David Allen says that he “created GTD out of a personal desire to be freer with more space and energy in my life and let go of whatever was holding me back from…whatever. I would bet that for some of you, your resistance to fully embracing GTD is not about GTD or your ability to implement it, but comes from your resistance to letting go of your familiar structures, even if they are constricting you. So, what would it take for you to be free to feel free?”

DAVID’S FOOD FOR THOUGHT

ARE YOU FREE TO FEEL FREE?

If you want to have the feeling of freedom regularly, you’ve got to get used to it. Literally.

What’s the greatest obstacle to living in the relaxed state of mind that is possible with the methods I coach? People simply aren’t used to it. And anything your nervous system experiences as unique or unusual will likely be “rejected” unconsciously in short order, because it is not in the comfort zone.

This excerpt is from a recent issue of David’s Productive Living newsletter. It’s free and sent about every 4 weeks. You’ll find essays from David Allen, thought-provoking quotes, and productivity tips you can use every day.

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Have you wondered whether goal setting works? The February issue of Productive Living has David Allen’s answer to that question.

“Yes, but not the way most people seem to understand goal setting. In my experience, the real value of defining desired futures is not so much in the world they describe, but the change in perception the process of setting goals fosters.”

DAVID’S FOOD FOR THOUGHT

THE VALUE OF GOALS

What we focus on changes what we notice. Our brain filters information, seeing one thing in a situation instead of something else, based on what we identify with, what we have our attention on, what we’re looking for—more or less consciously.

The reason for long-term goals is the permission they give us to identify with the greatest value we can so it changes our filtered perceptions. The future never shows up (have you noticed?—it’s always today!). But playing with it as a working blueprint can be a remarkably useful tool to see things (and how to do and have them) that you never saw before.

Subscribe to Productive Living. It’s free and sent about every 4 weeks. You’ll find essays from David Allen, thought-provoking quotes, and productivity tips you can use every day.

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Fast Company featured David Allen this week, in their Leadership Hall of Fame series.

Does your company plan things correctly? Or are meetings unproductive due to poor planning? We continue our Leadership Hall of Fame series . . .

How Bad Plans And “Good Ideas” Ruin Meetings

BY David AllenTue Nov 1, 2011

When the “Good Idea” Is a Bad Idea

Have you ever hear a well-intentioned manager start a meeting with the question, “OK, so who’s got a good idea about this?”

What is the assumption here? Before any evaluation of what’s a “good idea” can be trusted, the purpose must be clear, the vision must be well defined, and all the relevant data must have been collected (brainstormed) and analyzed (organized). “What’s a good idea?” is a good question, but only when you’re about 80 percent of the way through your thinking! Starting there would probably blow anyone’s creative mental fuses. 

You can read the complete article here.

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Frazzled mind? This recent issue of Scientific American affirms what GTDers already knew. Proactive steps such as planning and delegating are the best way to manage stress.

Fight the Frazzled Mind:

Proactive Steps Manage Stress

A new study suggests that preventive, proactive approaches are the most helpful—and that our stress management IQ is painfully low

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David Allen is featured in a new book called Willpower, by Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney.  One chapter in the book features David’s discussion with the authors about how clearing the runway of low level “stuff” in your life paves the way for the clarity and freedom of achieving bigger and better things.

In this video, co-author John Tierney talks to Reason.TV about success and failure and the positive impact David Allen and GTD can have on all that. 

(The video is streaming from YouTube, so it may take a few moments to load.)

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John Tierney has written a fascinating piece, excerpted from a book David Allen is featured in called “Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength.” It’s coming out next month.

These experiments demonstrated that there is a finite store of mental energy for exerting self-control. When people fended off the temptation to scarf down M&M’s or freshly baked chocolate-chip cookies, they were then less able to resist other temptations. When they forced themselves to remain stoic during a tearjerker movie, afterward they gave up more quickly on lab tasks requiring self-discipline, like working on a geometry puzzle or squeezing a hand-grip exerciser. Willpower turned out to be more than a folk concept or a metaphor. It really was a form of mental energy that could be exhausted. The experiments confirmed the 19th-century notion of willpower being like a muscle that was fatigued with use, a force that could be conserved by avoiding temptation. To study the process of ego depletion, researchers concentrated initially on acts involving self-control ­— the kind of self-discipline popularly associated with willpower, like resisting a bowl of ice cream. They weren’t concerned with routine decision-making, like choosing between chocolate and vanilla, a mental process that they assumed was quite distinct and much less strenuous. Intuitively, the chocolate-vanilla choice didn’t appear to require willpower. Read the full article

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TechCrunch TV’s Andrew Keen recently conducted several interviews with David Allen.  This entertaining segment starts out on the topic of how to get things done in American government, and then moves to other points of interest for GTD fans.

(The video is streaming from TechCrunch TV, so you may need to give it a moment to load.)

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Vacations enhance productivity, according to David Allen, quoted in Karen Leland’s column on Huffpost Business.

What’s your plan for a summer vacation? Or is it a staycation for enjoying your home? And how connected will you be to work, while you’re on vacation?

How Vacations Help the Business Brain

In exactly 12 days, I will be going away on a 10-day vacation. The thought of this impending time off from the daily in and out of work exhilarates me — and worries me.

On the pro side is the anticipation of rest, renewal and relaxation. Weighing in on the negatives are preparing to go in the first place and a heavier workload when I return. 

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There are four stages to acquiring new skills.  David Allen describes how they relate to learning GTD in his essay in the latest Productive Living.

DAVID’S FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Getting GTD onto cruise control

If you’re like most people who’ve begun the implementation of the GTD^® methods, you’ve had some starts and stops in your journey. While my approach is really nothing more than advanced common sense, doing these practices consistently requires some re-grooving of your behavioral patterns. And some of those, though not optimally productive, are likely deeply rooted. How does “doing GTD” become second nature—something you live by but rarely even think about?

Keep reading David’s article.

Subscribe to Productive Living. It’s free and sent about every 3 weeks.  You’ll find essays from David Allen, thought-provoking quotes, and productivity tips you can use every day.

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David Allen’s essay in the new Productive Living explores three reasons why “list” is often considered a dirty word, and three things you can do to change that for yourself.

DAVID’S FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Why “list” is a dirty word

What’s wrong with lists?  Most people haven’t had a lot of success with lists, especially the ones they’ve tried to use to “get organized.”

You are either attracted or repelled by your lists and everything on them. There is no neutral territory. When you look at any one item . . .

Keep reading David’s article.

Subscribe to Productive Living.  It’s free and sent about every 3 weeks.  You’ll find essays from David Allen, thought-provoking quotes, and productivity tips you can use every day.

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