Here’s concise advice from David Allen, on asking yourself two questions that can calm the waters of your mind.

Everything that is outstanding in your world and mind, that hasn’t been somehow put onto “cruise control,” will be holding some part of your psyche hostage.

So, simply ask yourself, “What has my attention now?” And then ask, “What do I need to decide, do, handle, and organize, to be able to have my mind let that go?”

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How’s your perspective, after a 3-day weekend? (Or did you have a 3-day weekend?)
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Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer; since to remain constantly at work will cause you to lose your power of judgment. Go some distance away because the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance, and a lack of harmony or proportion is more readily seen.
—Leonardo Da Vinci

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Hi Folks,

Why did calendars show up and become ubiquitous tools for most people in the last few decades? Pretty simple: Life’s commitments got more complex than our heads could effectively manage. Yet people resist managing everything else in the same trusted way. I’ll expand, below.

All the best,

DAVID’S FOOD FOR THOUGHT

THE ONE LIST PEOPLE TRUST

If you’re like me, with quite a number of lists of many next actions, projects, someday/maybe’s, etc., you’re likely to encounter people who question your efficiency if not your sanity. “You’ve got so many lists! That’s just too much work!” (Sound familiar?) If you ever feel like you need to defend your lists, ask your skeptical friend if they are sitting around trying to remember what appointments they have on their calendar for next month. They’re probably not biting their nails about where they need to be a week from next Thursday at 4pm. They’re probably not even thinking about it. Why? Because they have their appointments tracked in a system they trust—a calendar they trust they’ll review at the appropriate time and place.

So, why not have the same lack of distraction about all the things that you need to be reminded of?

A calendar is nothing more than [Read more →]

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Posting on The Health Care Blog, David Allen talks about how the core elements of triage from an emergency room can help you get you into your productivity zone. He outlines three steps to reach “serenity now.”

What’s the Real Emergency Room?

By David Allen
My summer job before I left for college in 1965 was the night admitting clerk in the emergency room in the Huntsville, Alabama county hospital – a facility built to support a few thousand in a small rural community but now taxed with serving hundreds of thousands, brought to town by the new Apollo missile program. Saturday nights in the small emergency room were often pure chaos, with auto wreck victims lined up on gurneys in the hallway. Those shifts passed the quickest for me, and I slept the best, afterwards.

Crisis promotes a kind of serenity. Why do people commonly tend get into their “zone” then? It’s because of what the situation demands: appropriate engagement. Think about the last time you were in such a circumstance. What were the fundamental components of your experience and behavior? Immediate integration of potentially meaningful inputs; clear definition of desired outcomes; trust in your intuitive judgment; decisions about specific next actions and physical movement on the most critical; consistent recalibration of all factors as required; acceptance of what can’t and needn’t be done at that moment. Those are all core elements of triage, and, actually, appropriate engagement with anything. Put together they’ll get you into your “zone.”

Try this: In the next twenty-four hours (1) Do a “capture” of everything and anything that has your attention – write or type that list somewhere; (2) take at least one of those items that really is tugging at you and decide what your desired outcome is, and the very next action required to move forward on it; and (3) take a half hour to step back and consider all the things you should be considering, in order to truly relax about what you’re not doing tonight.

You’re doing versions of this already, to some degree, or you wouldn’t be reading this. But make these practices more conscious, complete, consistent, and applied in the important arenas of your life and work, and notice how much more time will disappear and restful sleep you’ll have.

Read the full blog post here.

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David Allen describes the profound operational principle of knowledge work as:
You have to think about your stuff more than you realize but not as much as you’re afraid you might.

Asked to expand on that, here is David’s reply:
It actually comes from my experience that most people are avoiding thinking about their “stuff” appropriately – i.e. clarifying what it means to them and what they intend to do about it. It only takes a few seconds to decide if something is actionable, and if so, what the next action is. But people avoid that decision like the plague. They think if they think at all about it, there’s way too much to think about…so they don’t think at all! And then it’s hung up like a psychic albatross around their neck.

