Okay, if that headline leaves you scratching your head you are probably not alone.  After all, doing nothing hardly seems like a way to get anything done, however, it is my aim to convince you that at times, doing nothing is the most appropriate next action.

As you know if you’ve been reading GTDtimes with any regularity, I’m fairly new to practicing GTD and I make no claims of being an authority on the subject.  In fact, it’s a great privilege to be able to learn from so many knowlegeable and experienced GTD’ers as a direct benefit of editing this site.  Nevertheless, I believe that I can make a strong case for my statement above because my experience in another arena has proven to me that sometimes it is the choice to do nothing that leads to better results in everything down the road.

Back when I used to race bicycles for a living I had a problem finding people who wanted to train with me.  It wasn’t that I had no friends.  The problem, it seemed was that I rode too hard on my hard days and too easy on my easy days.  Most less experienced riders do exactly the opposite.  Their hard days are not intense enough and their easy days are too intense to deliver optimum recovery.  After more than two decades in the saddle, I had learned that having the discipline to take a day completely off and just do as little as possible was a key component in my training program.

Without taking the occasional day off your body never gets that chance to fully recover and recharge.  Your energy level never reaches maximum, you never get totally re-hydrated and in the long run, the twenty, thirty, forty or fifty miles that you put in while I was hanging out watching TV weren’t the miles that won you the race, they were the nails in your coffin as I rode away on fresher legs over the final climb.

Similarly, I believe that we all need a mental break from time to time so that we have the ability to focus completely, to make good decisions about what our most appropriate next action needs to be and so that we are capable of putting forth our best effort when and where it can do the most good.

In the geek culture in particular, there’s a sort of masochistic pride we seem to take in logging the most absurd hours, taking the fewest days off and forgoing meals and coffee breaks to prove we’re working harder than the next guy.  Frankly, if we were bike racers we’d be peeing off the bike on training rides instead of stopping like civilized people. (Yes, I know it sounds impossible, but it is actually something that a professional cyclist can do without wearing it - seriously) .

Peeing aside, the truth is that this sort of behavior leads to all sorts of problems.  As a double-divorcee myself I can attest to this being counter productive to relationships, but there are other costs that are equally steep.  Stupid mistakes like accidentally hitting the “send” button or misaddressing a scathing email, falling asleep in a crucial meeting or simply doing less than stellar work are all quite possible when you don’t factor some mental recovery into your productivity strategy.

Like an athlete who doesn’t realize that the body improves while recovering from the stress of training, not the training itself, an executive who works non-stop is cheating herself out of the mental recovery that can enable creative thinking, problem solving, or even simply relaxing enough to get a good night’s sleep.

People used to laugh at my training schedule when they’d see a day that said: Mileage Zero, Couch 9 hours - they figured it must be a joke until they saw me with the remote control a stack of videos and a big bowl of microwave popcorn - yet it made perfect sense to me to schedule my recovery with the same discipline with which I scheduled my other training.

The thing is I bet that not a single reader of this site has doing nothing as a next action anywhere on any list or scheduled on any calendar.  Of course doing nothing is a little bit hard to categorize as a next action.  Perhaps we should also add occasional inaction to our lists.  Who knows, you might just discover the same thing that I did during my  racing years: that sometimes a little bit of time spent doing nothing leads to accomplishing something much bigger down the road…

HOPE YOU ALL HAD A GREAT FOURTH OF JULY AND THAT EVERYONE TOOK THE DAY OFF!!!

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We all feel shy at times.  Some of us find groups intimidating, others feel self conscious one on one, still others can’t stand to be the focus of attention for fear that people will see something wrong with them.  The truth is that everyone has insecurities and everyone has faults.  While we’re busy worrying that everyone else is secretly noticing how badly we suck at something, chances are they are really worrying about everyone noticing how badly they suck at exactly the same thing.  For all but the truly exceptionally self-assurred among us a few tips on how to feel less shy would probably come in very handy.

If you agree, check out  ThinkSImpleNow.com .  They got as a great article on how to overcome shyness as well as a ton of other content that will lift your spirits, improve your self esteem and help you remember that everyone is unique and special and also that we’re all just human. I’ll be that our two resident cognitive scientists, Jennifer George and Lynn O’Connor have even more helpful tools and enlightened commentary on shyness and how to fight it.  Perhaps one of them will weigh in on this post?

As a bonus you might want to check out another article from  ThinkSImpleNow.com that covers all the stuff we collect and some helpful methods for getting it under control.  Do you have any tips on decluttering your life that you’d like to share?  Please do in the comments.

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Editor’s Note: Smart drugs, also called nootropics are a relatively recent phenomenon for most people. Although some folks have been aware of, and utilizing, a variety of drugs that appear to measurably improve intellectual performance, concentration, wakefulness, energy, memory and more, to date there has been little coverage of these compounds in the mainstream press and also a paucity of research on safety and efficacy.

