Have you ever had the feeling of being lost & left wondering “Why am I doing what I’m doing?”, “Why am I in this Job?”, “What does all this mean?”, “Who am I, and what is my purpose?”.  In spite of all the achievements there is a feeling of emptiness.  This feeling usually comes when our actions are not aligned with our Life’s purpose.

Using the Horizons of Focus model, GTD helped me align my day to day actions to my life’s purpose, and in this post I’d like to talk about how you can do the same.

What is GTD at 50,000 ft?

The Horizons of Focus Model is basically the agreements that one has with his or herself at different Horizons. Each Horizon represents a different time-level & impact.  It’s a tool to know what your work is so that your priorities are clear. Take a look at Michael Dolan’s post for a more detailed description on the Horizons of Focus.

In David’s book 50,000 ft is defined as “This is the ‘big picture’ view. Why does your company exist? Why do you exist? The primary purpose for anything provides the core definition of what its ‘word’ really is. It is the ultimate job description.”

In other words, your agreements at 50,000 ft. are the description of your life’s purpose.

How to Find Your Life’s Purpose?

Sometimes I wish we were born with an instruction manual outlining our purpose, life would be so much easier, but then again life wouldn’t be so interesting if we had all the answers!  I like to define Life’s purpose in a two-fold manner. The first is one’s Inner Purpose, and the second is one’s Outer-Purpose.

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Today, I’ll share the next part of my e-mail that answers the question: “How to ramp up quickly with GTD and Lotus Notes?“  We’ve touched on the productivity equation and we’ve looked at how methodology is the first component of the equation. We also explored the technology or tools that can be used to implement GTD in Lotus Notes.  Last week, I discussed Mobility: how to get things done on the run. Now, as I begin to wrap up this series, I want to discuss the value I’ve found in getting coaching in how to make all of this work together.

There’s a lot to be learned from reading books and attending seminars. I routinely do both. But when I really want to improve my skills or performance in a given area I turn to a coach, a mentor, or an expert that can help me accomplish my objectives. I think it’s important to understand that hiring a productivity coach is not a magic bullet for getting things done. YOU have to do the work, but a good coach can help you see what may not be readily apparent to you and encourage you to build sustainable habits. (I’ll talk more about sustainable habits at the end of this post.)

Here’s what I wrote to the person who asked me about getting things done on the run…

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Michael Sliwinski from Nozbe has another one of his quick, two-minute productivity videos up for us to enjoy.  Michael has kindly notified us first so GTDTimes is once again the first site to be airing this video.  Are you ready to learn about In-boxes?

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Today, I’ll share the next part of my e-mail that answers the question:How to ramp up quickly with GTD and Lotus Notes? We’ve touched on the productivity equation and we’ve looked at how methodology is the first component of the equation. We also explored the technology or tools that can be used to implement GTD in Lotus Notes. Now, let’s look at mobility…

As you learn more about GTD, you’ll come to appreciate the value of getting everything out of your head and into a system you can trust. In order to do this, it is critical for you to be able to do this no matter where you are or what you are doing. To do this, it’s important that you equip yourself with tools that support you whether you are; at home, the office, or on-the-go. I recommend at least one analog tool and often at least one digital tool, depending on your mobile information management needs. If you are someone that always has a computer available to you 24×7, then this section may not be useful. Lotus Notes does a great job of keeping information synchronized across distributed computers. On the other hand, if you are like me, you spend at least some part of your work day “out and about” and you need a way to keep your GTD lists and related information with you so that you can work from your lists, and manage your work.

Let’s discuss the mobility aspect of getting things done while on the run…

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Today, I’ll share the next part of my e-mail that answers the question: “How to ramp up quickly with GTD and Lotus Notes?“
We’ve touched on the productivity equation and we’ve looked at how methodology is the first component of the equation. Now, we’ll look at the technology or tools that you use. Since you’ve already selected GTD as your methodology (a decision I wholeheartedly agree with) you now need to find a GTD implementation tool that will support you in the way that you work. From my email:<blockquote>II. Choose your GTD implementation tool and master it

From 3×5 card to paper planner to MAC/PC to BlackBerry — there are a range of solutions. The brilliance of GTD, I think, is that it’s platform agnostic so you can manage using the GTD methodology just as well on a napkin or using custom software. What you need to find is a very good list manager, something that is easy to use, is easy to integrate with your existing workflow, and is fast. Most important, it must be something you can trust.

