October 09, 2006

David Allen a la Podcast

I'm happy to report that we have opened up a public podcast feed here at:

The David Allen Company Updates

If you haven't yet, add this feed to your favorite RSS news reader to get company updates from Coach's Corner, What's Up At DavidCo, and our blogs.

Right now you can hear the first episode in "Productive Talk", conversations between Merlin Mann and David Allen. It's been really fun for me whenever I've had a chance to interact with these two visionaries. David + Merlin is a great recipe for engaging and often funny conversation about the fringe between GTD, technology, and contemporary ways of thinking and living. I believe it was David Harrington who first told me that the best creativity emerges from interdisciplinary studies, on the fringe between different cultures. A diverse environment stimulates new ideas in abundance because new perspectives are filtered into existing conversations and modes of operation. I certainly have a creative experience whenever I hear David consulting with his wide array of tech experts and geeks for the latest and greatest tips on where the world is headed. So I hope you'll enjoy the clip and the clips to come. It's great to be offering a slice of David in podcast form, a technology that seems all the more viral these days.

Posted by Lisa at 08:02 AM

October 12, 2006

Reflections on Chicago

Had the pleasure of joining David and his road crew at the RoadMap seminar in Chicago last week. Apart from the stimulating experience of watching David present the seminar with his usual lively and comedic energy, I also got to engage with quite a few GTD Connect members and the city of Chicago itself.

Continue reading "Reflections on Chicago"

Posted by Lisa at 03:00 PM | Comments (3)

October 31, 2006

Getting to the essence

If you haven't yet subscribed to this free newsletter from Michael Bungay Stanier, named Canadian Coach of the Year, have a look at his recent ruminations here: Outside the Lines - October 2006

In his main article he talks about getting to the essence in three ways. Essentially it's about simplifying your life along these 3 dimensions:

1. Essential people
2. Essential work
3. Essential stuff

Continue reading "Getting to the essence"

Posted by Lisa at 10:07 AM | Comments (2)

November 15, 2006

The future of social networking

I've been reflecting on online social networking after reading this article. They tell us that young people are "more wired than ever - but they're also getting warier" of tech tools.

They report that more and more people prefer a face-to-face interaction to many of the popular social networking websites that have been getting so much press lately, i.e. Facebook or MySpace. Having just returned home from a wonderfully warm weekend out of town, I'd like to think that they are right, that the warmth of human interaction will prevail over the convenience of the keyboard. But I have a couple of bones to pick with this article...

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Posted by Lisa at 09:23 AM | Comments (8)

November 20, 2006

Why get things done?

For the first time in the 7-ish years I've been involved with Getting Things Done, I asked myself today: Why do we want to be getting things done?

The word "done" rang out loud and clear in my head at that moment. The sweet tase of completion. It seems that success is a word that really rings our bells here in Western civilization, and completion is genuinely intertwined with worldly success. But perhaps at times we are too focused on the end results, aiming for goals without asking ourselves the big "why."

I'm sure David Allen knows all this (and perhaps to a much deeper cut than I do), so why on earth did he title his book Getting Things Done?

Continue reading "Why get things done?"

Posted by Lisa at 06:00 AM | Comments (5)

December 06, 2006

Nifty capture tool

You may have noticed that I'm a big proponent of capturing everything out of your head with a capture tool. If you were looking closely at my home office setup, you might have noticed that I use my own version of David's Notetaker wallet. I've also been known to say everyone should have a post-it cube for capturing in their car.

It appears the Post-It folks have outdone me with this high-tech Auto Message Center. You record your thoughts into the tape recorder, then once you are parked you can jot them down on the post-it notes. (Thanks Erik!)

So why am I such a fan of capturing?

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Posted by Lisa at 10:38 AM | Comments (3)

December 15, 2006

The dreaded inbox

Things seem to be winding down in the corporate world. The number of emails in my inbox is decreasing and the proportion of automated out of office replies is growing exponentially. With a little down time handy, this is a good time to brush up on your processing skills - something that can be essential when you return from a vacation to the deluge of input.

