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Anne Gennett
The 'I'll do it later' Conundrum
I just had the pleasure of hanging around with David for several days. Just sitting in the back of the room while he delivered the Getting Things Done seminar and then attending the Ready For Anything evening in Washington, DC. I have to tell you, I’ve heard this information dozens of times and I teach it and live it myself, but every time I listen to him, I get inspired all over again.
For me, this work comes down to one question, “Where am I being unconscious?" After I get the answer, I start to wonder if I’m okay with that. Let’s face it, being unconscious is certainly easier, at least momentarily. So be careful, because when you start to ask the questions and you get that niggling feeling, that little voice in the back of your head….you know the one……it says things like “I really should…”, or “I really need to…”, it’s hard to remain unconscious too long. And once you start, it becomes harder to stuff it back into the closet than to let it out and deal with it. So, I sit and listen to David and look at where I'm being unconscious. Where can I take this information and use it to live my life more fully? What can I do on the front end that would allow me to be more present in my life, more in the moment?
For one thing, being unconscious allows me to push things off to the side, to use the all too comfortable “I’ll deal with that later” option. But later rarely comes, what with the new stuff coming in and the new places I need to be and the new ideas pulling my attention. Most people can just maintain the current, so handling the “I’ll deal with it later” piles usually, if at all, means dealing with it on Saturday or Sunday or late at night when everyone else has gone. Now, can you honestly tell me you enjoy doing that? And by doing that, are you just creating a “later” pile in another arena of your life?
The process of processing your stuff allows you to become more conscious of what you’re committing to and where you’re putting your focus. So if you start to process and really hold yourself to answering the two basic questions of “What is it?” and “Do I have any action?” it forces you to become conscious of your current commitments, more conscious of where are you focusing and much more conscious of the realities of your world. Fantasy is a lovely place, that’s why movies are so popular. But the reality of a huge stack of reading material and the time you actually have to read it….that’s where you need to be conscious.
So I would challenge all of you to ask yourself that one question, Where am I being unconscious? And when you get the answer, then see if you’re okay with that.
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