David Allen's Blog, page 36

Completing and Creating

Seems that we’re here on the planet to learn about and do two things—complete and create. We are responsible for what we have put into motion on all levels, and we must manage the process of what we are putting into motion every moment.

I work with people and organizations about both aspects. Complete means getting control of all those things into which we have invested our attention and commitments. The create part is the proactive process of focusing our energies toward more expanded and positive expressions and outcomes.

Though both aspects are primary, I think a lot of people could use a good bit more emphasis on the complete part. Our cultural personality seems bent on limitless expansion and not necessarily cleaning up after itself. Consider on a macro scale how we’re dealing (or more critically, not) with climate change and our roles in that.

In one of my more sublime enlightenment moments many years ago, I got a message loud and clear that I needn’t be so concerned about “what to do with my life.” I had already created so much that all I had to do was deal with what was present in front of me to the best of my ability, resolving it as quickly and cleanly as possible. The conveyor belt of life would just deliver the next experience in the queue, as soon as I had dispensed with the last one. It’s been good advice.

When I work with people to get closure and completion on all their “stuff” lying around their desk, in their email, and on their mind, without exception I’ve watched significant creative energy burst forth in them. It seems to be a natural state for us, when we clean up the kelp on the keel.

-David Allen

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

 

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New GTD & Google Apps Setup Guide

We’ve updated our GTD® & Google® Apps for Desktop Setup Guide to work with the latest versions of Google Tasks™, Google Keep™, Gmail™, and more. If you passed over Google Tasks in the past because of its limited functionality, the new version is much more user-friendly and functional.  Download or see a sample.

 

This Guide will show you how to:

– Understand the fundamental GTD best practices

– Optimally configure Google Apps in the way we have found works best for GTD

– Integrate your actionable email and how to turn email into Tasks

– Create project and next actions lists in Google Tasks or Keep

– Create useful reference lists in Tasks, Keep, or Drive

– Use shortcuts to speed up your workflow

… and much more!

 

PDF Download (39 pages)

 

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Episode #48: Installing GTD in an Organization

Jason Atwood has built Getting Things Done into his company from the start. Listen as he shares with David Allen about starting Arkus, a Salesforce consulting firm, well after his own GTD practice was on a solid foundation. Beyond encouraging his employees to adopt GTD, he provides them with ongoing tools and support. During the onboarding period, he even meets with new employees to answer questions and refine their GTD implementation.

 



 

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News on GTD Setup Guides

Looking for the best coaching advice on getting GTD® setup in your favorite tool? Check out our popular GTD Setup Guides. They are written by our GTD experts and are packed with step-by-step instructions and advice on how to get the most out of many common tools for Getting Things Done®.

We currently have GTD Setup Guides for:

Outlook® for Windows®
Outlook® for Mac®
Nirvana®
Trello®
Google® Apps
OmniFocus®
Todoist®
Evernote® for Windows
Evernote® for Mac
OneNote® for Windows
iPhone®/iPad®
Lotus Notes®
Things®
Wunderlist®
Paper Organizers

You can find them all in our GTD Shop, including free samples to get an idea about what’s of the content. Monthly and Annual GTD Connect members can download Setup Guides for free on gtdconnect.com.

We are working on an Asana® guide now and will post more news on that when we are closer to releasing it. We are also updating our Google Apps Guide and Outlook 2019 for Mac, as they UI and features changed significantly on both.

We can’t create guides for every tool out there, but we’re always open to suggestions for what you’d like to see!

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Two themes for the GTD Summit

The global GTD Summit we’re organizing for this coming June has two primary themes, neither of which is about working harder or longer, or motivating yourself in any kind of “rah, rah!” way. They are:

The strategic value of clear space, andThere are no problems, only projects

In my experience the essential aspects of being in a productive state are having a clear head and being appropriately engaged with the object of your attention and focus. In other words, being truly present and in the driver’s seat of your life and work situations.

Headlining our event with “turbocharge your productivity” may seem incongruous with what I’ve just written about our content. But virtually every one of our 40+ presenters will express and demonstrate the kind of dynamic (and productive) results that are produced by one or both of our two themes.

