Avoiding the Real World

[JWE]

I need some help on motivation and implementation. I left a great sales job to pursue my goal of having a sales rep agency. I have one client that basically pays 80% of our household needs. I am reading GTD and have read Ready for Anything and listen to the CDs. I try to log on daily and read the forums but...
I have realized that I am avoiding implementation and life by locking myself up in my cubbyhole home office.
I need help with Next Action for getting my butt going. Anyone else gone through this and what helped?
Thanks all
Jeff

[Anonymous]

Hi JWE,

I signed up for the Barnes & Noble GTD course that starts next week. Jason is teaching the course and it's FREE. Just signing up for the course gave me a nudge to start re-reading and using GTD. I even did a mini-mindsweep (53 projects, 107 NAs and counting) and mini-weekly review (currently have 3 emails in my inbox) earlier this week. I'm hoping the course helps me stay on track.

BNU GTD Link
http://tinyurl.com/2q3j3

[JWE]

Wow. Great tip. This gives me something to look forward to. Hopefully Monday will be a turn of motivation for me.
Thanks
jwe

[Siva]

I am avoiding implementation and life by locking myself up in my cubbyhole home office

I tend to fall into the same thing. An action, even a small action, tends to change this situation. I have realized that as long as I am physically moving around and not sitting in a chair for long periods of time, I am good. So now I am minimizing sitting in a chair along and thinking....

[JWE]

Thanks Coz, you have alot of good replies to these forums. I guess it boils down to for me: When I don't know what to do next, do anything. If an opportunity comes along I will be in that Martial arts ready stance to go forward more easily than from a stand still.
To quote GTD " Anything that causes you to overreact or underreact can control you, and often does."
Working from home with a client that is over 1000 miles away, it is easy to slowly degrade to the point of stand still. I have lost the human touch to everyday work which also contributes to this lack of motivation.
But on a positive note, forums like this brings alot of it back to perspective. Excuse me while I go put on pants and step outside to smell the flowers. I feel like coming out of my cave now.

Great replies all.
jwe

[andmor]

Try journalling your feelings whenever they start to overwhelm you. Do it until you have exhausted your anxiety on paper. Journal as often as you feel you have to. Then you will feel unburdened (lightened) enough to do some work. Journalling is a great way to get yourself unstuck.

I know the cabin fever feeling of a home-office.

Andrew

[Ambar]

A non-GTD recommendation: read the book Get Clients Now, by CJ Hayden. Extremely practical program which I would recommend to anyone who's running their own business.

[andmor]

[quote="CosmoGTD"]Why worry about motivation?
>Why not just pick ONE Next Action at a time, and simply make yourself >do it, whether or not you "feel motivated" to do it?

I agree

>If you are having Anxiety, then you are going to have to ACT in DIRECT >OPPOSITION to your feelings, which is the opposite of motivation.

hmmm

>Motivation is fine, but we don't need it.

Maybe, but we need the idea of being motivated.

I find Dr. Burns' advice that Action leads to Motivation which leads to More Action which leads to More Motivation, etc. a little more encouraging. I am a firm believer in the idea that whatever you can do to overcome Inertia will lead to Momentum, which will make you forget all the prior negative thoughts while you are busy with the work.

Andrew

[Rainer Burmeister]

... i decided that no matter how i felt, that NOW was the time to do this, and i started doing it by pulling out the files, and a few hours later i was finished, and also organized my tax info library as well, while i was at it.

Once upon a time there was a time when this was called "to act with determination".

Coz,
Thanks for this great post.

Rainer

[andmor]

[quote="CosmoGTD"]I think that creates a sense of detachment about it, which makes it much easier to do.

