Editor’s Note:  This is the first post by new GTDtimes contributor Dan Schawbel.  His expertise is in personal branding.  You can visit his site here.

People need drive in order to accomplish goals.  Salespeople need incentives in order to act.  We all need a reason for being to feel compelled to get things done.  Passion is an amazing vocabulary word.  It means to have a strong feeling or emotion tied to something.  Passion is the energy or rocket fuel we need in order to give us a reason for being or the ability to get from 0 to 60 in 3.2 seconds like a Ferrari.  The one thing in common with most successful people is passion.  Take Oprah, Trump or Tiger Woods for example.  They all love what they do, which means that no matter what obstacles surface, they will push through because they believe in themselves and their cause.
As a brand, you need to discover what you are passionate about.  In the blogosphere, 60-80% of blogs are abandoned due to lack of passion.  Without that mental drive, you lose focus and become lethargic; therefore you stop your current activity and jump to the next.  When you make that leap, you are confused and unsure of yourself, which is detrimental to your personal and professional life.  People switch jobs all the times and sometimes they shift careers altogether.  When this happen, the skills that don’t carry over become lost and not exercised.
Where does passion come from?  The secret is that passion comes from within.  It makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  It’s like a drug for the soul that reactivates it every time it’s asleep.  I always tell people that when you discover your passion, everything else comes together.  It’s like you’re having an awakening and are going through enlightenment.   Many people neglect their passion for financial reasons or because they feel they have to work a regular 9-5 job to survive.  They may have multiple responsibilities that they have to juggle on a reoccurring basis or a family they need to provide for.  The key with passion is to take time out of your day to reflect and to have a clear goal in life.
What you do for work might not even define who you are.  Sometimes it’s your work or hobbies outside of your current profession that become what you do full-time.

Tips on how to find your passion:

•    Take time out of your day and think about your situation, your skill set and goals.
•    Ask others for feedback, as to what they think you would excel at.
•    Take self-assessments from institutions such as Myers-Briggs.
•    Read a book or two to get some new ideas and refresh your mind.

Before you start a blog, a business or proceed in your career, please take time to find out more about yourself.  You will waste a considerable amount of time second guessing yourself later if you don’t invest now.  The more you pay attention to who you are in the inside, the more you can become that person on the outside.  Passionate people are confident, energetic and above all, happy.  Do you want all of that?  If yes, then start working at it.

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David Allen, the man who created the GTD paradigm and changed millions of lives as a result is offering up another helping of his incredible insight into personal productivity.  This time by way of some articles he’s writing for one of the country’s most popular business publications, Business Week. Definitely worth a read and probably worth clipping and sharing or forwarding to HR people and stressed co-workers everywhere.

As an aside, if you like something that you see posted on GTDtimes it would be very helpful if you could take a moment and Digg the post, submit it to Stumbleupon, bookmark it in Del.icio.us or simply just use ShareThis  to share the information with your friends.  Thanks!

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Editor’s Note:  This is the first in what I expect will be a series of posts from  Arif and Ali of Vakil Housing - which to our knowledge is the first company in India to implement GTD across their entire workforce.

Story by Arif Vakil

How I first came across GTD

It was more than two years ago that I learned about GTD.  I was taking care of the HR department of Vakil Housing (our Company) then.  I was buried with applications that were flowing in for the various positions open in our growing company.  The applications were coming in through mail, through post, some were personally delivered.  To organize myself I started making stacks of these applications all around me for the different positions we had to offer and eventually ran out of space on my desk.  I badly needed a system to file all these applications in such a way so that I could retrieve an application within 30 seconds the moment I needed it.  There began my internet searching for a good filing system.  Little did I know that the system I would come across would become one of the most significant changes in my life and at our company, Vakil Housing.

I really could go on and on how every so much GTD has benefited us.  Each time I go through my actions when I’m in a particular context and “knock a few suckers” out from my list or when I come up with a truly Brilliant, Wild Success solution by using the Natural Planning Model, I always tell myself that it’s not because of me, but it’s thanks to G-O-D that I learned G-T-D which have led to such wonderful results.