Whether it’s Dr. Julie Flagg talking about the lives she’s saved through applying GTD in her OB/GYN practice, Dean Acheson elaborating on the organizational changes facilitated by identifying and clearing up “open loops,” Robyn Scott sharing how these practices impact significant NGO initiatives, or Mark Wallace telling stories of kids applying GTD in his elementary school classroom, there will be common perspectives that can be applied by any of us, any time, in our own meaningful endeavors.

But we don’t seem to be born inherently applying the core principles of Getting Things Done®. They have to be learned and made habitual to really “turbocharge your productivity.” And even though the methodology may already be understood and to some degree applied, if you’re like me you can consistently use reminders of how to take things to a new and more elegant level.

The Summit will be a feast of such.

Learn more at www.gtdsummit.com

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Jared’s GTD Story

Tell us a little about yourself

My name is Jared Caron and I live in Nashua, New Hampshire. 

What do you do for work?

I am a Registered Nurse. My current role is as a Nurse Educator for the 2nd largest primary care network in the state. We have over 70 medical practices spanning numerous specialties. I work with a team of 5 and we are primarily responsible for training and education of Nurses and Medical assistants, as well as working with nursing students. Though of course I wear many hats, as most do. The role includes quality assurance functions such as following up on errors and complaints, and is also a leadership role. I work closely with my boss, our Director of Nursing, to craft policies, procedures, and strategic vision for enhancing nursing services, promoting professionalism, and patient safety. Oh, and I also do some patient care too!

How long have you been practicing GTD, how did you hear about it, which tools do you use, etc.?

I had heard about GTD a long time ago, not sure exactly when, but never really paid much attention to it. I was a Covey fan, and honestly the title of the book turned me off. I was thinking, “it’s not about getting more things done, it’s about getting the right things done!!!” However about 2 years ago my brother, who is an electrician, was starting a business and I was getting ready to take on my current role. I saw the book at his house and we started talking about it. He told me about David’s description of thoughts as “open loops” in your head and how that really made sense to him. So I picked up the book from the library and started reading. Meanwhile I was waiting for a final decision on this job, which was actually a promotion. The role was a little intimidating to me because I had seen how buried my boss was in email, meetings, and such. It was moving out of direct patient care into a knowledge work role and I had no real clue how to manage that kind of workload. I devoured the book (on vacation no less!) and immediately began reading it a second time, meanwhile starting my new role. It was perfect timing. I went through the 2 day setup process in my first month, purged all my electronic files and set up new filing systems while my “residue” was still pretty low. That set the tone, and I’ve fine-tuned ever since. At first I just did it at work, but it has since crept into the rest of my life with pleasant results.

Currently I use outlook at work for email and action/project lists. I recently set up my professional higher horizons in OneNote which I’m still deciding if I like. At home I also use Microsoft Outlook to do for action and project lists, and I use Evernote for reference, project support, and higher horizon material. The Microsoft To-Do app is surprisingly great for GTD and keeps my personal lists available in my pocket or on my tablet and seems to work great. I’m not afraid of paper either. It’s hands down the best capture tool! I primarily carry around a notetaker wallet and I keep a padfolio which serves as a capture tool/inbox and some plastic folders in my briefcase which keep action support, etc. since I do a lot of moving around site-to-site at work its kind of a mobile office. Despite my millennial predisposition toward digital I even have a physical tickler file in my office which I absolutely love.

How has GTD made a difference in your work and life?

A significant part of this role is responsiveness to requests, but another component is strategic planning, vision, and program development. So a big goal of mine was to avoid being totally overwhelmed with email, phone calls, and meetings. GTD has been the life raft that has kept me afloat despite the unstable world of healthcare (especially right now!). Embracing GTD for personal stuff was a next-level game changer to be honest. I hesitated to implement this very business-like methodology in my home life, but I’ve found it to be extremely effective for handling anxiety, emotional discomfort, and just keeping the wheels turning with all the mundane stuff of life while also keeping focused on worthy outcomes. My alter ego is a minister and I spend significant amount of time in a community ministry as well as with the youth in my congregation. Applying outcome and next action thinking is so useful in these “softer” areas of life to turn them into concrete, actionable steps.

