David Allen's Blog, page 33

Where’s the Kernel in the Creative Process?

Hi Folks,

If you’re like me, you might wish for a way to speed up the cycle of creativity, to accomplish something faster and with less uncertainty during the process. Unfortunately, I have not found that it works that way. But I have found that there are reliable actions you can take to keep the creative cycle moving forward, despite the times when you may not know what the final product will look like. My essay this month explores the success factors for getting to the “kernel” of any creative endeavor.

All my best,

 

 

 

The Creative Cycle

Recently a graphic artist was talking with me about his own creative process in coming up with designs for his clients. “At some point, I come up with the kernel. From there it all starts to piece together. Until then I’m a mess.” He got me thinking about “the kernel” — something I’ve experienced with every essay I’ve written, every purpose statement formulation I’ve facilitated, every new workflow configuration I’ve created with a client, and every real planning process I’ve been involved with.

The time and energy required for creating something goes through a cycle, one that is seldom as easy or as immediately evident and as clear as I would like to imagine it is. There is an initial framing — an impetus to create something, and a raw idea about how to express it. Then a step into the unknown. Then thinking. Then an expression of that thinking. Then a reflection upon that reflection. More thinking. Then pushing and pulling on pieces here and there. And nothing is quite working, quite yet, quite like I think it should. I get drowsy, looking for any excuse to do something else a lot easier. I question whether anything at all was valuable in the initial idea, or whether the process will really work (though it always has). I feel like I’ve fallen off the end of the some psychological pier, hanging on by a thread, wondering why I ever started down this path to begin with.

And somewhere, somehow, at some time, things start to make some sense. A key concept, supported by a set of ideas, starts to solidify. Everything starts to come together. Then there comes a point when I find myself over the crest, starting to coast downhill. I’m filling in the blanks, adding necessary detail, refining the expression until there is cohesion and completion of the work. “Aha!”s happen in and around the material.

This cycle is inherent in the thinking process of professional life, as well as more artistic expressions. A positive impetus pushes us into the frontier, we flounder in murky and unfamiliar territory, and at some point we reintegrate the experience into a new whole.

The Nature of the Creative Process

I still don’t know much intellectually about the nature of that creative process. What is the underlying principle at work here? Why do we seem to have to work so hard to get the kernel? And my interest in productivity causes me to ask how I can get to it faster, easier, more effectively, with less mess and the frustrations that often accompany it.

Perhaps it is enough to just understand that it works this way. Soups need to simmer. I have learned that there is an inherent rhythm to things that often cannot be compressed into less space and time. Creative expressions and thinking endeavors need room, and the ability for less-than-conscious parts of our internal computers (and perhaps our spirit) to do their magic.

Smart Placeholders

That’s why it is very smart to put some placeholder for the project out on front of the mind as soon as it begins to emerge on the radar — on a whiteboard, on a “Projects” list, on a blank canvas or piece of paper. It’s also good to do some creative focusing on it before the deadline is too close. That focus may not feel like a completion yet, but it will stir the subliminal stew, which just takes time to mature appropriately. Too many times I’ve waited until the last minute to do the thinking I really needed to apply, which requires more time, energy, and patience than I allowed myself.

The two success factors in the process of finding the kernel seem contradictory. First, I need a strong intention. If I just sit at the computer wanting to write something, my brain can stay barren for a long time. I must have some juices flowing about expressing something or achieving a result. Secondly, I have to let it flow, without too much forcing or pushing on it. High anticipation with no expectation is the best approach for creating anything, and a nice way to go through life. I know I can still improve my own behaviors and habits that make that a lot easier to implement.

The shrewd guess, the fertile hypothesis, the courageous leap to a tentative conclusion — these are the most valuable coin of the thinker at work.
—Jerome S. Bruner

This essay appeared in David Allen’s Productive Living Newsletter. Subscribe for free here .

The post Where’s the Kernel in the Creative Process? appeared first on Getting Things Done®.

Episode #54: David Allen on Someday/Maybe and Incubation Best Practices

David Allen shares about the Someday/Maybe list, and best practices for incubating things for potential future action. He provides examples of what you might put on your Someday/May list, and specific circumstances in which you may find it helpful to incubate information for a later date.

In this segment, David mentions that there are instructions for setting up a “bring forward” or “tickler” file available on the website. Click here to get that PDF.

This podcast is an excerpt from the GTD Live audio program that has approximately 9-1/2 hours of content. You can use coupon code gtdlive for a 15% discount.

 



 

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Episode #53: An Overview of GTD

This engaging and inspiring interview with David Allen, by Tragedy and Hope broadcasts, explores the key principles of GTD and how to make informed choices with ease. The interviewer, Richard Grove, is a GTD enthusiast himself, and his intelligent questions make this interview particularly interesting.