How far we’ve reached in GTD implementation as a Company
As all GTD implementers would earnestly agree, GTD certainly sky-rockets ones productivity levels.  Because of GTD, I have been:

• - Arriving at Next Actions instantly, therefore moving forward
• - Taking much faster decisions
• - Visioning wild success
• - Delegating
• - Tracking each and every decision that I have given to execution.

All of the above led to two realizations.  Firstly, we have truly a brilliant team within our organization.  The staff at Vakil Housing were able to take-on much more tasks than I was handing out to them prior to GTD.  Secondly, nonetheless since I had become so much more super-productive, I needed others to keep up with me.  When a task was handed out to someone, I needed the peace of mind that the task would be handled.  But when I don’t see people writing down tasks assigned to them, a siren plays in my head screaming, “Red Alert, Red Alert, Warning, Warning”.  That’s what triggered almost a year long company wide training and implementation of GTD the pinnacle of which was an “Official David Allen Trainer coming down to our company here in India” .

For almost the last year or so we’ve been consistently having some sort of weekly GTD Training session in-house.  Our staff don’t have too much of a background of working in a “corporate” environment, where all have voice mail, in boxes or pigeonholes.  In fact some have felt & used a computer or responded to an email only after joining our company.  So we started from there and over the last many months, we have now reached a place where almost all the Department Heads and Senior Managers of our 120 staff company:

• - Clear the email in box to “zero” every 2nd or 3rd day.
• - Carry a paper based GTD Notebook with them everywhere
• - Have their personal “only-swivel-distance-away” Reference Filing system.
• - Have a clear understanding of Projects and Next Actions,
• - The always have a current list of Projects with them handy.
• - Use the Natural Planning Model to do Project Planning (I’ve only trained them on this last week so that will take a while).

As Kevin Wilde (Chief Learning Officer, General Mills) experienced it with his staff, some are deep-divers and some surface-skimmers.  But all have implemented it to some degree and we now can comfortably speak the same language.

When I look back, it seems quite incredible that we’ve reached so far, but we have.  However, we still have some way to go, till this manner of thinking becomes a solid irreplaceable culture within our organization.

What are the specific steps we took to implement GTD at Vakil Housing:
There are various initiatives that we had taken, which I shall try to expand on over a series of blog posts, most of which were:

• - Conducting Weekly GTD Training Meetings for Department Heads
• - Finding a working paper based GTD system and handing that out to everybody
• - Conducting one-to-one GTD Training at the desks of various individuals
• - Pairing people up as GTD Buddies to help each other do their daily process
• - Making a personalized pocket notepad, to encourage all to capture commitments
• - Putting up various GTD posters up in our conference room
• - Personalized Jott system within the office to encourage capturing when one is not able to write.
• - Finally being trained and creating trainers within the organization to make this an on-going process.

So stay tuned on this series of Blog post on GTDTimes, by tracking the Vakil Housing tag.  In future posts I shall describe the above steps in detail, as to how we successfully implemented GTD across our company.

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GTDtimes is pleased to be the first site anywhere in the world to announce news of a major event in the world of GTD…

For the first time anywhere  five hundred of the most intelligent, inspired and productive people on the planet will gather in San Francisco, California to learn, share, explore, inspire and most importantly to Get Things Done…

The Getting Things Done Global Summit!

Headlined by the inimitable David Allen, author of “Getting Things Done: the Art of Stress Free Productivity” this first GTD Global Summit, taking place on March 11th to the 13th, 2009,  promises to be a truly once-in-a-lifetime event.

Not only will attendees get the chance to  learn the latest on GTD by the man that created the strategy, David will also be sharing new material from his forthcoming book “Making it All Work: Winning at the Game of Business and Business of Life“.

Complimenting David will be a cadre of some of the most accomplished and effective people in the world:

• CEOs that have have had the insight and vision to implement a GTD culture throughout their organizations yielding extraordinary results

• Coaches who will share how implementing a GTD strategy has had profound benefits for their clients from world class athletes to struggling students

• David’s Senior GTD Facilitators who will lead hands on sessions to share their real-world techniques to help you implement GTD for yourself and your organization and maximize the success you will achieve as a result.

