Trust yourself to do . . .
March 20th, 2013 GTD Times Team - Staff ContributorsCategories | David Allen | Getting Things Done | Inspiration | Psychology of GTD
Trust yourself to do what you really feel like doing, and what you feel like doing will change. Don’t, and it will plague you.—David Allen
I love this quote b/c one of the things that makes GTD work for me is the mind-like-water concept (learning to trust my system and free my mind). Yet I still have problems getting things to DONE. I’m a researcher, so for me, “done” is submitting a manuscript to a journal, which requires a lot of focused time writing and analyzing data. I work well with deadlines, but have a hard time setting deadlines or myself. I actually like writing and data analysis (that’s not the problem), but it’s never as fun as starting and designing a new project When I follow my intuition about what I want to do in the moment I end up learning interesting and useful things or starting good projects, but that doesn’t get me to done on my myriad open projects. I’ve done the full GTD sweep (about 2 years ago) and the program is really starting to kick-in.
Any advice on how to “make myself” (or entice myself) to sit down and do the things that are less easy to do given my bias toward creation v. completion? Thanks!
Hi Matt. Coach Kelly here. I asked David Allen to comment on your question “how to “make myself” (or entice myself) to sit down and do the things that are less easy to do given my bias toward creation v. completion?”, and this is his reply:
- Read Charles Duhigg’s book about habit change (The Power of Habit); and build in the simple but potentially keystone habit of doing the hardest/most-resisted thing first, esp. early in the day when you still have decision-making muscle. Look forward to the easier and more fun and interesting stuff you’ll do the rest of the day as reward.
- Review your higher-level commitments to yourself, and ask yourself if you’re on track with them. If you are, then who cares whether you’re creating or completing.
- Build a simple habit of finishing something (anything, little or big) before you do your “create” thing
Hope that helps!
Whoa, whoa, get out the way with that good inofrmation.