 



 

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Announcing a new English-language podcast from GTDnordic

We are delighted to announce that our partner GTDnordic has a new English-language podcast. In the beginning episodes, you will get to hear Morten Rovik and Lars Rothschild Henriksen talk about the 5 Steps of GTD workflow. If you’re new to GTD, it’s an excellent place to start. And if you’re more experienced, it’s a timely refresher.

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Episode #52: The Ultimate GTD App – Part Two

At the June 2019 GTD Summit, David Allen briefly shared a vision of the ultimate GTD app, which consists of 19 pages of hand-drawn drafts of the screens he would want to use. To expand on that topic, we recorded David talking with Eric Mack and John Forrister about the past, present, and future of GTD software. It’s a wide-ranging discussion with stories that will inform, entertain, and maybe even surprise you. This episode is part two of two. If you have not heard part one yet, that’s the place to start.

 



 

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Peter’s GTD Story

Note: Peter’s GTD story is in a different format. Rather than the Q&A of recent installments, Peter’s story is an email he sent to David Allen. In it, he describes how he came across GTD, what tools he has used, and the positive impact it has had on his life.

Dear David,

I have had this on my Someday/Maybe list for at least a year, and now I’ve finally snuck a moment to write to you. I want to say, as strongly and fully as I can, thank you! What you have given me, and so many others, with GTD has been utterly life-changing and eye-opening.

In the interests of making it easy for you to process your email: The following is my story of coming to use and champion GTD, as well as an attempt to unequivocally make it known to you that you can count on me, as a devoted convert, to do whatever I can to help spread GTD from my current circumstances in the UK. So, from my point of view, I’m not presuming any next action on your part, but if you want to read this it will take more than 2 minutes.

Episode #51: The Ultimate GTD App – Part One

At the June 2019 GTD Summit, David Allen briefly shared a vision of the ultimate GTD app, which consists of 19 pages of hand-drawn drafts of the screens he would want to use. To expand on that topic, we recorded David talking with Eric Mack and John Forrister about the past, present, and future of GTD software. It’s a wide-ranging discussion with stories that will inform, entertain, and maybe even surprise you. This episode is part one of two.

 



 

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The post Episode #51: The Ultimate GTD App – Part One appeared first on Getting Things Done®.

David Allen on the Best Software for GTD

Hi Folks,

This post is for any of you who have ever asked, “What’s the best software tool with which to do GTD?”

I’m still buzzing myself from the recent global GTD Summit in Amsterdam. So many people from around the world; so much positive, supportive energy from everyone to anyone engaged. Wow. Quite a unique experience for me, and from what I’ve heard from all involved.

One topic I wanted to address at the Summit was: “Where is the GTD app?” in terms of a software tool that really “did it” for me.

It hasn’t happened yet.

Ultimate GTD app

At the Summit I briefly shared a vision of the “ultimate GTD app” which consists of 19 pages of hand-drawn drafts of the screens I would want to use. I just said to myself, “Can I click F1 on my computer and get to a clear head?” I spent two days creating those screens. This was in 1994.

Since I drew these, we’ve invested in two serious attempts at producing a software product that would do it (or at least come close). Both ended in a “not yet” conclusion, after tremendous research in the tech and analysis of the market (one in the mid-1990s and the last in the mid-2010s.) Our partners in these enterprises were the best and brightest you could possibly gather to explore this. But the technology required to make some simple GTD practices happen, and the lack of awareness in the marketplace for such a tool, put a kibosh on both endeavors.

Download the screens I would want to use

So I promised our hundreds of people at the GTD Summit that I would make those screens available to the public. This was originally legally protected IP; but I decided to just make it “open source” now in case any of you out there could make it happen.

Here they are, below. Or download the PDF.

My CTO and great friend for many years, Eric Mack, came the closest to giving us something that built in some of the best practices. And he’s recently written about his experience and what it takes to build the ultimate GTD app.

He knows the methodology, in spades, and what has worked and not worked in trying to digitalize it. It required configuring the Lotus (IBM) Notes app we still use in our company, with some great features and abilities. (That’s still what I use to manage my action lists). Eric has said he’d be open to connect with any of you who want to know more about how this best-practice model can be digitalized. He’s at Eric.Mack@FasterAtWork.com.

All the best, to all of you.

—David Allen

This essay appeared in David Allen’s Productive Living Newsletter. Subscribe for free here .

The post David Allen on the Best Software for GTD appeared first on Getting Things Done®.

What Science Says About Stress, Cognition, and Clarity

Your head is a terrible office.

Your mind evolved to do incredible stuff—like stay alive in the desert or jungle. In fact, you’re benefiting from its evolved capacities right now: without effort, you recognize patterns and store and retrieve information to make sense of the myriad inputs coming at you twenty-four seven. You can look around and think, “That’s a chair, that’s a computer, that’s a person,” instead of perceiving each as simply multifarious vibrations of light and sound. Computers can hardly do that, even today. Yet you go to the store to get lemons, and you come back with six things and no lemons. What happened? You tried to use your head as your office.

