had done that to the level that I needed to do, I would have found that there was some stuff banging around in my head. And this relates to the upcoming episode that we'll post after this one about the changes that are coming with the company and the opportunities. And, and from my brain, there were so many ideas and exciting things on the way in the future that I simply had to sit down and do a natural planning model, really flesh it out. I did a mind sweep at a natural planning model. I even started, you know, playing around with some Gantt charts because that's just how I roll and how I have fun. But trying to set all that up and just You know, really. And, and, you know, but I needed to really structure that. My mind could not let that go. And I had so many— and it's, you know, it's, it's really not that it's overwhelming, it's just exciting. That, that really is what it comes back to. And it's just, I, I needed to— there were so many moving parts. And part of the reason is that more and more people are, you know, approaching my areas of focus, let's put it that way, working more, more closely with, with other people. So we have a trainer that was certified by you in the part of my— when I was on vacation. So Carsten is joining us in Denmark. Really excited to have him on board. Just spoke with him just before we are recording this episode. So that's really cool. Another aspect is my wife is helping out with parts of the business as well. We have another trainer being certified, just started his certification last week already. We have another trainer probably joining and I have more requests in my inbox right now, or not in my inbox but you know, clarified and organized, ready for me to deal with. So just so many, you know, I found that both the business plans and all of the activities coming up and new people joining and there were just so many things. So it really, you know, in hindsight it really was a mistake to just, you know, I was probably on sort of a cruise control mode from the work. Before, and all of these new ideas, exciting things that are coming up, just had not landed in my mind. So that really was something for me to be reminded about going forward. So in this vacation, it was absolutely a good vacation, really inspired, but really required GTD more than I have ever tried before. Okay.

Morten: Okay. In which way did you, when you did your half year?

Lars: Yeah, the Mind Sweep, the Natural Planning Model. Planning and thinking about all the things showing up really was necessary for me. And also I had my— I have this notebook, this in my mind stupidly expensive notebook that I have for coaching, but I really like it because it's sort of a quality sort of, it's a special place for me to write in that really a lot of cool things ended up in that notebook as well as I was sitting in nature by the sea and just really, you know, all the stuff that showed up there. So a lot of TTD in this vacation where I would normally, you know, normally or in previous years it might have been sufficient just with the CAPTCHA step and putting it on my phone or putting it on, you know, my CAPTCHA wallet or whatever. This year was more intense, but like I said, good.

Morten: Yeah. And then I've been in the same situation where you kind of are surprised by everything that you haven't captured yet or haven't looked at yet. But those things don't leave you. They're just in your peripheral vision or in the back of your mind. And the more they are there, the more noise they make in your life. So just identify them, capture them, you know, identify them, that you're aware of their existence. And I've been thinking about this a lot throughout the years, is that things have, well, some things have a tendency of sneaking up on you. Like, if you have, I remember the first time I saw this was in our previous apartment. I had a nail, you know, small nail in the doorframe that was not fully banged in where it should be. It's sticking out a little. And that nail, I looked at it and I said, "Yeah, you're there, yes." And that kind of awareness is that it moved into my consciousness or my awareness fully before, maybe after 3 weeks, and then suddenly I identified it as something, ah, you maybe want to do something about that, stupid. And because some person will get their trousers tangled up in that and rip them at some point, maybe you would like to avoid that. And the answer, of course, is yes. And I think it is the same with a lot of other things, is that they kind of You see them, but you say, okay, but it doesn't move into your consciousness. That's fairly interesting. The reticular formation, I think it's called, where it's before it's really identified, it's recognized subliminally by your brain.

Lars: Yeah, exactly.

Morten: Okay, good. But it sounds like you did a lot of work during your vacation that was necessary for having— Yeah, you could.

Lars: Argue that was the case.

Morten: Yeah, but then you were able to take vacation, I guess, when you can do your blueberry, daily blueberry overdose in the mountains.

Lars: Yeah, exactly. And no, you know, I am, so the picture I posted was, I was sitting with my back to the view and one viewer noticed that and said, well, wouldn't you want to turn around? And I said, well, yeah, absolutely. But I will enjoy that way more when I have cleared my mind. So that's, I think, a good example of what it was really all about.

Morten: I do believe you, I remember that you are a high observer. So that means that if that is true, then looking at all this could be really distracting as well, you know, seeing all the nature. So to have a more, knowing that you are in a beautiful nature and enjoying a gray wall is maybe better for a while. You don't need to be.

Lars: Distracted.

Morten: Good point. Our last segment here we talked about was it's sometimes for some people, myself included, it's hard getting back into the fold after you come back from vacation. I don't know if you've had this or have this, but I have come back from a few vacations, not as bad this time, but Maybe because of no social media or something, I don't know. But before, I had a brain fog when I came back. When you come back from vacation, you've really done a vacation, is it easy for you to get back on the horse or get back into the fold?

Lars: Yes. No, no, I love that.

Morten: Lars, your nose just grew an inch.

Lars: No, I can absolutely recognize that. No. And it actually, yeah, I think for the, I really recognized it actually this year that it just seemed to take some time to just get really up and running. Again, also with, I spoke to clients about this as well and they really recognize that as well. So no, I can certainly recognize that.

Morten: So I'm going to try and share my tips on how I deal with that. And maybe you'll share your tips on how you get back into the fold with ease. If I'm going to go first, I'm going to say that one of my best tips is don't go hard on yourself. Just accept that your brain is in a fog. Because you took a vacation from focusing. And the whole purpose of vacation is just to let yourself go, enjoy not having plans, enjoy the spontaneity, and enjoy being present in the moment without any obligations but maybe eat blueberry on ice cream. So that's my tip to myself, and that's actually worked very well, is that I give myself the freedom of not being I'm fully me. If I'm 70% me, just accept that the 30% will come back. Just give yourself time and just lower your shoulders, lower your own expectations to yourself. What is your tip? Do you have the same thing?

