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Leslie Harradine
Showing Up in Your Life
There is a point in the Getting Things Done training when I show most of the lists I have and use. I must admit that I have a fair number of lists, all of which I use or refer to frequently enough to warrant keeping them. After I’ve gone through this self-revealing process, I look around the room and inevitably some people are shaking their heads or have looks of stunned disbelief on their faces. I smile and say what at least one person in the group is thinking.
“I imagine some of you are looking at what I’ve just presented and are thinking that I am out of my mind or at the very least that I’m over the top!” This elicits laughter throughout the room. Then I start asking the group what they think I get out of having everything out of my head and written on lists. Usually I get answers like, “Freedom,” or “Spontaneity,” or “Relaxation,” all of which are true.
Then I take it a step further by talking about the true power of having nothing pulling on my attention because everything is out of my head and captured in a trusted system. When nothing is distracting me from what I’m doing or whom I’m with, what shows up is me. I get to be more present in my life. Have you ever been talking to someone who isn’t really present? You can tell their mind is somewhere else. It can be quite frustrating. How often are you thinking about something else when someone is talking to you? What strategies have you adopted to manage that? Often it requires back-tracking to recover what we’ve missed or “triage” to repair something critical we knew but didn’t pay attention to (because our attention was elsewhere) to manage the relationship or project.
When you are fully present with your co-workers, your job, or your family, you are giving them the most precious gift and greatest asset you can: yourself.
This impacts not only our personal relationships but also the activities and projects on which we find ourselves working. The more fully you bring yourself to the task at hand, the more available your creativity and resourcefulness become. The result is more productivity and greater enthusiasm for work and life. As simple as it sounds, having nothing on your mind (but what’s in front of you to handle) can produce astounding results that can impact many facets of our personal and professional lives.
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