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Vision is not enough; it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps; we must step up the stairs.
We (1) capture what has our attention; (2) clarify what each item means and what to do about it; (3) organize the results, which presents the options we (4) reflect on, which we then choose to (5) engage with.
THE KEY INGREDIENTS of relaxed control are (1) clearly defined outcomes (projects) and the next actions required to move them toward closure, and (2) reminders placed in a trusted system that is reviewed regularly. This is what I call horizontal focus.
If you’re not sure why you’re doing something, you can never do enough of it.
The question, “How will I know when this is off purpose?” must have a clear answer.
Simple, clear purpose and principles give rise to complex and intelligent behavior. Complex rules and regulations give rise to simple and stupid behavior. —Dee Hock
know that the focus we hold in our minds affects what we perceive and how we perform.
You often need to make it up in your mind before you can make it happen in your life.
It is easier to act yourself into a better way of feeling than to feel yourself into a better way of action. —O. H. Mowrer
You can only feel good about what you’re not doing when you know everything you’re not doing.
things pinned
What you don’t want to do is to let yourself get wrapped up in things piece-by-piece, trying to decide this or that. Clarifying requires a very different mind-set than capturing; it’s best to do them separately. You’ll
It’s easy to resist and avoid picking up anything in your world that you know requires some thinking.
Don’t let things to be handled that you have considered “not so important” gnaw away at your energy and focus.
What continues to talk to you psychologically in your environment, demanding that you do something about it?
vis-à-vis
I suggest that you use your mind to think about things, rather than think of them.
Bright people have the capability of freaking out faster and more dramatically than anyone else.
twenty minutes before the agreed end time of the discussion I must force the question: “So what’s the next action here?”
People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can’t find them, make them. —George Bernard Shaw
defining what done means and what doing looks like.
“What does this mean to me?” “What do I want to be true about it?” “What’s the next step required to make that happen?” These are the cornerstone questions we must answer, at some point, about everything. This thinking, and the tools that support it, will serve you in ways you may not yet imagine.
Your mind is for having ideas, not for holding them.
Avoiding next-action decision making on “stuff to do” Fully utilizing the “Waiting For” category, such that every expected deliverable from others is inventoried and reviewed for follow-up in adequate timing
Making time for the Weekly Review, if it’s not been instituted as a habit, can be a daunting challenge. All of that begins to result in a personal system that is incomplete and out of date—you’ll no longer be able to trust your lists to give you the whole picture, and because the system is not really relieving pressure, you’ll conclude it’s not worth keeping up with anymore, and you might as well take it back into your head.
As cognitive scientists have validated, your mind is terrible at recalling things out of the blue, but it is fantastic at doing creative thinking about what it has directly in front of it to evaluate.
