David Allen's workspace
When you define the successful outcome of a goal or project clearly, your brain starts finding ways to achieve that outcome. Or, as David Allen crisply phrases it in chapter 13 of Getting Things Done:
A recent article entitled Your Brain on Fiction summarizes new research to support this idea. “The brain, it seems, does not make much of a distinction between reading about an experience and encountering it in real life; in each case, the same neurological regions are stimulated.” Reading fiction is like having your brain run a computer simulation program.
You might have heard David say in his seminars that the human nervous system doesn’t distinguish between a well-imagined thought and reality. Once you have identified an outcome, your brain’s reticular activating system will start organizing incoming information in ways that help you get the outcome you’ve defined. So go ahead and let your imagination savor the experience while you read your lists of successful outcomes—your projects and goals—as your brain helps you convert what you read into your reality.
Reticular formation of the brain, from Gray's Anatomy
That’s the question David Allen addresses in a feature article in the New York Times.
When Office Technology Overwhelms, Get Organized
By DAVID ALLEN
Published: March 17, 2012HOW do you think most workers would respond if you asked them, “Do you feel more productive now than you did several years ago?” I doubt that the answer would be a resounding yes. In fact, even as workplace technology and processes steadily improve, many professionals feel less productive than ever.
It may seem a paradox, but these very tools are undermining our ability to get work done. They are causing us to become paralyzed by the dizzying number of options that they spawn.
Is there a way out of this quandary? Yes, but it’s not going to come from the usual quarters. To be successful in the new world of work, we need to create a structure for capturing, clarifying and organizing all the forces that assail us; and to ensure time and space for thinking, reflecting and decision making.
Read the complete article here, or on page 1 of the March 18 print edition’s Business Day section.
“I’m overwhelmed by the amount of email I have to handle.” Many people are dealing with this situation every day, these days. They’re trying to do more, in less time. Maybe they’re even having to do the work that others were doing before the economy changed, and so many companies downsized.
You may have heard the buzz about urban hipsters getting back to a simpler time by relaxing mentally in an idyllic, low-tech cabin.
But it’s not just urbanites who feel the pressure. People who commute from the suburbs, or work at home, or already live in a rural cabin are also looking for ways to get a break from the volume of work and personal input—email, voicemail, calls, meetings, and more. Anyone who lives on the grid needs an up-to-date method for productively managing life’s input, so there’s still time for reflection. Sound familiar?
It’s natural that people who are interested in being more productive look to GTD for solutions. GTD’s systematic approach relieves the stress, and makes the busy-ness of our modern lives sustainable. Like a cabin on a mind-like-water lake.
(Please note that the cabin site may load slowly. It has lots of pictures, and—ironically—lots of traffic.)
Are there times when it’s more effective for you to relax than pressure yourself? After you read this quote from David Allen, please post your comments on how you handle this self-management challenge.
“What compounds the challenges of the self-management game is that often the most effective thing to do feels like the last thing you’re capable of doing. When you most need to plan is when you least think you have the time. When you most need to relax is when you feel most pressured to push hard. And when you most need to deal with cleaning up the minutiae of your life is when you feel most compelled to try to stay focused on something ‘more strategic.’”
—David Allen, Making It All Work
David Allen says that he “created GTD out of a personal desire to be freer with more space and energy in my life and let go of whatever was holding me back from…whatever. I would bet that for some of you, your resistance to fully embracing GTD is not about GTD or your ability to implement it, but comes from your resistance to letting go of your familiar structures, even if they are constricting you. So, what would it take for you to be free to feel free?”
DAVID’S FOOD FOR THOUGHT
ARE YOU FREE TO FEEL FREE?
If you want to have the feeling of freedom regularly, you’ve got to get used to it. Literally.
What’s the greatest obstacle to living in the relaxed state of mind that is possible with the methods I coach? People simply aren’t used to it. And anything your nervous system experiences as unique or unusual will likely be “rejected” unconsciously in short order, because it is not in the comfort zone.
This excerpt is from a recent issue of David’s Productive Living newsletter. 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.
The Atlantic’s Media Diet series asks well-known people how they deal with what seems like an overwheleming amount of stuff to read. Here’s how David Allen responded when asked what he reads.
David Allen: What I Read
How do people deal with the torrent of information pouring down on us all? What sources can’t they live without? We regularly reach out to prominent figures in media, entertainment, politics, the arts and the literary world, to hear their answers. This is drawn from a conversation with David Allen, author of the New York Times bestseller Getting Things Done and founder of David Allen Co.
I have one of the more non-traditional schedules so the only thing I do regularly is wake up. And even that’s questionable. But the first thing I typically do is open my iPad to The New York Times, read an article or two on the front page and then check out the Dining & Wine or Business Day section.
For magazines, I just love The Atlantic, and I’m not just saying that. I get the print edition and the digital version on my iPad and I often read each issue cover to cover. I also love The Week in print because of its expansive and in-depth take on the week’s events. Every so often I’ll get through The Economist but that’s usually only when I’m in travel mode.
Click here to read the full article.
This blog post by Bill Meade describes a fascinating metaphor for GTD – the bulbous bow on large ships. This bow shape modifies the way the water flows around the hull, to reduce drag and increase speed and efficiency.
I saw this great article on bulbous bowed ships a month or so ago. The key illustration in the article is of the natural bow wave of displacement hulls (green below), the bow wave of the submerged bulbous bow (blue line) and the resultant combined wave (red line).
Bulbous bows reduce the drag on ships. The energy savings can be huge, like 500%. Since reading the article, I haven’t been able to stop reflecting on how GTD reduces drag … like a bulbous bow. Wait, stay with me now! And, I’ve been exploring analogies between how GTD works and how bulbous bows work.
Click here to read more.
Are you a professional looking to drive results and efficiencies within your team or division? Then the new GTD® for Business Leaders seminar is for you. This seminar examines how our GTD business solutions can address the specific business issues and opportunities facing most organizations during these challenging times.
Whether it is talent or project management, improving innovative capacity, or dealing with emerging technology, this seminar will illustrate the personal and business value that GTD best practices provide to business leaders around the world.
Similar to our Mastering Workflow seminar, this one-day presentation is packed with principles and tools for implementing GTD.
You will learn to:
Our first seminar is in Washington DC on March 23, 2012.
Packed with practical principles and tools for implementing GTD, you will find that the GTD for Business Leaders seminar will provide great benefits to you and your organization.
David Allen talks with Bloomberg about technology and email protocols. A great 5-minute overview about the frustrations people are dealing with around email and some ways to deal with it.
