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Julie Ireland
Bumping Up To Areas of Focus
One of the most fun and rewarding benefits of implementing the GTD methodology for me has been getting my Next Actions (the runway) and Projects (10,000 foot perspective) under control so that I can spend some time at 20,000 feet, which we call “Areas of Focus” in both my professional and personal life. It has also been incredibly rewarding to be able to work with clients at this level, which we define as current areas of interest, focus, and responsibility in our professional and personal lives.
It can be a very rewarding and revealing exercise to take the time to define these different areas (and roles) that we engage in, and then to start to clarify and define what we want for these areas. Most people have between four and seven key areas of focus/responsibility in their work, and a similar number in their personal lives. Work responsibilities may include things like marketing, administration, staff development, operations, strategic planning, budget/finance, etc. Some common personal areas of focus are family, home, parenting, health, finances, personal growth, creativity, etc.
I recently spent some time flushing these out in my personal life, and I defined the following as the current areas of focus and interest in my life: work/career & professional development; health; family; friends/relationships; finances, home; community service, creative and artistic expression; personal growth/spirituality; and fun & adventure. I often tell my clients “if I look at my life as a pie, these would be the various pieces”. Then I can look at these areas to see if there are any imbalances. For example, last year when I did this exercise, I realized that I hadn’t been putting any energy into my health, and guess what? I didn’t have much energy, and wasn’t moving in the direction of health and vitality, which is what I really wanted. So I started to put more energy into that area by creating projects and next actions that would help me move in that direction. By taking the time to do this exercise, I saw where there was a gap, and was able to consciously do something about it.
I often find it helpful to ask myself (and clients) a series of questions to jumpstart this process:
What are my roles and responsibilities in both my work and personal life?
What projects (personal and professional) should I have on my list that I don't have yet?
What projects should I get rid of because they are not about me or what I do?
How is my work/life balance?
Have I done any creative/artistic projects in the past six months?
Have I done anything just for FUN in the past 3-6 months?
For me, this process has helped to create more work/life balance, and helped define and put energy into the areas of focus (like my health and creativity) that are important to me.
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