Have you yet discovered that your mind has limited space, and it’s a terrible office?—David Allen
When was the last time you had what David Allen calls “mind like water?” If not lately, or not as often as you’d like, take the Guided GTD Mind Sweep webinar this Thursday, June 13 from 10am-11am Pacific time. This working webinar will give you a supportive and fun opportunity to capture what’s really grabbing your attention. It will also give you a refresher on the fundamental questions to ask to keep things off your mind and get them into your trusted GTD system.
“Whether it is the best of times or the worst of times, it is the only time we have.”
― Art Buchwald
GTD is about paying attention to what has your attention. This Q&A explores how you need “attention strategies” that match your contexts (so you don’t slip on that banana peel).
The Art of Staying Focused in a Distracting World
The tech-industry veteran Linda Stone on how to pay attention
James Fallows
A longtime tech executive, Linda Stone worked on emerging technologies at Apple and then Microsoft Research in the 1980s and ’90s. Fifteen years ago, she coined the term continuous partial attention to describe the modern predicament of being constantly attuned to everything without fully concentrating on anything. Since then, she has frequently written and lectured about the challenges of living in an always-on, hyperconnected world.
James Fallows: You’re well known for the idea of continuous partial attention. Why is this a bad thing?
Linda Stone: Continuous partial attention is neither good nor bad. We need different attention strategies in different contexts. The way you use your attention when you’re writing a story may vary from the way you use your attention when you’re driving a car, serving a meal to dinner guests, making love, or riding a bicycle. The important thing for us as humans is to have the capacity to tap the attention strategy that will best serve us in any given moment.
JF: What do you mean by “attention strategy”?
LS: From the time we’re born, we’re learning and modeling a variety of attention and communication strategies. For example, one parent might put one toy after another in front of the baby until the baby stops crying. Another parent might work with the baby to demonstrate a new way to play with the same toy. These are very different strategies, and they set up a very different way of relating to the world for those children. Adults model attention and communication strategies, and children imitate. In some cases, through sports or crafts or performing arts, children are taught attention strategies. Some of the training might involve managing the breath and emotions—bringing one’s body and mind to the same place at the same time.
Self-directed play allows both children and adults to develop a powerful attention strategy, a strategy that I call “relaxed presence.”
Read the full article here.
Question: How can we apply the GTD principles in our lives, where we are often burdened by stress and other pressures of a hyper-competitive world?
David Allen’s answer: The opportunities to apply the key principles of GTD are both immediate and infinite. We live in a continual flow of making and renegotiating our agreements with ourselves and others — whatever it is that we think we might want to do or experience that we haven’t yet. This can range from a poem we feel like writing, to a company we want to start, to a walk we want to take, to the feeling we should clean up our old emails. The point is not to finish everything, but to be constructively engaged with our process of creating and completing.
Our one-day GTD® Mastering Workflow seminar is packed with practical recommendations and examples about how to put GTD to work for you—at work, at home, and in everything you do. Here is our latest summer schedule:
Where else would you like to see a GTD public seminar? Please let us know in the comments.
Something to consider, whether you’re off for the U.S. holiday, or just having a normal Monday:
How long can you go without looking at your work email? How did that interval get set? Is it based on a clear agreement with your colleagues and customers, or the fear of missing out, or the reality of what’s coming in that you need to be ready for, or…?
—Kelly
Kelly Forrister is a Senior Coach & Presenter with the David Allen Company.
What’s grabbing your attention right now? What do you think you need to do to get it OFF your mind?—David Allen
In the next Productive Living Newsletter, David Allen talks about the “Strategic Value of Clear Space.” Here’s a short excerpt:
“How easily you can make a mess is how truly productive you can be.
I don’t usually work in a neat fashion. Whether I’m writing an essay, arranging flowers, or making guacamole, I wind up strewing stuff all over the place. If you were to walk into my office while I was working or thinking about something, you’d likely see notes, books, and files strewn around somewhat randomly; a mind-map on my computer screen; doodles and words scrawled on my whiteboard. When I really get involved in something and my creative juices start flowing, it’s likely to look like something exploded in the middle of it. I have a singular focus, but it doesn’t seem orderly until it’s done. My best work happens that way. Yours will too.”—David Allen
To read the rest of David’s essay about the value of clear space for making a productive mess, subscribe to his free Productive Living Newsletter. Next issue comes out the end of May.
