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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Sometimes Christmas feels like an all-consuming project that sends us racing through malls, jumping from party to party, and being busy-busy-busy as we fill our time with lots of Christmas fluff.

I want something more than that, though.

I don’t want to have to “recover” from Christmas. I don’t want to start the new year eight pounds heavier. I don’t want my children focused only on the electronic gadgets they hope Santa brings. But everything I don’t want will probably become my reality–unless I take the initiative to implement what I do want.

David Allen’s Natural Planning Model seriously saves my sanity on everything from birthday party planning to creating new programs for my website, so this year, I decided to use the five steps of the Natural Planning Model to create a Christmas experience that is both magical and meaningful.

Step One: Defining Purpose and Principles

For this part, I sat down with my children and gave them the following prompts:

• What’s the purpose of this season?
• What do you want this Christmas to feel like for our family?
• Please finish this sentence: “I would be happy with any Christmas celebration, as long as . . .”

[Read more →]

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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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This post on planning a baby shower is from the Art department at the David Allen Company.

Here’s a great reminder of how helpful GTD is for any project, personal or professional.

Our team at the David Allen Company is planning a baby shower for  a co-worker.  We met today to do the following:

1. Brainstorm and mind map the project
2. Decide on next actions
3. Assign people to the identified next actions
4. Decide when to loop around again for further planning

Here was our simple mind map that helped clarify the tasks:

Our 20-minute meeting allowed everyone to move forward on this fun project with their own clearly-defined tasks.

GTD can help integrate your professional and personal life. Simple, easy, and fun planning — that’s a “GTD” baby shower!

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Join David Allen and Marian Bateman for a unique webinar about the freedom of completion.  What holds you back from completing things in your life?  Where could you free up your energy through completion–even if that means deciding to not do anything about it at all? This webinar will blend discussion with practical examples and creative questioning for you to look at where you can gain greater freedom.

When: Thursday, August 25, 11am-12pm Pacific Time

Who: Hosted by GTD Connect–the online learning center for the David Allen Company

How: Login to gtdconnect.com to pre-register. Free for all GTD Connect members and current guest pass members.

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GTD creates more space in our thinking, so we can manage the surprises of an increasingly complex world.  That’s what Tony Schwartz said in the Harvard Business Review and Fast Company, following up on his talk at the SXSW Conference.  He advises readers to develop sustainable practices for productivity.  We’re more effective navigating the whitewater of our busy lives when we make sure that there are enough of what he calls “purposeful pauses” for review and reflection in calm water.

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This is a Community Contribution from Mike Vardy

Some people need silence to be productive. Some people need music. Some people need an extreme amount of light. Some people don’t need anything specific. Some people don’t need anything at all.

To anyone who falls into one “some” category, they are not likely to fall into another. There’s a subjective nature to working environments. The same goes for distractions.

[Read more →]

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David Allen received this email from a student:
I consider myself to be very smart and imaginative. The people that get to know me always have a very good impression of me and have great expectations from me. More importantly, I have a lot of dreams and ideas. But I’m not very practical and everything ends at a theoretical phase. I never have clear objectives and I’m always confused by dozens of thoughts and can’t focus properly on what I do.

Most of the time I feel like I’m wasting my time, and would rather be doing something else. I always feel I ought to organize, so I make a nice, tight schedule. But after a couple of days it’s gone, and I’m back at the beginning.

If I had to describe the last 10 years of my life in a sentence I would say: “I woke up every morning to row in yet another direction.”

[Read more →]

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David Allen’s answer: Regarding defining existence and personal fulfillment, I’d put that more in the category of 50,000-ft thinking (in the GTD Horizons of Focus) or standards. It could be phrased something like, “continually exploring and expanding the fulfillment of my destiny on the planet.” That’s not something you ever finish (unless it is). But operationally it’s a standard to hold re: your internal focus, [Read more →]

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From all my years of working with probably every type of reasonably healthy and effective person, I’ve noticed no particular bias of style that “favors GTD” more than any other.  Of course, the real question inside that:  What is GTD?  If you think it’s about organizing lists, then of course the left-brainers may fall in step. If you say, on the other hand, it’s really about the most effective way to produce and maintain clear psychic space, then the “creatives” will most resonate.  Eliminating static appeals to everyone, in his/her own way, and for his/her own reasons. It ensures close tolerance and closure, and it opens vistas and catalyzes thinking. Could it be that GTD is truly on the nerve of the larger integration of yin/yang, creator/destroyer, right-brain/left-brain, linear/associative polarities? – David Allen

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