What areas of GTD are you doing really well (or at least better than you used to)?

I have seen my capture habit really develop as well as truly digging into the next action thinking and phrasing in the lists; and more recently I’m learning the true power of the two-minute rule.

Learning to capture on the fly is difficult but so helpful. Having something portable like a note-taker wallet is useful too. I think using paper is really the only place to start as it leaves a physical reminder in your life which you then need to clarify. Helps you separate those two phases instead of capturing directly into your lists which is a black hole I’ve been down a couple times.  

With next action thinking and phrasing, I found this to be one of the hardest things to learn. I actually found a key to this was simply leaning really hard into my lists. I basically tried to do nothing but what was on my lists. It’s a really good way to figure out what you’re avoiding, which can help figure out why you’re resisting that. Often its unfinished thinking: It’s not really the very next step or you were too vague on your list. Which also helped me develop the 2 minute rule.

I have a terrible sense of time. Recently I’m discovering that what I think is a 2-minute action is typically a 10 to 30 second action. I have been using a 2-minute timer on my desk when I process my email and if I’m on the fence of whether something is 2 minutes or not, I start the timer, dive in and see how far I can get. I’ve been amazed at how long 2 minutes actually is. You can get a lot of stuff churned out through 2 minute actions. This has helped me unpack a whole category of resistance on my lists where I have skipped the 2 minute rule and placed a whole bunch of those on lists, promptly to be avoided until my next Weekly Review.

What areas of GTD would you like to get even better at doing?

I’m currently working on being more disciplined during my Weekly Review. I’m pretty religious about doing it, but I have a hard time not doing work while I am in the process. So I have a goal of getting it under an hour consistently. A real help with this is getting a timer and timing the steps. Also, I just benefitted from a coaching consult and learned some great insights into how to simplify my lists and connect projects and areas of focus more effectively.

What is one piece of advice you would give to someone just starting out with GTD?

Listen to David. Really. Do the steps as outlined in the book. For example, I scoffed at the idea of a physical tickler file and a year later I ended up making one and loving it. Try it out “as-advertised” and tweak from there. Also don’t stop after reading the book once. Keep fine tuning. And if you’ve been trying to implement GTD for 6 months to a year and still don’t feel like it’s on cruise control, join GTD Connect and dive deep into the webinars. It’s the cheapest way to access the expertise of the coaches. My GTD practice grew exponentially after joining GTD Connect and not only do I understand the methods better, I have learned how to fine tune the principles in the book to fit my unique circumstances, which makes this whole thing more sustainable.

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Dealing with Free-Floating Anxiety

One of the Greatest Challenges

One of the greatest challenges to keeping an empty head is maintaining the drill of processing our interactions to closure. In the course of our day, we often generate much more value-added thinking and agreements with ourselves and others than we realize, especially in the context of conversations and communications.

Whom have you talked with in the last 24 hours—personally and professionally? What did you tell yourself (or any of them) that you or they would/could/should/ought to do, in any of that? Any ideas, information or perspectives show up that could be important downstream?

 

Sources of Free-Floating Anxiety

I still have to work with myself to ensure I’ve captured, decided, and tracked all the commitments and creativity that happen with phone calls, meetings, social interactions, and even random communications in passing. I do know that this is one of the sources of much of the free-floating anxiety many professionals experience relative to the gnawing sense of overwhelm that is so pervasive. It seems that there is an unconscious part of us that hangs onto all of those incomplete creations. It is a part that will not let go until it can trust those agreements have been kept or re-negotiated with ourselves.

At this moment I notice in my in-tray two pages of random notes I took on a conference call yesterday, regarding our upcoming GTD Summit in June. There’s a little part of me that resists engaging with them, because I know it’s going to require thinking (which is hard!). But because I’ve got the habit of getting “in” to empty, those notes will trigger the things I need to do, to get that sucker empty! I hate it, and I love it.

