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July 03, 2007

Undercommit and overdeliver

Thought I'd pass along this great piece of advice from David Allen on getting started with GTD:

"My suggestion is to get at least a small "cockpit of control" set up as physical work space, and clean at least the desktop; and start from there. One step at a time. Take one pile at a time. One project at a time. Use the framework from the book, but don't overwhelm yourself with the idea of doing it all at once."
- David Allen

It can get overwhelming to think you need to do GTD all at once. Start small. Undercommit and overdeliver (as one of my favorite mentors once taught me) with tackling your implementation and mastery of this. You'll get benefit from any piece of GTD you implement, so I suggest start where you can experience a win for yourself. Then expand out from there.

David has said it can take 2 years to become "Black Belt" with GTD. Might as well enjoy the road along the way!

Posted by Kelly at July 3, 2007 11:15 AM

Comments

Well said, Kelly. Much of GTD is built on an understanding of continuous improvement, "kaizen" as it is called in Japanese and used, famously, by Toyota.

The key is action...do something...learn from it...do it again, better this time.


Thanks

Posted by: Joe Ely at July 3, 2007 01:44 PM

Kelly,
Love your blog. I just learned about GTD about 2 weeks ago and started implementating it into my work and personal life. Your blog is great and please post more information about using GTD with PDAs and Palm!

Posted by: Shunda at July 10, 2007 12:08 PM

Excellent point, Kelly. Really got me thinking about the psychological implications of looking at some massive project and feeling like it's too much. More on that on my website... a post called "Overcome/Overwhelm".

This practical perspective is what I like about David Allen so much. I think that's why people feel such a relief after working with you guys- it goes beyond talking about results to seeing results.

Posted by: Lisa Peake at July 11, 2007 12:33 AM

FYI- One of Rudy G's Leadership Benchmarks is "under promise and over deliver". It worked for him during his tenure as NYC Mayor. I like the application here.

Posted by: Sara at July 26, 2007 02:49 PM