Tip for the season: Love your inbox, and it will love you.

Seriously, the number one reason people procrastinate on processing the inbox is the dread factor. You've been there, we all have. It slowly begins to increase in volume, piling up little by little, threatening to spill out and take over.

So why is an in-tray or a screen of emails scary? Everything in your life either attracts or repels you to some degree, and the inbox is no exception. I've identified these reasons for the dreaded inbox phenomenon:

• You don't know what's in it. There is nothing worse than the fear of the unknown.

• It looks bigger than you.

• You think you know what's in it, and it's not fun.

Be it the inbox on your desktop, or the one on top of your desk, here are some keys for making processing painless...

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Posted by Lisa at 10:22 AM | Comments (5)

December 29, 2006

10 Beginner Behaviors

What are the entry-level behaviors to GTD that anyone can do to "get in the game"?

First of all I should say that this question contains some forethought. A GTD Connect member brought this idea to my attention at a recent public seminar and the theme of entry-level behaviors for GTD has been following me ever since.

The question of entry-level behaviors rests on the assumption that GTD is like any complex system worth learning on multiple levels (from nitty gritty to deep and profound). Other examples include golf, mastering aikido, driving a car, running a business, and assimilating into a new culture. What all of these mega-projects have in common is a need to master smaller subprojects in order to gestalt the more meaningful principles that form the whole. With any of these endeavors, it's easy to fall off the wagon en route to mastery. They are also similar in that getting started can be daunting without a little help. Entry-level behaviors are the accessible and practical behaviors that a beginner can do in order to see some real results without having to do a whole-life overhaul. My hope is that the following tips will give you some ideas on how to get started with (or get back into) Getting Things Done for the New Year.

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Posted by Lisa at 11:30 AM | Comments (9)

February 22, 2007

Challenge - Make it a low priority day

Here's my GTD challenge of the day for you: block out some time to do the relatively low-priority items on your to do lists. That means look at your next action lists and literally pick out the items that tend to be ignored because they're not urgent. Low priority items can lurk on your action lists for a long time, creating psychological resistance to your lists.

The best time to identify any stale items on your list is during the weekly review. If you're looking at your action lists (by the way you're way ahead of the game if you are doing this semi-regularly) and you've found yourself thinking "Something has changed since I put that there", then it's time to review your system and update your lists.

Items tend to get stuck on my lists because they are either ambiguous, stale, or already completed (my favorite, of course). To speak to the ones that need more thank just ticking off the list...

Continue reading "Challenge - Make it a low priority day"

Posted by Lisa at 11:14 AM | Comments (1)

April 20, 2007

Signing off for now

Well, I'm signing off from this blog for now. It's just the most sensible thing for me to do right now. I'll leave you with my thoughts on prioritizing, since essentially halting any project / area of focus represents a shift in priorities.

I have often heard David Allen talk about whether he, or others, have "the bandwidth" to take on a new endeavor. It's interesting language, and I love the way it doesn't assume any lack of time or energy. By saying I do or don't have the bandwidth for something, I get to decide what I want to focus on, how much I can focus on at once, and where the limits and guidelines are about that.

It's remarkable to me to hear from countless people in our network who wear many hats with success. I intersect with some of these people thorugh the GTD Connect inteviews, others at the RoadMap seminars, and others who bump into us at seemingly random places along the road. And while these people come from all industries (medicine, finance, HR, small startup companies, education, the list goes on...), there is a common thread to their success. They model to me a fine balance between clear focus and an ability to maintain altitude and perspective, while wearing many hats. In the RoadMap seminar, which is truly one of my favorite events, David talks about control and perspective. Quite the combination, and quite the dance, in my experience, to keep them both going at once.

So here I am at another mini-reflection point, doing my weekly review and looking at all my hats like this rich colorful display in a store window. It's been a real pleasure, readers, hearing from you. I hope you'll consider this an open invitation to stay connected with me in and about this work.

You can still catch me around on the GTD Connect forums. Don't hestitate to drop me a line.

Posted by Lisa at 11:56 AM | Comments (1)