Recent cognitive science research shows that the number of things you can mentally prioritize, manage, retain, and recall is . . . (hold on) . . . four! If you park any more than that in your head, you will sub-optimize your cognitive functioning. You will be driven by whatever is latest and loudest—rather than by strategy, intuition, or objective assessment.

 

Exercising your cognitive muscle

Your brain utilizes something like a “cognitive muscle,” which has limited capabilities and with overuse or misuse can get exhausted and enervated, just like your physical muscles. Storing tasks in your mind instead of within a trusted system—an “external brain”—forces it to do work it’s not designed to do well and keeps it spinning about. That’s why you wake up at 3:00am thinking, “I need cat food,” or, “What about our order that hasn’t come?”

Thirty-five years ago, I discovered the value and impact of unloading the mind of all tasks, to-dos, projects, and plans when a mentor had me do a complete “Mind Sweep.” I’ve since spent many thousands of hours, one-on-one, with some of the best and brightest people you’d ever meet, walking them through a similar process. Without exception, they achieved through that exercise greater control and focus, and experienced a huge reduction in stress. Without exception.

In the last decade, scientists in the relatively new field of cognitive science have published research that validates this process. In early years, this practice was called “distributed cognition,” which basically means get stuff out of your head. Distribute your cognitive load not only to relieve yourself of all that stressful remembering and recalling, but also so you can experience the joy of thinking creatively and solving problems, as your brain is optimized to do.

 

Resources for learning more

If you are interested in digging deeper into what science has concluded in this arena, here are four of my favorite recently published books, written by folks more expert than me in the field. (They all happen to be fans of GTD, by the way.)

Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength, by Dr. Roy Baumeister and John Tierney

Brain Chains: Your Thinking Brain Explained in Simple Terms, by Dr. Theo Compernolle

The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload, by Dr. Daniel Levitin

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, by Dr. Atul Gawande

Whether or not you believe what science says about the value of emptying the contents of your mind into some trusted bucket, try it out. I invite you to prove it wrong, as soon as you can, so you can at least get this off your mind!

—David Allen

This essay appeared in David Allen’s Productive Living Newsletter. Subscribe for free here .

 

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Komal Thakkar’s GTD Story

Tell us a little about yourself:
Komal Thakkar from Australia.

What do you do for work?
am the Founder, Managing Director for Productivity First and a Certified GTD Coach. My company, Productivity First, is a certified partner of David Allen Company in Australia.

How long have you been practicing GTD, how did you hear about it, which tools do you use, etc.?
I have practiced GTD for over 15 years.

I was gifted a small iPod® with the GTD Audio book by my brother-in-law at a time when I was out of control due to young kids, juggling work and life! My eldest son was 5 at the time, he is 20 now! I am forever thankful to Raj for this gift and indebted to David for creating this methodology.

I have been certified to teach GTD since early 2015 and enjoy the opportunity to spread GTD all over Australia via coaching and training teams and individuals.

Until recently Wunderlist® had been my choice of list manager for my GTD lists. I have moved to using Outlook® tasks and Microsoft® To-Do for my GTD lists since start of the year. My family and I still use Wunderlist for sharing shopping lists, medical histories, etc.

OneNote® is my preferred tool for storing reference materials and checklists.

After helping hundreds of clients in using a variety of list managers, I can tell you that the best tool is the one you are comfortable with.

How has GTD made a difference in your work and life?
GTD has created a balance in my life to an extent that I am unable to imagine life without GTD now! It is completely integrated with my life and allows me to be present in whatever I am doing and have a quality time with my family.

As a GTD Coach and Trainer, I have been fortunate to have worked with people at different professional levels ranging from Board Directors, C-level Executives, Department Heads, Managers all the way to new hires in a number of industries such as Healthcare, Education, Government, Legal, Construction and Financial Services. Such a diversity in GTD clientele keeps my work interesting and exciting! GTD helps me navigate all this and stay on top of it. I love my work:)

What areas of GTD are you doing really well (or at least better than you used to)?
David Allen Academy’s continuing education program helps me get deeper levels of this methodology. One thing I have noticed is that I have got really good at the ability to recalibrate fast and turn a messy day into a productive one. I can be productive even on days when I am having low cognitive energy.

I would say that I am also having a lot of fun with my someday maybe list!!

What areas of GTD would you like to get even better at doing?
Path of GTD mastery never ends – I am currently working on my Horizon 4: Vision and Horizon 5: Purpose and Principles.

What is one piece of advice you would give to someone just starting out with GTD?
Start with whichever part of GTD you are comfortable with. This could be the capturing or the 2-minute rule. In the long term, however, you want to be addicted to an empty intray/inbox and the weekly reviews; and of course, addicted to having the cognitive space as you are capturing everything that has your attention.

Give yourself time to get better at GTD. Go back to the basics whenever you fall off the GTD wagon, as it will happen at some point. Start by capturing and follow through with the five steps.

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