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March 29, 2008

How do YOU Procrastinate?

If you've ever procrastinated...

Um.. wait .. I've got to straighten up my desk first...

... then you'll love this great animated short by Johnny Kelly:

Posted by mdolan at 06:38 PM | Comments (5)

March 27, 2008

Horizons of Focus

One of our readers, Robert Brink, had this request:

"I'd love an article on the various horizons. I know it's important, but it's completely opaque to me. The metaphor only seems helpful at the first two levels. I can see the obvious difference between the tarmac (actions), and takeoff (projects). I can see it in my head and I can remember it because I've experienced the visual difference between taxi and take-off. One minute I'm looking in car windows, the next I'm looking at roofs. But the difference between 40k and 50k means next to nothing to me. (Oh look, everything got another fraction smaller. Great!)"

I can really appreciate this question, as the application of this tool will take literally as many forms as there are people applying it. This is a big topic, so I'll try to hit the most relevant points, as I see them.

Practicing GTD enables people and groups to manage their agreements with more integrity and peace of mind. David Allen's "Horizons of Focus" model is essentially a map of the six different types of agreements that you can have with yourself. They each have a different flavor, time horizon and impact. Clarifying what your agreements are at these levels and reviewing them as often as you need to will help you maintain a sense of perspective about all of the minute-by-minute choices you make about what to do and what to commit to. Here's a quick primer on what is meant by the six different levels of the Horizons of Focus:

On the Runway
These are the agreements you have with yourself about the actual physical and visible next actions you are committed to doing. For instance, "draft growth strategy presentation," is an example of this kind of agreement, and it would be organized on a next action list.

10,000 FT
What relatively near-term outcomes are you committed to for which you are taking many of the next actions on the runway? The answers to this question essentially create your project list, or 10,000 ft. "Growth strategy for 2009 presented to management team" could be the project for the previously mentioned next action. Projects are typically outcomes that can be completed within about a year.

20,000 FT
This level represents the agreements you have with yourself about your responsibilities, interests and areas of focus. You can think of it as the job description for your life and work. Typically this list is about 7-10 areas. Your commitments at 20,000 ft tend to change when your life or job changes in some meaningful way. "Responsible for leading company strategy" might be the 20,000 ft component in our running example.

30,000 FT
These are the specific and measurable medium-term goals and objectives to which you are committed. I think about this level as the uber-projects. In other words, you're probably going to need the completion of a whole bunch of smaller and shorter projects at 10,000 ft to actually get to the goal at 30,000 ft. The time horizon here tends to be about 1-2 years and it helps if the agreements at this level are as specific and measurable as possible. For instance, "Sales volume increased by 23% by June 2010" could be the 30,000 ft agreement in our example.

40,000 FT
As you get higher in the altitude of your agreements, your longer-term aspirational agreements start showing up. 40,000 ft is all about articulating your vision. This is where you get to invent what the ideal scenes of your work and life will look like, sound like, and feel like. More than the previous levels, you want to stretch yourself here toward visions that will make all the work worthwhile. You probably want to reach out at least three years if not more for these. In our running example, creating the strategy for growth could be about eventually getting to a vision that sounds like "Our company is recognized consistently as the leader in the field, known for innovation and breakthrough strategy."

50,000 FT
50,000 ft represents your ultimate purpose and core values, either as an individual, or as a group. It typically takes some time and serious introspection to arrive at a clear statement of purpose and/or core values. Let's say the company in our running example were a medical device company. The purpose could be something like "To improve the quality and duration of life for people with diabetes." Purposes and core values tend to not change very often, but you can always revisit it if need be.

In these examples I've shown a one-to-one link between all of the elements at the different levels - and that's the point. If you're agreements are not aligned up to the top, you may be spending your energy on project and actions that really don't matter according to your higher horizons of agreements.

Consider that energy follows attention. So if you clearly articulate your agreements at these levels and give them the appropriate amount of attention, you'll likely find that you're using your energy on the right things.

We recommend holding this model lightly as the various horizons are meant to be general guidelines, not a rule-book. For instance, if for you, 30K and 40K feel like almost the same thing - great. Success here is more about the intention of actually articulating and review your higher agreements - not necessarily the exact form they take.

If you're hungry for more information or inspiration about this topic, the good news is that David is now in the process of writing his third book, which will likely include a deeper conversation about this topic.

Posted by mdolan at 06:51 PM | Comments (7)