We discussed your use of Lotus Notes at your company. I think Lotus Notes is a powerful tool for personal knowledge and action management. It also happens to be the tool of choice for me and for the The David Allen Company. (Disclosure, The David Allen Company is an ICA client and David is a good geek friend - I designed and deployed their Notes collaboration infrastructure and have supported David and his team for the past 15 years, so I’m a little biased as to the power of Lotus Notes.) Many people are successfully using GTD with Lotus Notes in a variety of ways.

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The GTD weekly review is a great habit. Almost everywhere I read about the importance and effects of regular reviews. In my everyday activities I notice the effects too -  amidst the chaos  of everyday life, the payoff of  committing myself to conducting regular reviews results in having the appropriate  response to whatever comes up.

I also read about the struggles we (can) have. A recent lecture at my children’s school helped me understand why I struggle and how I learn new habits.

Learning new habits

A habit is something we all have plenty of. Learning a new one takes time. Whatever it is. Yes even “bad” habits take time to learn.

Children are quick to learn. And like me need time to make what they have learned really their own.

It takes something like 4 weeks to acquire a habit.

Every day or week, diligent repetition of a task helps make that task a habit. And the learning continues. It takes something like a year to make a habit a part of me. A skill. Good reason to continue until that habit reaches a level of perfection.

Music lessons and the music of GTD

My children each play their own instrument. Charlotte the violin, Judit cello and Thomas piano. The daily rhythm of playing is important to establish. Weekly lessons support the practicing habit.

Orchestra and ensemble rehearsals, regular concerts and just playing bring joy to music. That moment of concentration. Those nervous moments waiting. Deep breath… One. Two. Three. Four. Pure music to the ear. And the applause! Wow what a feeling.

And that is just me as father listening! The hardest thing I love to do, is watch the children growing up.

We now have summer concerts at the end of the school year. Later in the year Christmas street concerts are not only great fun, but raise extra pocket money too.

Goals and projects making music

“Papa! I want to play every weekend at the Market!”

I ask: What do you need to do to get there? When can you play? Who do you want to play with? Which instrument? How many songs do you know? Which songs are fitting for Christmas or just fun to listen to? Which piece are youM going to learn next?

Focusing on goals like these means we often forget that we are learning about habits. And suddenly habits become something else. Its just about having fun!

GTD is like making music.

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Today, I’d like to talk about methodology as a key component in my productivity equation and specifically how it relates to ramping up quickly with GTD and Lotus Notes.

Whether you are conscious of it or not, you have a methodology, a system, a habit for how you get your work done. Some methodologies, systems, and habits will be more productive than others; some can even be counter productive. I began this series by writing an email to help someone get started using Lotus Notes as his implementation tool for David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology.

Over the years, I’ve learned several approaches to knowledge work but to date I have found none that made more sense and was more sustainable for me than GTD. It wasn’t always this way. I used to find Stephen Covey’s 7-Habits approach to be ideal and while I think it is an excellent approach for planning, I was unable to sustain it on a day to day basis and I often felt bad that my day to day actions were not getting me closer to my goals and vision. That’s not to say that Covey’s approach doesn’t work - it does, but it was a great deal for me to maintain.

Covey takes a top-down approach to productivity, starting with the desired outcome (”Begin with the end in mind”) and then working down to daily actions that line up to support those goals. On paper that makes sense to me as the best way to go. In real life, however, it was hard to do, because, well, life happens.