Well, I think this is the key point of difference. While I agree that there is a certain scientific-intellectual attractiveness about the idea of dealing with things as they are and not getting overly emotional about them, I don't think that this approach fairly deals with the human element that gets in the way for most people. That human element is best reflected in the old scenario of the teacher/parent who says "if you are good I will give you a prize", where there's always at least one kid who will respond "what's the prize?". It's that human element that has to be dealt with and that's why techniques such as outcome visioning, working backwards from the finish point, journalling, postive self-talk, etc. are not only appealling but also successful.

Andrew

[Anonymous]

Great insight coz. Hopefully scheduling things will lead to good habits. If I remember correctly David Allen talks about building habits to a point where you feel uncomfortable if you don't do things. Kinda like having to brush your teeth.

[me_brown1110]

Coz's posts in this thread, which I think come from his Albert Ellis experiences (thanks for the pointers to that, Coz) are things I stumbled across 10 or more years ago in the books of David Reynolds and his "lifeway," Constructive Living.

CL is based on the work of a Japanese contemporary of Freud called Morita. Here's one of his quotes:

Give up on yourself. Begin taking action now, while being neurotic or imperfect, or a procrastinator or unhealthy or lazy or any other label by which you inaccurately describe yourself. Go ahead and be the best imperfect person you can be and get started on those things you want to accomplish before you die."- Shoma Morita, M.D.

Morita's idea was that people should accept their emotions as a fact (like the weather), but one of many facts that go into making a decision to leave the house or do a task. If you're feeling scared, take note of it, but if your purpose requires you to take action (you're scared of flying but have to fly), then you fly scared to death--you distract yourself, read, sleep, do whatever, but you do what you have to do. (This doesn't mean becoming an emotionless robot, BTW; you're never without emotion; but you don't let emotions dictate your actions. Instead, as William James showed, emotions follow actions.)

Sadly, many of Reynolds' books are out of print, but they very simply present basic ideas to help cut through a lot of the low-level neuroses that intelligent people (like us) foist upon ourselves. The little psychological tweaking soon begins to acquire the patina of philosophy.

Here's a web site with more info: http://www.todoinstitute.org/. They have articles from their newsletter available for reading. Not much different, perhaps, from Ellis or Burns, but this is what I came across first and it still speaks to me.

mike brown

[Anonymous]

JWE

Being familiar with your situation, I have found a very helpful trick. That is, no matter what, get your butt out and in front of customers first thing each Monday morning. It sets the pattern for the week. If you're lazy about making appointments initially, you will overcome that once you've wasted time not getting to talk to people at the clients location.

Like David Allen talks about the trick of putting on your exercise clothes to get you to exercise. The equivalent in sales is to get in front of clients - make appointments. I try to visit at least 3 per day and contact more than that by phone, email, etc (obviously).

Whatever you do, dont wait until you're motivated - you'll die!

[tallmarvin]

Coz-

Very thought provoking post

(Time for me to print it off and put some action on it!)

Thanks! :D

[andmor]

I don't think that doing NA's is part of a Weekly Review. A Weekly Review is specifically 10,000 ft level and up.

Andrew

[Scott_L_Lewis]

Mike Brown wrote:


Coz's posts in this thread, which I think come from his Albert Ellis experiences (thanks for the pointers to that, Coz) are things I stumbled across 10 or more years ago in the books of David Reynolds and his "lifeway," Constructive Living.


I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one seeing the similarity to Constructive Living. Apropos to this discussion, here is an excerpt from an article on the ToDo Institute web site titled "Facing the Demons of Inaction: Morita Therapy as a Resource for Moving Forward" by Gregg Krech. (Gregg is the current director of the institute.) In the article, he makes the point that accepting unpleasant emotions and doing what you need to do in spite of them is a skill that is developed with practice.


If you're ready to end your habit of procrastination, here are the next four steps:
1. Is there an important project or task about which you have been procrastinating?
2. What's the next step (just identify the next step, even if it's just a small task like making a phone call)?
3. When are you going to do it? (Identify a specific day and time — this is an appointment).
AND NOW THE FUN PART…
4. Accompanied by trepidation, fear, doubts, indecision, shyness, anxiety or any other demon who happens to show up… DO IT.
Taking action isn't always pleasant. But look at the payoff – over the course of a lifetime — a lot more accomplished and a lot less suffering. As Joan Baez said, "Action is the antidote to despair."