That stands to change however as new drugs like Provigil - which shows promise in correcting many problems from the effects of sleep deprivation to the fatigue associated with MS - begin to be more thoroughly investigated for off label uses. Further, aging baby boomers that are not willing to allow the aging process to slow them down, continue to drive forward the prospects of any product that can help them stay young longer.

As a former researcher with a certain amount of expertise on this topic, I would be happy to include more posts on compounds like Provigil if GTDtimes readers like this material. Please let us know in the comments.

Editor

Blogger Johann Hari posted an account of his recent experiment with the new smart drug, Provigil (also called modafinil), and it’s caused a lot of discussion in the blogosphere. Here’s a quote describing the effects he felt after ingesting his first pill:

Perplexed, I got up, made a sandwich – and I was overcome with the urge to write an article that had been kicking around my subconscious for months. It rushed out of me in a few hours, and it was better than usual. My mood wasn’t any different; I wasn’t high. My heart wasn’t beating any faster. I was just able to glide into a state of concentration – deep, cool, effortless concentration. It was like I had opened a window in my brain and all the stuffy air had seeped out, to be replaced by a calm breeze.

He didn’t experience any particular side effects, but gave it up for fear of all the things we still have to learn about the drug and its relationship with the brain. The idea of a magic, consequence-free smart drug to give you effortless concentration and productivity is tremendously tempting, don’t you think? Would you try it? Or do you prefer the old fashioned way?

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As those of you that read this site regularly may know, I am relatively new to GTD having just begun following David Allen’s principles immediately prior to taking on the editorial role here at GTDtimes. When I started I determined that it might be of value to others to read a little bit about my own experiences as I’ve been applying myself to utilizing GTD.

My first post on this topic mainly related to my realization that my prior reluctance towards implementing GTD in my own life in spite of recognizing how beneficial it was in other people’s lives related to arrogance and perhaps a little fear. This second post is more of a factual accounting regarding my actual experience in using GTD.

Getting started with GTD is both easier and more difficult than you imagine. [Read more →]

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Is getting ready to get things done getting in the way of actually getting things done? For the “hero” in this story this seems to be a real challenge…(this video comes courtesy of a tip from Michael Sliwinski, Founder of Nozbe)

Our second video today is a special treat: it’s David Allen at Google presenting GTD and the two keys to sustaining a healthy life and work style. This is a fantastic video and is absolutely worth the 45 minutes or so to watch it through. If you haven’t seen this before you’re in for a great learning experience, if you have, it’s worth seeing twice (or even thrice).

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Not that this is specific to GTD, this TED Talk, delivered by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, a brain scientist, details her very personal experience with brain trauma as she had a ringside seat to her very own stroke. This is a powerful presentation with an important message - well worth the 20 minutes to view. Enjoy.

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Randy Pausch has a unique perspective on managing his time, you see, he’s got pancreatic cancer and is aware that only a vanishingly small percentage of people survive this disease. This lecture is over one hour in length including a long introduction but given the speaker and the message I would say it is well worth the time.

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Our recent column on supplements for sharper thinking seemed to really resonate with GTD Times readers so I thought I’d continue with another compound; Co enzyme Q10. Thanks to Oliver Nielsen for reminding me of this important natural health aid.

Co enzyme Q10, also called CoQ10 as well as ubiquinone is one of the most powerful and important natural products known. It has broad efficacy across a huge spectrum of different physiological elements in the body. Research has found that in addition to its ability to fight free radical damage, CoQ10 is crucial for cellular energy production, plays a role in modulating immune function with respect to allergies, has been seen in preliminary studies to be anti-mutagenic (mutagenesis is part of the development of malignant cells or cancers), helps to support the body’s ability to control blood sugar, can improve athletic performance, and is critical for normal cardiac function. It has also been shown to be protective of the liver when using certain medications, and can dramatically improve energy levels that can be compromised when being treated with cholesterol lowering medications like lovstatin that work, in part, by inhibiting a compound that is needed for the cellular energy cycle but which also supports the production of cholesterol.

That’s quite a long list! Unlike many natural substances, CoQ10 has been the subject of extensive study due to its role in bioenergetics or the basic process by which the cells in our bodies convert a chemical called ATP into energy. Many scientists and nutrition authorities are big believers in CoQ10 and as a result there’s a substantial body of research including numerous human trials that show that CoQ10 supplementation works in both healthy humans and in those with various pathologies.

One area that’s sure to be of interest to anyone focused on improving personal productivity is how CoQ10 relates to cognitive function. While not a nootropic (intelligence increasing compound like vinpocitine), scientists have found that there is an age related decline in the CoQ10 concentration in many parts of the body and in particular within the brain. While it has not been definitively determined that age-related mental decline and even diseases such as Alzheimer’s are tied directly to CoQ10 levels, there is strong evidence that reduced CoQ10 plays a role in the ontology of these diseases.