Lars: Yes. No, and I certainly did that as well. So coming back and just getting into the habit of coming back to the everyday life. And that just takes a bit of time. I think the starting point for me, the most critical part was just really refreshing the GTD aspects and getting back in the driver's seat, having that cockpit set up the way I wanted to have it. So clearing out the inboxes and of course, a weekly review was really critical for me. And then reviewing the material that I had generated as part of my break this time. So specifically coming back to the natural planning model, looking at MindNode and all that fun stuff that was in there and, you know, really sorting things out and placing them where they needed to be. So that was a key step for me to get back on the horse.

Morten: Yeah, me too. What I've done also previous years is that I have, and I've done it this time as well, is that my out-of-office reply, automated reply on email, I've done it so that it actually— I'm on vacation one day after I come back, which means that I have one day of kind of catching up before people get their expectations up for me to reply to them. And I still, like, I was— this is now, we are recording on a Tuesday. We were back on Sunday. My first day at work was Monday, and I still have a huge backlog of maybe 25. For me, that's a huge backlog of 25 emails I actually have to respond to. That came through the, to the videos. Sorry, how to do something is actionable emails. And so I might want to do 2 days next year, maybe.

Lars: I think I did actually, but, but I, I noticed that because I stole that, that tip from, from you and set that up, and I noticed that there were some people that I wanted to respond to already, and I had that sort of conflict. Well, I'm not supposed to be here, I said that I wasn't.

Morten: Yeah, no, but the trick is that you can use the send later in Gmail. Exactly, that's, that's Trick.

Lars: Yeah, yeah, good one, good one.

Morten: Yeah, so, um, any other tricks on getting back into the fold but, you.

Lars: Know, no, I think leave your time for when you're back. Um, and, um, I think, what was it, was it, I think it was our friends in, in the UK and Next Action Associates that mentioned at some point, I think they mentioned that, you know, for every week you're away, make sure you leave one day open for when you're back. I kind of like that idea, and I did certainly better this year. It was also partially helped because my vacation was a bit earlier this year than the standard vacation in Denmark, so it was a pretty quiet week when I came back. But with all the new things coming up and a lot of interest both in GTD and the new products, and a lot of work has actually showed up, so I was really I was hoping for an even smoother start now that I was really more focused on it, but the world did not want it to go that way this year. So I'm overall still happy with it. Couldn't have done it better with the knowledge that I had at the time. So keeping that in mind for next year to have even more room in the calendar for me to get back up and running.

Morten: I did a couple of cardinal mistakes there. Cardinal sins is that my Monday when I come back was fully booked. From back to front. And you, you rescheduled a meeting you and I should have, and that gave me some breathing room. Thank you.

Lars: You're welcome. That was sort of a welcome back from vacation.

Morten: Yes, thank you, Lars. Okay, so I, I think maybe we have exhausted what we would like to give you, um, dear listener, on how to get back into default after vacation. You know, the GTD and back from vacation is Getting Things Done is a framework for thinking about obligations, but also how to get your head clear and present in the moment. And really being on vacation is about leaving all the obligations, as many as you can, outside your brain so that you can be present in the moment. But also when you come back, you have to gear up again, which is kind of a little heavy sometimes. Well, are we ready to say goodbye? And do you have something to add, or can you take us out?

Lars: I'm happy to take us out. Just on that note, you know, if you have any really good tips, things that work well for you, any activities you do before the vacation, during the vacation, after the vacation, be sure to let us know. It would be fun to try to gather those tips and then maybe share them before next year's summer holiday or whenever we, we might want to do an episode about that. So podcast@gtdnordic.dk, let us know if you have a good tip.

Morten: Yes, please.

Lars: We wrap up the episode with a quick reminder to head on over to gtdnordic.com, have a look around, because on that side you will find links to each of the country websites in the Nordic. And on each of those sites you will find links to articles, newsletters, groups on social media where natives discuss the methodology and of course the different offerings that we have regarding speeches, coaching, and seminars, both virtual and physical.

Morten: And now, Morten, you forgot to mention vitallearning.eu because you're getting things done, getgtdnordic.com.

Lars: Yes, but that was on purpose because the episode about Vital Learning is coming up next in 2 weeks' time.

Morten: There we go. Okay.

Lars: Next level stuff. Perfect tip as well. vitallearning.eu is also a place you can go to have a look because that gives you a hint on what is coming for the franchise and why I had so many great ideas in the—.

Morten: I'm so happy you have your things together when I don't. Go on, please.

Lars: If you're outside the Nordics, head on over to gettingthingsdone.com to find your local partners. And there may also be another website that I might mention in a future episode where you can find global partners for the future that is coming towards us. Lastly, as always, we really hope that you find these episodes valuable. And if it has been helpful, GTD has been a value in your, you know, made a difference in your life, then please do hit that rating button on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or whatever you're using. It really helps the discoverability. So we really reach more people and can help them learn GCD.

Morten: Exactly. I also understand we are at Amazon Audible. That's also a place you might want to add in the, in the notes to mention, because I think actually we have a lot of 22 5-star ratings.

Lars: There, which is— wow, we like you. Thank you.

Morten: Thanks, people, for rating us wherever you listen. And, uh, until next time, people, stay safe and stay productive. Bye-bye.