Looking at step 2, I wonder if he is a GTD'er. :)

[CosmoGTD]

Here's a funny new article about Albert Ellis of REBT from the NYT. (free subscription required)

From Therapy's Lenny Bruce: Get Over It! Stop Whining!

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/04/health/psychology/04PROF.html?position=&ei=5062&en=f6557e341af52a24& ex=1084248000&pagewanted=print&position=

[andmor]

[quote="CosmoGTD"]Firstly, DA says nothing like that to my knowledge,

Page 48: "...you must consistently retrench at some more elevated level."

Page 187: "...rise up at least to 10,000 feet and catch up."

Page 189: "...a review and catch-up process at the 10,000-foot level."

>and even if he did, in my view the key is for each person to figure out what works for THEM.

Fair comment, but in my experience the Weekly Review is hard enough to focus on without distracting yourself with Runway stuff. I happen to think that your post doesn't give good advice and since so many people seem to have difficulty with the Weekly Review, I thought it might be useful to provide an alternative point of view.

Andrew

[moises]

Here's a funny new article about Albert Ellis of REBT from the NYT. (free subscription required)

From Therapy's Lenny Bruce: Get Over It! Stop Whining!

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/04/health/psychology/04PROF.html?position=&ei=5062&en=f6557e341af52a24& ex=1084248000&pagewanted=print&position=

Funny article. It would be preferable for me to go see his free seminar soon, since he might not be around much longer!

[Busydave]

4. Accompanied by trepidation, fear, doubts, indecision, shyness, anxiety or any other demon who happens to show up… DO IT.

Scott

Thanks for this wonderful quotation!

It just lets us all be human – we don’t wait to be physically perfect specimens before taking up a sport, so why wait to be some sort of emotionless automaton before getting down to work?

It’s a very companionable statement. As a kid I yearned to be unique and immune to all normal human shortcomings. Now I’m just happy to know that I’m not unique in my trepidation!

Dave

[CosmoGTD]

I saw him a couple of years ago when he was on the road. He was absolutely hysterical.





Funny article. It would be preferable for me to go see his free seminar soon, since he might not be around much longer!

[andmor]

[quote="CosmoGTD"]Ummm, i am not here to give others advice on how to do a Weekly Review, just my opinion of what is working for ME at this time.
>But frankly, i am giving very sound ideas about how to actually DO the weekly review, no matter how one happens to do it.

Funny, Coz. OK, you won't get any more arguments from me. The board is all yours.

Andrew

[Chariot]

I need some help on motivation and implementation. I left a great sales job to pursue my goal of having a sales rep agency. I have one client that basically pays 80% of our household needs. I am reading GTD and have read Ready for Anything and listen to the CDs. I try to log on daily and read the forums but...
I have realized that I am avoiding implementation and life by locking myself up in my cubbyhole home office.
I need help with Next Action for getting my butt going. Anyone else gone through this and what helped?
Thanks all
Jeff
Jeff,
It sounds like you might be stuck into sales-avoidance mode. I know a lot of business people (even salespeople) who let get themselves stuck into that mindset. And once upon a time, I was also stuck into that mindset. I'm a contract programmer by the way.

If you want, I can consult with you over the phone (for a fee), and I can even give you a free 30 minutes consultation just to show you what it would be like. Again, I'm not a sales trainer, I'm a contract programmer, but since I've gone exactely through the same kind of problem you're going through -- I feel uniquely qualified to help you with this. If you're interested, send me a Private Message.
Stephan (aka Chariot)

[Anonymous]

Coz, Andrew, you are two of the most respected regular posters to this forum.

Puh-leeze do not cancel each other out!