David Allen's Blog, page 52
June 29, 2016
Take a GTD Challenge Around Your “Stuff”
Things do not get rid of themselves. There seems to be a universal law of physics that goes like this: things that exist want to keep existing, even if there’s no good reason. And I think they have strange, secret, invisible agents that lurk in our psyche, planting little numbing seeds like “it’s there, so there must be a good reason it’s there.”
And stuff changes. What’s useful today may not be so useful tomorrow and by next week may be irrelevant and by next month may be seriously in the way of us getting things done. In addition to inconveniently taking up physical space, it consumes psychic space, of which we can all use as much as we can get.
When was the last time you did an inventory of what you really don’t need anymore?
-in your center drawer
-in your briefcase
-in your closet
-in your garage
-in your bathroom cabinets
-in the trunk (boot) of your car
-on your bookshelves
-on your staff
-on your calendar
-on your computer
-in your product line
-in your relationships
-in your habits
-in your mind
Many of the things you will find have probably at some point become “someday/maybe” kinds of things, and perhaps there’s a decent reason to keep them around, just to keep the option open – “But what if I might need it?” At least consider migrating those to a deeper storage area, and limit that space, so as you add things to it, it forces you to move even older nostalgia out into the dumpster.
–David Allen
June 24, 2016
Episode #18 – Sharing GTD with Kids & Teens
Coaches Meg Edwards and Mike Williams share strategies, techniques, and insights for engaging kids and teens in GTD. They’ll weave in personal stories from their own experience as parents, and give practical exercises for bringing the power of GTD to young people in your life.
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June 21, 2016
The 5 Stages of GTD®
Where are you in the 5 I’s? David Allen explains the 5 stages you can expect with GTD:
If you’re not at “Integration” yet, here are some ideas to continue on the Path of GTD Mastery:
Read (or reread!) the Getting Things Done book. David Allen has often said it is “the” manual for learning this methodology and will give you the big picture as well as tactical tips and tricks.
Get coached virtually or in-person by a Certified GTD Coach
Take a GTD Fundamentals course, offered around the world.
Join GTDConnect.com where you can learn GTD at your own pace, through webinars and a huge multimedia library.
Wherever you are in the 5 I’s, we hope GTD is bringing you value!
June 19, 2016
The GTD Workflow Map
The GTD® Workflow Map is now available as a PDF download. This Map is a beautiful visual learning tool for understanding how David Allen’s models for control & perspective come together.
We also offer the Map as a printed poster.
June 14, 2016
Who are the biggest procrastinators?
The biggest procrastinators are usually the most sophisticated, sensitive, creative, and intelligent people.
Nailed you, did I? Well, I assume you’re in the sophisticated, creative, and intelligent category. That probably means you have large numbers of things stuck in your mind, in your briefcase, and on your desk about which things are not moving forward quite as consistently as they could be.
Major reason: the precise next physical visible activity (next action) has probably not been decided on the to-do’s. The bright people usually have some sort of reminders about their projects and things to do on lists, in piles, or lying around, so they won’t forget to think about their commitments. Bully. But every time they catch the briefest glimpse of any of them, they instantly race forward in their mind, rapidly and intelligently creating images of all the possible pieces that have to fit together and all the things that might have to be involved in getting them to happen and all the possible negative consequences if any one of them slips (and all the things that they might be forgetting in all this). Whew! Freaked themselves right out. I’d quit, too.
Three solutions: (1) frontal lobotomy, (2) bottle-in-front-of-me, or (3) figure out the very next action required to move each of those projects forward. Each will take some of the pressure off, but I recommend option #3 for the most permanent and elegant fix.
I was recently reminded about this again graphically, coaching several executives on Wall Street one-on-one. You couldn’t find many savvier, more creative, industrious, successful folks, yet each had varying degrees of “stuckness” about many important projects and issues. They simply hadn’t thought these things quite through enough to get to the very next action step. When I got them to make that decision, tons of things uncorked and their own peace of mind went up dramatically. What amazed them the most was that it only took a few seconds to decide the next step, and that they didn’t have to have the project totally figured out to get moving on it. Big surprise.
Don’t just decide that you need to set a meeting—decide whether that’s an email to send or a phone call to make, and to whom. Watch things move…and how much more deserving of the “sophisticated, sensitive, creative, and intelligent” label you’ll feel!
–David Allen
This article appeared in David’s monthly newsletter, Productive Living. Subscribe for free.
June 10, 2016
Episode #17 – Ten Common Questions About GTD
We hope you enjoy this very special Q&A conversation between David Allen and Senior Coach Marian Bateman, interviewed by Rick Kantor. They answer ten of the most frequently asked questions regarding GTD, including “How do you set priorities?”, “What do you do when you’re interrupted constantly?”, and “How do I get back on track when I miss Weekly Reviews?”
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May 27, 2016
What gets in the way of being productive?
Q: What’s the one thing that we do that gets in the way of us being productive?
David Allen: It’s not one thing, but five, all wrapped together: People keep stuff in their head. They don’t decide what they need to do about stuff they know they need to do something about. They don’t organize action reminders and support materials in functional categories. They don’t maintain and review a complete and objective inventory of their commitments. Then they waste energy and burn out, allowing their busy-ness to be driven by what’s latest and loudest, hoping it’s the right thing to do but never feeling the relief that it is.
May 25, 2016
Episode #16 – GTD and the Medical Community
This episode features two wonderful doctors and GTD enthusiasts in our GTD community: Dr. Julie Flagg and Dr. Julian Goldman. They join David Allen and Senior Coach Kelly Forrister in a lively and heartfelt discussion about how GTD has helped their stability, clarity, and focus.
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May 24, 2016
May 23, 2016
There is never enough time…
There is never enough time to do what you want to do from the level you are doing it. You must relax, and refocus. If you have inserted your intention into the universe, you must trust that the method and the process and the dynamics for its manifestation will reveal themselves in their timing, not yours. You are part of your bigger game. Let me say it again – relax, refocus.
–David Allen
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