“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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Who distracts you the most? You might say it’s your boss, your coworkers, or your kids.  But maybe it’s the software you’re using.

“The biggest impediment to concentration is your computer’s ecosystem of interruption technologies: IM, email alerts, RSS alerts, Skype rings, etc. Anything that requires you to wait for a response, even subconsciously, occupies your attention. Anything that leaps up on your screen to announce something new, occupies your attention.”

That’s from “Writing in the Age of Distraction,” posted three three years ago, and still applicable in 2012.  Even if you downloaded your iPhone and Android productivity apps today, they will waste your time tomorrow unless you take control of them now.

Has your software improved your productivity as the world has become more distracting? Or is your software programmed to grab your attention in alarming ways that make your time-management job harder?

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Wouldn’t it be cool if your GTD system could read your mind? It would automagically prioritize your action lists according to your context, time available, energy level, and what most has your attention in that moment.

Meet the iBrain. According to the developer, NeuroVigil, “The iBrain™ is a miniature electronics box attached to a light and flexible elastic head harness and electrodes that can effortlessly be applied to the head during sleep.” So far it’s just for tracking brain activity at night. But who knows? Maybe soon a miniaturized version will be the hardware that signals your leading-edge GTD software to help you make trusted choices throughout the day.

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

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From the Business Center at PC World, GTD is listed as a browser-compatible productivity system.  That will be a relief to those who don’t want to be tied to any specific device, or to a paper planner.

Can a cloud-based productivity system work for you?  Or are there times when you have to have your calendar, projects, and actions at hand because the cloud is out of range? 

Getting Things Done

We rely far too much on our imperfect memories to help us organize tasks and get work done. Trying to keep track of multiple projects leads to human error as we forget important tasks and waste time worrying over which project we should be working on at any given moment.

The solution: As soon as you remember a task, write it down so that your fallible, distractable brain isn’t the only place where you’re storing a record of it. This is the core principle of Getting Things Done. If you use it while working online, identifying your next task is a simple matter of consulting your to-do list.

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Hi Folks,

The real power in GTD is not really in the hand writing or typing we do onto lists—it’s in the executive and creative thinking triggered as we engage with them. This month I explore the one list that can easily be the most powerful in terms of maintaining ongoing control and focus in work and life—the Projects list. Here’s a cautionary tale for anyone who thinks they can get along without it.

All the best,

DAVID’S FOOD FOR THOUGHT

IS A PROJECTS LIST NECESSARY?

People started keeping calendars a century ago. Why? Because life’s time-based commitments got more complex than they could trust their mind to manage. If you think that a Projects list is unnecessary, then throw away your calendar and trust life will just let you know what you should be doing, in the moment. [Read more →]

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In a guest post on the Workshifting blog, read tips from Mike Williams, CEO for the David Allen Company (and vetted GTD coach!) on some simple ways to apply GTD. His post also includes an experiment for making your next meeting more effective.

Are there meeting tips that you have found helpful that others could benefit from? Share them here. Other GTD Times readers like to hear what works for you.

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With all the news leading up to the Mega Millions $640 million jackpot, lots of people have been asking each other, “What would you do if you won the lottery?”

Along a similar line, David Allen recently asked in a tweet, “With nothing left to do, what would you do?”  Some people have leveraged that question to consider what they would still choose to put on their to do lists, even if all the items that they have to do because of money were no longer there.  Of course winning the lottery could mean you’d have a whole new set of financial projects and actions.  But for the moment, set aside financial management on the runway to 20,000 levels.  Assume your new fortune is on cruise control, and you can put your attention anywhere else you choose.

How would winning a jackpot change the way your to do list represents your goals and purposes in the higher levels of the horizons of focus model?  And is there any of that you can start moving forward on, even before you win the lottery?

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For whatever paper filing you still have that hasn’t gone digital yet, here are tips from David Allen for setting up your paper filing system.

• Keep general reference files at arms’ reach.
• Have lots of fresh folders at hand.
• Avoid the unnecessary complication of color-coding your files.
• Label your files with an automatic labeler. This is faster for one-off labels than printing from your computer.
• Get comfortable filing even a single piece of paper that you might want to refer to later.

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People who are enjoying the benefits of getting started with GTD often ask how their organization can be persuaded to adopt the GTD methods.

“The microcosm of how people deal with their in-baskets, e-mail, and conversations with others will be reflected in the macro-reality of their culture and organization. If balls are dropped, if decisions about what to do are resisted on the front end, if not all the open loops are managed responsibly, that will be magnified in the group, and the culture will sustain a stressful fire-and-crisis siege mentality. If, in contrast, individuals are implementing the principles of Getting Things Done, the culture will expect and experience a new standard of high performance.”

—David Allen, Getting Things Done

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David Allen's workspace

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