 

Take Time to Process

And, the number of interactions we handle in a day is more than ever. This is why it is critical that we all take time every day to process this stuff. What did I tell Luca I was going to do? What did Kathryn say I should bring back from the store? Who’s got the next action on the project we decided needed doing at the last marketing meeting? Review the day, capture what needs tracking, and then get some sleep.

 

He who hesitates is not only lost, but miles from the next exit.

—Unknown

This essay appeared in David Allen’s Productive Living Newsletter.  Subscribe for free here . For more information on the GTD Summit, check out www.gtdsummit.com .

 

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Episode #47: David Allen Kicks Off the GTD Summit

This episode of our podcast is from David Allen’s opening talk at the GTD Summit in 2009. We’ve just announced the 2019 GTD Summit, and we’d love to see you there. Get all the details at gtdsummit.com.

 



 

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GTD Summit in Amsterdam

GTD is learned behavior

We are not born knowing how to deal with things that we need to think about. What we need to think about, and how we need to think about it, in the most effective way, are learned behaviors.

Our brains evolved to respond, highly effectively, in the present, to a perceived situation. There’s a bear coming toward me, a thunderstorm emerging, a baby crying, and I’m hungry. Your brain is still doing that for you. Actually, it can’t stop. Using long-term memory and pattern recognition—that’s a bear, that’s a thunderstorm, that’s a baby crying, that feeling says I should eat…etc. Computers can’t even come close yet to that capability of recognition.

As opposed to simply ingesting vibrations of light and sound and physical feeling, we have evolved to make meaning of those things. That kept us alive on the savannah, in the jungle, in the desert.

 

Why GTD is needed now more than ever

But that doesn’t happen now with an email. Or an innuendo from your partner about how you should be handling something important for both of you. Or what to do about your mom’s birthday. Or whether you should change your diet. You actually have to rev up a cognitive muscle to make decisions about such things—what you want to have true about them, and what you’re going to do about them, if anything,

Sensing that you still need to decide something, think about something, be reminded of something beyond the present creates “cognitive dissonance” that doesn’t go away until you have appropriately engaged with the commitment.

Lack of involving yourself appropriately with your stuff clogs up your conscious space. That is how and why GTD emerged as a necessary best-practice behavior set to free up cognitive room—to be more creative, strategic, innovative, and simply more present with whatever you’re doing (the core to being productive).

 

 

GTD Summit in Amsterdam

Now that GTD has become a global phenomenon, we’ve decided it’s time to bring the awareness of the methodology to a new level on the planet. Hence, we’ve created the GTD Summit—bringing together the key players in this game already and providing an opportunity to explore new and broader horizons in its implementation. June 21 & 22, in Amsterdam, we’re thrilled to have GTD enthusiasts from all over the world show up for what will undoubtedly be a once-in-a-lifetime event. Check it out at www.gtdsummit.com

Hope you can make it.

–David

 

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TED Talk on Getting Things Done for Teens

Equipping teens with GTD

Mark Wallace, co-author of Getting Things Done for Teens, recently did a TED Talk on equipping the next generation to conquer overload and distraction. Digital connectivity has exponentially increased the volume and velocity of “stuff” coming at us every day. A new mindset and new skill sets are needed to help young people navigate this new arc of complexity so they can think clearly, implement ideas effectively, and live healthy, balanced, productive lives.

 

 

More about Mark Wallace

Mark Wallace has worked for Edina Public Schools since 1999 and currently teaches in the Continuous Progress program at Highlands Elementary in a 3rd-5th grade multi-age classroom. In 2015, Mark established Basecamp 16 LLC, a consulting agency whose focus is equipping K-12 students and professional educators for effectiveness in both their educational and personal journey.

 

About Getting Things Done for Teens

Getting Things Done for Teens brings a fresh take on David Allen’s classic by adapting it for a younger audience. Framing life as a game to be played, it offers simple methods that teens can use to win. Learn more about the book at www.gtdforteens.com.

 

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