Interestingly, some researchers now believe that Alzheimer’s is actually a form of diabetes that some are calling type III diabetes. Since CoQ10 has a role in helping reduce certain aspects of Type I and Type II diabetes, it can be reasonably inferred that it would also be of use in helping to stave off or even correct a third type of diabetes - however this is only hypothesis at this point and remains to be clearly elucidated in peer reviewed research studies.

Clearly, while we know quite a lot about the benefits of CoQ10, there’s still vastly more we need to discover. While the jury may be out on the treatment of specific diseases with CoQ10, what isn’t in question is that adding CoQ10 to your daily dietary supplement regimen can be of real value no matter what your condition and regardless of your age.

Editor’s note: Several years ago I authored a very detailed paper on CoQ10 for a client. I am happy to make this document available to readers of GTD Times with my complements: coq10-ensorb-revised.pdf

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In my previous life I was a biochemist. Lots of people wonder how I ended up working in technology but that’s a longer story than you want to read on a Friday morning. As I was sitting here, however, it occurred to me that some of my past experience might be of value to the GTD crowd. In particular my knowledge of dietary supplements and how they work is something that I figured you might find interesting and perhaps even useful.

Many people things that dietary supplements are all crap and judging from some of the commercials on television these days I can see why. It’s too bad that this junk is allowed on the airwaves because it tends to obscure some products that actually work and in some cases can work wonderfully. I spent more than a decade of my life researching natural compounds for pharmaceutical companies and I can tell you that there are natural products that have powerful and in some cases even pharmacological effects.

Over the next few months - providing your feedback is positive - I’ll do brief write-ups about some of the very best natural ingredients - many of which you can use to help you stay focused, sleep better, relieve insomnia, control your weight, reduce stress, lower cortisol (the “stress hormone”), improve your memory, reduce oxidative stress (prevent free radical damage), and much, much more.

I know that it may seem hard to believe - again because of the damnable television advertising that is IMO nothing short of criminal - but there really are some products supported by truly excellent research that have demonstrable benefit and which are not only effective, but also safe and reasonably cheap too.

One category that I’m sure you’d be keen to learn about are those products that can improve your mental acuity. There are a couple of dozen compounds that do this in various ways - in fact more than it would be reasonable to even briefly describe in a blog post. There are two, however, that are, from my experience, truly exceptional and which you can find online or in better health food stores if you want to try them for yourself. Please note that I am not affiliated with any supplement marketer or manufacturer and am not listing specific web sites or brand names. Everything I write about is for the actual raw material. Use Google to find them if you’re up for a boost.

Vinpocitine: My number one favorite supplement for mental acuity is an extract of periwinkle called vinpocitine. This natural extract, which is actually sold in Europe as the drug Cavinton, has been used for several decades to improve concentration, support memory and interestingly for the treatment of altitude sickness. Vinpocitine works in several ways, first, it is a cerbro vaso dilator, thus it improves blood flow to the brain, secondly it enhances the brain’s ability to use glucose - which is one of only two energy substrates available to the human brain (the other being ketones). Vinpocitine also improves oxygen uptake by the brain. This combination of functions greatly improves cognitive function and, unlike many supplements, these effects are not the result of cumulative doses, but are conferred by the consumption of just one 5mg dose of the active ingredient.

Vinpocitine has a long history of safe use - even people with migraine headaches (who frequently have problems with cerebro-vaso dilators) can use vinpocitine safely - I know this for a fact as I suffer from migraine and have never had a problem with vinpocitine.

Acetyl-l-Carnitine: Another supplement that I’ve found very effective for helping improve my mental acuity is acetyl-l-carnitine. This suppment,which is an acetylated form of the nutrient carnitine has been researched extensively for its functions in the human body. Among these the most important are its role in cellular energy production (it becomes something called acetyl-co-A which is part of the body’s process for creating ATP out of glucose) as well as for its ability to support production of the primary neurotransmitter acetylcholine which is what your brain uses to allow neurons to communicate with one another.

While vinpocitine helps make you noticeably sharper, my experience with ALCAR or acetyl-l-carnitine is more related to improving memory than sharpening my focus (although many of my colleagues felt that it was the best non-stimulant ingredient of all for increasing mental focus). The research currently being conducted is focusing on using ALCAR in patients with age related mental decline, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer diseases.

ALCAR is a bit on the pricey side, but for some people the results are so significant that they’d probably pay ten times the cost for this very safe and demonstrably effective supplement.

I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into a bit of what I know from my prior life. Please let us know if you liked this article and more will follow. Of course it should be mentioned that I am NOT A DOCTOR and this post and any like it are for your information only and should not be construed as prescriptions or specific recommendations. What works for me may not work for you and as with any supplement you are taking this at your own risk. I highly recommend that if you are being treated for any serious health condition or if you are pregnant or nursing that you speak with your physician before taking ANY dietary supplement.

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