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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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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David Allen notes that, “if you’re like most people, you’ve experienced a positive shift in your energy and enthusiasm simply by identifying what you want to do about a project, situation, or opportunity…” His essay in the latest Productive Living newsletter explores getting free by naming what has your attention.

DAVID’S FOOD FOR THOUGHT

GETTING FREE

One of the reasons the GTD approach can be so empowering comes down to a simple, primal dynamic: When something is named, it is known; and when it is known, its hold on us is released. When things we have allowed into our inner or outer world are appropriately and accurately identified, we feel curiously freed from them. It’s all about clarifying what things mean to us and sorting them in our world appropriately.

Do you have any projects that you haven’t identified as projects yet? Got anything you’ve been thinking that needs clarification, resolution, or looking into, that you don’t have on a Projects list yet, that you look at regularly to keep actions moving toward?

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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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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Pedro from Brazil wrote:

Question: Since I’m always completing “old” tasks and “generating” new tasks, my “list” ALWAYS has tasks to be completed. GTD is nice because you can see all task and never lose track of anything, but on the other hand it’s weird because it gives me the feeling that it never ends!

David Allen: The answer to your question is very simple: you’re never finished until you’re dead (if even then, on other levels of our existence).  The essence of GTD is to get yourself “in the driver’s seat” about what you’re doing, and want and need to do. It’s not about finishing everything. You don’t have to finish something to be free of it. You simply need to decide what it means to you, park the outcomes and actions in the appropriate places that you trust will be reviewed at the right time… and you’re free.

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This post is from Chip Joyce, a longtime GTDer who also happens to work for David Allen Company as Director of Business Development in New York.

A principle of Getting Things Done is to habitually write down everything that has your attention. Writing things down can be done with pen on paper, or typing into a computer, or any method that externalizes the thought. The key is to get it out of your head.

Then you need to assess whether you are going to commit to doing something about what you’ve written down. If so, what is the desired outcome? What does done look like? And what is the next action to get to that point? Alternately, [Read more →]

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David Allen talks about the importance of getting stuff off your mind in this interview with Mike Sullivan of M.O.

Mike: Let me ask you this. How important is it to follow this system exactly as you’ve outlined? I read the book a few years ago. I’ve implemented the system. I’m probably not using it to its fullest. What’s your perspective on that?

 

 David: Well, you either want nothing on your mind or you want to keep stuff on your mind. If you want nothing on your mind, you absolutely must rigorously download everything that is potentially meaningful, decide the outcome and action steps embedded in those, and park those in some place you trust you’re going to look at, at the right time.

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

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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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David Allen was asked how much detail is needed when listing next actions.  His answer gives a look at the psychology of GTD, and why it’s about more than the lists:

The purpose of having the granular next action on a list is to define what “doing” looks like and where it happens, so you can finish your thinking about what to do about the commitment (outcome, project, etc.)  That said, another reason for the granularity on the action lists is to subvert the procrastination that potentially shows up because of a pre-conscious insecurity about success.  As in, “I don’t want to step into something I don’t think I can control.”  If the enormity of the next action causes you to falter, then it’s advantageous to define a smaller, doable chunk.  For example, “draft plot ideas” instead of “draft great American novel.”

 For more on this topic, see this excellent article in The New Yorker that mentioned David’s book Getting Things Done, and the value of the GTD approach.

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