Hope that helps,
David

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Check out this free podcast from David Allen. In just over two minutes, he gives practical tips for getting started with GTD. It’s available for download now on the David Allen Company podcast page.

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Peter Drucker said that “most of the tasks of the executive require, for minimum effectiveness, a fairly large quantum of time.” That’s from the Know Thy Time chaper in The Effective Executive, published almost half a century ago.

Sure, every knowledge worker could benefit from having large blocks of time for doing pre-defined work. But the practical reality is that most workers have schedules that are more fragmented than what Drucker might have imagined.  When he wrote that book, the workers he was addressing didn’t have cell phones and laptops. They didn’t use air travel for mass transit they way workers do today. They didn’t have Skype meetings with overseas clients outside the 9-5 workday.

GTD to the rescue! If you’ve organized your next actions into contexts that work for you, you’ll find that you can take advantage of small chunks of time to plow through lots of tasks. By organizing with your busy schedule in mind, you’ll be able to use those few minutes here and there to get things done that you would need to get done anyway, at some time. This is not to say you can neglect to schedule those large blocks of time for doing executive tasks. Just be smart by planning for how you’ll use the small windows of time as well.

What can you do with 15 minutes, before your meeting at 11:30?

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Hi Folks,

Want to know one of the easiest ways to act on your creative ideas? Stop trying to hold them in your mind. Your mind is a great place to have ideas, but a terrible place to manage them.

All the best,

DAVID’S FOOD FOR THOUGHT

ARE YOU STILL USING YOUR HEAD TO TRACK YOUR AGREEMENTS?

There is a light year of difference between a system that has merely a lot of our commitments objectified and one that has 100% of the total. And few people have ever gotten to a totally empty head, with absolutely every project, action item, and potential agreement we have made with ourselves and others out and available in an easily reviewable format.

My hat’s off to you if you’re trying to keep mental lists as reminders of things to do—but I’ll bet those lists are not anywhere close to complete. Consequently they are putting enormous and unnecessary work on your psyche. If you don’t have everything in a system that the system ought to have, there is still no full trust in that system, and minimum motivation to keep it up and keep it current.

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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This fall David Allen will be presenting his “Making It All Work” seminar in San Francisco and London.  This is a great opportunity to enjoy David’s entertaining and inspiring approach to GTD education.

What you’ll learn:

• How to get immediate control of “current reality”
• How to keep track of the total inventory of your commitments, including examples from David’s personal system
• What decisions are critical to make, about what, and when
• Why most “personal management systems” don’t work
• How to evaluate the best tools to use to stay in control
• Why organizational issues are often personal process issues
• Why it’s so challenging to really change the simplest habits, and the secret key to make it easier
• How to use procrastination to your advantage
• How to continually self-consult to get back “on your game”
• How to install simple tricks that create profound results

You can find out more about the seminar by clicking here.

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How about this for a free email productivity hack? Breathing!

In all seriousness, there is a phenomenon called “email apnea” that afflicts 80% of us. Linda Stone describes how email and other screen-focused activities tend to compromise our breathing and reduce the quality of our attention.

The Connected Life: From Email Apnea To Conscious Computing

 

Definition: Shallow breathing or breath holding while doing email, or while working or playing in front of a screen.

While we have a greater tendency toward email apnea or screen apnea, while doing email and texting on laptops and smartphones, we are at risk for breath holding or shallow breathing in front of any screen, any time. Not only does this increase stress levels, it impacts our attitude, our sense of emotional well-being, and our ability to work effectively.

Why are we doing this? Our posture is often compromised, especially when we use laptops and smartphones. Arms forward, shoulders forward, we sit in a position where it’s impossible to get a healthy and full inhale and exhale. Further, anticipation is generally accompanied by an inhale — and email, texting, and viewing television shows generally includes a significant dose of anticipation. Meanwhile, the full exhale rarely follows.

Read the full article here.

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