“The two key ingredients for making it all work are:

• Control
• Perspective

If you can maintain a sufficent level of each of these factors in yourself or in your organization,  your world will be in order and you’ll be focused exactly as you should be.”

—David Allen, Making It All Work

Where do you stand, today, on the matrix of self-management?  In less than two minutes, GTD-Q will give you a visual representation of where you fit in terms of the two critical elements of self management—control and perspective.

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If you need to get on top of your Microsoft Outlook® email, calendar, and tasks by implementing GTD, this is the webinar for you.  You’ll learn the best recommendations for building a GTD system in Outlook to seamlessly handle your work and personal commitments.  It’s only 90 minutes, and it’s packed with tips and tricks that will start saving you time right away.

Wednesday, June 27, from 10am-11:30am Pacific Time

You can find more information about GTD Public Webinars by clicking here.

GTD® & Outlook® Webinar – June 27, 2012

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Question: In your book you say being organized means that “where things are suits what they mean to you.” So if you’re disorganized in life, whether your desk is a total mess or you can’t keep track of your appointments … what should your first step be to becoming organized? Where do you begin if you’re feeling overwhelmed?

Answer from David Allen: First step is to capture into a simple ‘bucket” all of those things that are not on cruise control—anything that has your attention. Write it all down. Then decide what the next steps are to each of those items, and customize a way to park those reminders in some place that you can find and deal with, as needed. And install the habit of looking at them, as often as you think you should, to stay abreast of the whole spectrum.

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A new study suggests that the stress of dealing with email causes health problems. In the study, those without email felt more productive and focused. But as anyone who relies on email can tell you, it’s also stressful to be on vacation from this pervasive form of communication. Some study participants reported feeling isolated—which is also stressful—when they were away from email.

So are you stressed if you do and stressed if you don’t?  Or is there another, better option?

Yes there is.  It’s the GTD approach to getting email under control. You can stay connected, or take a vacation away from email, and trust that your decision is healthy.

You can read more about the study in this article from the Atlantic.

The Latest ‘Ordinary Thing That Will Probably Kill You’? Email

By Megan Garber

Your inbox is stressing you out, a new study finds.

“You’ve Got Wail.” / Original image of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” via Ian Burt/Flickr.

 

Here are some things about your job that could lead you to an early demise:

Your commute to your office.
Your morning coffee.
Your coworkers.
Your chair.
Your lunch.
Your happy hour cocktail.
Your commute from your office.

Now, we can add one more X to the X WILL KILL YOU work party: your email. Well, sort of. A new study, a collaboration between UC Irvine and the U.S. Army, measured the stress effects of email usage on a group of thirteen Army workers in a “suburban office setting.”

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There’s always something new in GTD Connect. You can easily access all this content, and more, through the free trial.

Listen to David’s Latest In Conversation
David interviews a corporate VP at Siemens about leadership, decision-making, and GTD.

Take the 14-Day GTD Challenge
Lead yourself through a 14-day GTD Challenge to optimize your GTD skills and systems.

Take a 30-minute Express Webinar
Our next Express Webinar focuses on the 3-fold nature of your work.

Take a Guided Hike Webinar
Take a tour of the forums–a lively community for learning & sharing with others doing GTD.

Watch a Coaches’ Connection video
Hear Coach Chris McIntyre give a simple explanation of the 5 phases of mastering your workflow.

Take a GTD Core Skills Challenge
Join our core skills challenges around the Weekly Review, procrastination, or priorities.

Listen to a Podcast
Meg Edwards & Mike Williams kick off a series for bringing GTD to the younger generation.

Set up your GTD Connect Intention Journal
Engage your creative side with your GTD Connect Intention Journal.

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Hi Folks,

Before you spend another minute creating yet another list with ABC, 123, or high-medium-low codes as a way to define your priorities, read my essay this month. You may discover there’s a more natural path for getting you what you need to get the right things done.

All the best,

DAVID’S FOOD FOR THOUGHT

WHY ABC PRIORITY CODES DON’T WORK

“How do I set priorities?” Because I hear that so frequently, I assume most people think they could and should be doing it better.

The “ABC” priority codes don’t work. Listing your top 10 things you think have to get done, in order, doesn’t work. You’ll have a different priority set at 8:00 tonight than you will at 10:30 this morning. And sometimes the most strategic thing for you to do will be to water your plants. Like, when you’ve been in six meetings, felt beat up in five of them, and by 4:30 your brain is scrambled eggs, and you barely have the attention span of a gnat. That’s the time to water your plants and fill your stapler. Why? Because you can’t do anything else, and you’re going to have to water your plants sometime anyway.

On a day-to-day, moment-to-moment basis, there is no algorithm or formula that will last very long, or is really worth trying to nail down in some written or coded system. The four criteria that you will use to decide what to do are (in order of precedence):

Context (what can I do where I am?)
Time (when do I have to do something else?)
Energy (how wasted/fresh am I?)
Priority (what has the highest payoff for me if I do it?)

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.

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There are five phases of your workflow: Collect, Process, Organize, Review & Do. You need to know the best practices and tools for each phase.  David Allen Company offers the “Keys to Getting Things Done” public webinar. Whether you are setting up your GTD system for the first time, or want to get better at working what you already have, this webinar is the way to go.  It’s a lively 90-minute webinar for $49, available on the dates listed below.

“Thanks again for your excellent GTD seminar.  I have just been reviewing the notes – very refreshing and envigorating, bringing some new perspectives to light for me.”
—David Orr, GreenMarch Services Limited

You can learn more by clicking on the date that works for you:

Thursday, May 10, from 10am-11:30am Pacific Time

Thursday, May 17, from 10am-11:30am Pacific Time

Wednesday, June 13, from 10am-11:30am Pacific Time

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David Allen talks about the GTD Weekly Review, and how to do more executive thinking about your life.  Technology changes over time, but this is timeless advice.

 (This video is streaming from YouTube, so it may take a few moments to load.)

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If you’re looking for practical time management training, watch a busy mom for a day. You’ll learn that moms are experts when it comes to organizing their to do lists by contexts. They can move forward on projects, even when others might not see the possibility for progress. Some might call it multitasking, but in fact it’s more the ability to rapidly refocus, using whatever technology is at hand, including Facebook.

Moms Rely on Facebook More Than Other Women

by Leslie Meredith, Senior Writer, TechNewsDaily
12 April 2012 07:30 PM ET

Forget the weekly playgroup to compare notes with other moms — many now head straight to Facebook. Moms use the social media site more frequently than women without kids, and with far more finesse.

Marketing firm Performics yesterday (April 12) released its study of 3,000 active U.S. social networkers, and found moms were more proficient than other women at getting information from Facebook. Fifty-six percent of moms considered themselves to be “experts” at using social networks compared with 36 percent of other women.

You can click here to read the complete article.

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“There are very few times and places we really have the appropriate energy level, tools, and uninterrupted time frames to work on some of our “most important” work. The rest of the day, we shouldn’t be feeling guilty that we’re not working on “job one.” Rather, we should be maximizing our productivity by picking things to do (that we’re going to do anyway, sometime) that match the situation.”

—from the article “The Need for a Total Life To-Do List,” by David Allen

How have you organized your lists by contexts that support your productivity, even when you aren’t in a physical or mental place to work on job one?

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