David Allen’s approach starts at the bottom - clearing the decks — so that you can think freely about the bigger picture stuff. I’ve been working with GTD since long before the GTD moniker and I can tell you that it is sustainable. What do I use today? A little of both. The foundation of my work style is built on the GTD methodology, while Covey has certainly influenced the values and planning aspects of my work and life.

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Jim Rider, the VP of Brand Communications over at the David Allen Company just forwarded this interesting news to my attention. It seems that Vakil Housing is the first company in India to go through a company wide GTD training program. Not only that but several key individuals went a step further and obtained additional training to become trainers themselves, enabling them to support their company’s effort to instill a GTD oriented culture.

Let me be one of the first to offer my congratulations to everyone at Vakil Housing. This is an awesome first step and I’m certain that the company as a whole will reap huge benefits from your efforts in this regard. I’d also like to invite anyone from Vakil Housing that has the desire to write about your company’s experiences adopting a GTD culture and submit the reports to GTDtimes. I am sure that I’m not alone in having an interest in hearing how your GTD efforts progress, what benefits you realize, what obstacles you encounter and how you overcome them.

From Vakil Housing:

Since the beginning of this year, we’ve been eagerly awaiting this training to take place and last week it finally happened. Dream Com True! Leslie Boyer Harradine an associate with the David Allen Company, was down here for a whole week for an intensive training session, exclusively for Vakil Housing. Other than Training our staff in this methodology, Leslie, also trained a couple of us to be Trainers ourselves. So that this would not just be a one-time thing, but the practice and training will continue inhouse so that eventually a GTD culture sets-in.

If someone from Vakil Housing would like to contribute in this regard, please send me a note at: editor@gtdtimes.com and I’ll send you some details on how contributing to GTDtimes.com works.

One last thought about this; has anyone else seen companies in other countries taking steps like Vakil Housing has taken to implement GTD across an entire organization? If so, we’d love to hear about it. Again, send the information to editor@gtdtimes.com and we’ll be sure to share the news with the GTD Community.

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(This is the first installment in my series talking about how to ramp up quickly with GTD and Lotus Notes. This first post is actually not specific to Lotus Notes at all; it described my reference point for how I approach knowledgework.)

I began my recent eProductivity Seminar by introducing my eProductivity equation for knowledge worker productivity:

KWP = M x T x K

Put another way:

Knowledge Worker Productivity [or results] =
Methodology x Technology x Knowledge

That is, the outcome of any project will be influenced (one way or the other) by how well you use and apply (your methodology) your knowledge and tools to the problem at hand.

I believe GTD provides an outstanding framework for managing work productively - the methodology; I think that Lotus Notes can be a powerful tool for information, action, and knowledge management — the technology. As far as what your knowledge… only you know that.

Think about how this equation applies to your knowledge work. What are your methodologies (defined or undefined)? What tools do you use?

How does what you know influence the work that you do?

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Recently, an executive at a large global consulting firm with over 100K Lotus Notes users called me to ask for help getting up to speed with GTD and Notes. He told me that he was feeling overwhelmed at work with a growing number of projects and responsibilities and in his pursuit of a solution he had found and read David Allen’s book, Getting Things Done. He was also aware that while Lotus Notes is an excellent tool for messaging, collaboration, and information management, it wasn’t supporting him in the way that he needed. He was calling to get eProductivity for Lotus Notes and some coaching to help him set up Notes to be more productive. After a fruitful conversation, and my promise to help him, he asked me, “How can I ramp up quickly with GTD & Lotus Notes?” (I get asked this question a lot, so I decided to write a short e-mail that would be very helpful and something that I could reuse again the next time the question arose.) I promised to send him an email that night with some lessons I had learned and some tips for getting things done with Lotus Notes.

Well, my e-mail turned into an 6-part essay of my lessons learned and recommendations from the past 15 years of using Notes and the GTD methodology.

Over the next several days, I will take a look at the methodology (GTD) and the Technology parts of the equation… and share my experience and response to this person’s question of how to ramp up quickly with GTD & Lotus Notes.

I invite you to follow-along and join me in conversation about this topic.

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