January 31, 2009

When was the last time you thought about how you think?

I delivered a Getting Things Done public seminar last week in Chicago. We had 72 people with great energy and interest in GTD. Some folks were brand new to applying GTD as their approach to managing their life commitments, while others were at various markers along their GTD journey.

It was obvious to me that all of these people were in the session to evolve - to undergo continuous and gradual change. So there is that word - change. Why do we want to change? How do we change? How do we keep our change around long enough and strong enough so it morphs from change to habit?

At 45 years of age it seems to me that change is a result of one of two things.

The first is that a person or team or organization moves toward change because they see the value it will produce. They move toward an imagined state, a vision: increased earnings, stronger health, increased revenues, or decreased expenses, greater market share, international expansion, deeper, fuller relationships.

The second is that a person or team or organization moves toward change because they can no longer tolerate the pain of their reality: financial hardship, failing health, declining revenues, or increasing expenses, loss of market share, shallow and unfulfilling relationships.

I discovered an interesting article about how our thinking - what goes on in our brain - may either encourage, or discourage changes in our behaviors. I found it interesting not only because I believe change comes from our thinking, but also because GTD itself is a way of thinking. I was on a call this morning with a young guy who is new to GTD and is seeking to get better with it. He said to me, "I am realizing that GTD is more like a lifestyle."

I agree. GTD is a lifestyle for me that has developed over the past 3 years because I made the choice to think differently about how I manage my commitments.

Take a look at the article (below) - it may cause you to think about how you think.

http://www.workplacecoaching.com/pdf/CoachingTheBrainIJCO.pdf

Be well.
Danny

Posted by Danny at 08:12 AM