• Surprise guests that will inspire, awe and excite you with their stories of how they managed to achieve success, in some cases against unimagineable adversity and odds that would have been dramatically improved had they only been one in a million.

If  other conferences are about ideas and inspiration, the GTD Global Summit is about action and implementation.  No other event will have this level of practical, how to information to help you further refine your personal GTD strategy, troubleshoot your own implementation, or introduce you to new tools and techniques to take even the most advanced GTD Blackbelt to a whole new level.

In addition, demonstration areas will be reserved for attendees to check out the latest in high tech gadgetry- a veritable “geek’s paradise” of software, hardware, and accessories will be available for you to discover, test, and compare; from tried and true products you may have seen to the latest whiz-bang prototypes that you may not have even heard of, let alone seen or touched.

Of course one of the greatest benefits to attending the GTD Global Summit will be the opportunity to meet and network with five-hundred other GTD practitioners all in one place.  If you’re a GTD’er you already know that people that use GTD to help them stay on top of things are consistently among the most intelligent, informed and productive people on the planet.  Here’s your chance to make new friends, develop new professional relationships and capitalize on the energy and collective intelligence that only a group such as this can generate.   If you’ve attended special events in the past, you know that half the value lies in the people you meet and the friendships you establish.  Now take that prior experience and multiply it by 500 and imagine the possibilities.

The GTD Global Summit is scheduled to take place from the 11th to the 13th of March, 2009 at the unparalleled new Hotel Intercontinental in San Francisco, California.  Only five-hundred fortunate individuals will have the chance to attend this life-changing event.  Reservations can be made at the official GTD Global Summit Website.

Further news about the GTD Global Summit will be made available here as soon as we receive it.  The link to the conference website above is now live so be sure to make your reservation before it’s too late!

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David Allen starts the RoadMap seminar: “GTD is all about the lazy way of getting things done”.

That got me thinking. Getting things done - that means everything done. Yes even the wash. Done. Getting the wash-IN basket to empty can be done in 2 minutes. Each stage in the process need not take longer - be that collecting or processing, organizing, doing or reviewing.

Doing the wash, even big piles of it which comes with living with 3 kids, takes me (us) a couple of minutes at each stage.  The piles grow (quickly) everyday, especially with children. Mostly things just get dumped on the floor. I find things in the oddest places too, like a left sock under the car seat or a sweater next to the sofa and a hat on the kitchen table.

A visiting friend once pointed out “this house is lived in!”.

Collection is a continuous and daily task. Everything gets to the wash-in basket - and it never takes more than 2 minutes to get to done.

Process - organize and color code “What is this?” Processing the wash-in basket gets done quickly. Involving the children can make this a really fun task. It also takes the mystery out of what happens to my dirty trousers, and gives understanding to the question: “where is my favorite shirt?” Or a clean set of underwear.

• COLLECT - all the socks and dirty stuff
• PROCESS - sort and colour code, one at a time
• ORGANIZE - machine or hand wash? Dryer or hang it up?
• REVIEW - fold or iron, keep it or pass stuff on
• DO - putting it back, one thing at a time!

Like Michael Sliwinski mentioned in his recent post on GTDtimes, doing things, like the wash, is all about the 2 minute rule.

Delegate it.  I delegate tasks for the children. In fact they organize their own lists of who does what each week (more on lists in another posting). Collecting and putting away the wash for example are great habits to foster.

Learning by doing: In a situation where learning by doing sometimes means  not doing anything, I recently shared the experience of not having any clean underwear with my son. This came came about when the collection step was missed. Puzzled as I had done all the wash, dried it and folded most things - I helped see where the problem was. Sure enough several discrete piles were discovered. None had been placed in the wash-IN basket. After reviewing this “awakening” together and agreeing who does what in the process of doing the wash my son had a better understanding of how “not doing” resulted in a result also - though not the desired result to be sure.

Having fun.  Of course with kids, making things fun - even something boring like the wash is key to engaging their minds and making the lessons stick.  By incorporating the principles of GTD into doing the wash with my kids  we see that this chore can be done 2 minutes at a time and we can even have fun in the process.

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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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Kathryn Allen forwarded both of these videos to me and I thought they were wonderful. Thanks for sharing Kathryn!

Here’s a short clip from a brilliant little film called “Yellow Sticky Notes”:

If you want to see the entire short, please visit this site.

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Parkour or is a sport that involves high speed traversal of any area in such a way as to cover as much ground as efficiently as possibly - if you recall the opening scene in the recent 007 Film, Casino Royale, you’ve seen Parkour. There are two themes here that I felt related well to GTD, first, the idea of responding appropriately to any situation.

Parkour is about responding appropriately to the terrain through which a person is moving and is not about extraneous movements or tricks. Flipping and other stunts that do not contribute directly to getting from point a to point b as quickly and efficiently as possible are not part of Parkour, but a related discipline called “Free Running” that is a distinct activity according to the people who have been the most influential in creating this new form of movement and self expression.

The second theme relates to mental discipline and the ability to overcome obstacles through the power of the mind. I believe that mental conditioning is critical to performing at your highest level in any activity. As a professional cyclist I found that my physical performance was best when I regularly did mental training in addition to my physical preparation and I believe that the same holds true for GTD - in fact, I would go so far as to suggest that this is part of the reason why the weekly review is so important - it allows you to train your mind to accomplish the things you need to do and helps you prepare yourself for your upcoming efforts.

The video below features Parkour in the context of overcoming physical obstacles using your mind I hope you’ll find it as inspirational as I did.

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Don’t Look Down…

This should probably be filed under “reasons to appreciate YouTube”. This pathway, called the El Caminito Del Rey is in Malaga, Spain. It was constructed (lord only knows HOW it was constructed) around 1901 for the purpose of controlling some sluice-ways from the canyon walls into the valley below.

The sure-footed videographer is among the finest free climbers I have ever seen (check out his other videos ). According to the comments on the original Brightcove post (anyone know how to embed Brightcove video in WordPress MU?) the music is “Magic Of Politics” by Micheal Darius, the sampled voice, is John F Kennedy reading Faulkner. The track can be found at Michael Dario’s website.

Extra Dimensions and the Theory of…Everything

Brian Greene takes us on a fascinating journey from the discovery of gravity to the possibility that the universe is made up not of three, but of eleven total dimensions and that all matter is made up of tiny vibrating “strings” of energy…

Bonus Footage:

Finally, GTD with ADD and OCD? Yep, according to Chris Pirillo

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As you know, GTD Times is very new. As the Editor I’m still in the early stages of tuning the content mix to determine what people enjoy most, find most useful, most entertaining, most thought provoking, most inspirational, most fun - and most importantly, what keeps you coming back every day to see what’s new here on the site.

Personally, I’m a huge fan of video - since the advent of YouTube and Google Video I’ve discovered content that I would never have seen otherwise - content that has had a profound impact upon me and my life and upon the way I see the world. I’m sure that many of you have also discovered videos that have had a similar impact upon yourselves.

I’d love to know what videos you’ve come across that fit this criteria and I’d love to be able to share them with the GTD community. These do not have to be specific to mastering your workflow and in fact, the more thought provoking, challenging, eye opening or inspirational the better.

Send the links my way and every Sunday I’ll post at least a few of these videos to the site so that the community can benefit from our individual discoveries.

I figure that Sunday would be the best day for this since it is the day of the week when we’re least likely to be at the office where watching a video may be frowned upon, not allowed or inappropriate. After all, Sunday is supposed to be a day or rest, isn’t it? So kick back, put those feet up on top of your tidy desk, and chill out for a few minutes with some video courtesy of GTD Times and the GTD Community…

Today’s Videos:

I think it would be easier just to “Get it done…”

Feeling small? Puts things in perspective, doesn’t it?

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