60 en-us Featuring company news, blogs, articles, and podcasts designed to help you win at the game of work and business of life. http://www.davidco.com/ ℗ & © 2008 The David Allen Company Winning At The Game Of Work And Business Of Life David Allen & Company Podcasts on productivity and Getting Things Done®. The David Allen Company info@davidco.com no Kelly Forrister The Organizing Playground radio show interviews The David Allen Company's Kelly Forrister --> Kelly Forrister teaches seminars and provides individual coaching for clients worldwide. She teaches David Allen's "Getting Things Done", and has been working with his methodology for more than 15 years. Listen in as Kelly shares some of her passion... Click here to listen now or click here to download. (mp3, 55:08). For access to all previous podcasts, check out our complete podcast feed.
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Kelly Forrister http://www.davidco.com/podcasts/play/15.html http://www.davidco.com/audio/KellyOrganizingPlaygroundFeb19.2008.mp3 Fri, 07 Mar 2008 09:27:07 PST 55:08 Additional dates have been added for our two different public GTD seminars -- The RoadMap and Mastering Workflow! GTD Roadmap is an exciting one day seminar which provides a high level overview of GTD. Delivered by David Allen himself, it focuses on the whole picture of the self-consulting process, including prioritizing from multiple horizons, applying the core productivity principles, and making change stick. This is our flagship seminar - presented a limited number of times throughout the year. (Book early because they usually sell out!) GTD - Mastering Workflow is a one day seminar presented by David Allen Senior Facilitators. This seminar is our response to the growing numbers of GTDers who have asked us for a seminar that provides a more tactical and hands-on approach to GTD. Participants gain quick control using the fundamental GTD thinking process and the five phases of workflow mastery. Find out what it feels like to experience control and relaxed focus. Here is the best new way to support your Weekly Review. The GTD Store now has the long-awaited Weekly Review 3-CD audio set. It's an in-depth discussion with David Allen and two of his senior staff about the profound benefits of mastering the best practice of the GTD Weekly Review. Now you can also listen to David Allen's first book. There's a brand-new set of CDs that he recently recorded -- the unabridged version of Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. It's a great way to 'read' this book for the first time, or revisit for a deeper understanding of the concepts and their implementation. Striving for mind like water? GTD Connect is a comprehensive performance support tool intended for GTD users. Access more than 240 hours of video, audio, interviews, documents and more -- all intended to support you on your path to improved productivity and "mind like water." We've just completed a major redesign of GTD Connect. We've added features to make GTD Connect more intuitive, including new ways that you can personalize it. There is also a self-assessment called GTD-Q that helps you find out where you currently are on the matrix of perspective and control. Click here to learn more and to set up your personalized GTD Connect membership. - The David Allen Company Team Wisdom consists not so much in knowing what to do in the ultimate as in knowing what to do next. - Herbert Hoover

GTD Roadmap is an exciting one day seminar which provides a high level overview of GTD. Delivered by David Allen himself, it focuses on the whole picture of the self-consulting process, including prioritizing from multiple horizons, applying the core productivity principles, and making change stick. This is our flagship seminar - presented a limited number of times throughout the year. (Book early because they usually sell out!)

GTD - Mastering Workflow is a one day seminar presented by David Allen Senior Facilitators. This seminar is our response to the growing numbers of GTDers who have asked us for a seminar that provides a more tactical and hands-on approach to GTD. Participants gain quick control using the fundamental GTD thinking process and the five phases of workflow mastery. Find out what it feels like to experience control and relaxed focus.

Here is the best new way to support your Weekly Review. The GTD Store now has the long-awaited Weekly Review 3-CD audio set. It's an in-depth discussion with David Allen and two of his senior staff about the profound benefits of mastering the best practice of the GTD Weekly Review.

Now you can also listen to David Allen's first book. There's a brand-new set of CDs that he recently recorded -- the unabridged version of Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. It's a great way to 'read' this book for the first time, or revisit for a deeper understanding of the concepts and their implementation.

Striving for mind like water? GTD Connect is a comprehensive performance support tool intended for GTD users. Access more than 240 hours of video, audio, interviews, documents and more -- all intended to support you on your path to improved productivity and "mind like water."

We've just completed a major redesign of GTD Connect. We've added features to make GTD Connect more intuitive, including new ways that you can personalize it. There is also a self-assessment called GTD-Q that helps you find out where you currently are on the matrix of perspective and control. Click here to learn more and to set up your personalized GTD Connect membership.

- The David Allen Company Team

Wisdom consists not so much in knowing what to do in the ultimate as in knowing what to do next.
- Herbert Hoover


]]> info@davidco.com (David Allen) http://www.davidco.com/whatsup.php Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:28:52 PST GTD Productivity Getting Things Done David Allen DavidAllen Time Management http://www.davidco.com/whatsup.php?=d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e I recently presented a seminar where a participant brought up the project of getting her daughter into college. Since that was a current project for me as well, I wrote to her about how I applied the Natural Planning Model to this project. For those of you unfamiliar with the Natural Planning Model, it is David Allen's approach to getting projects creatively under control. The specific details of this five-phase approach can be found starting on page 54 of David Allen's book, Getting Things Done. Here is the email I sent to this participant regarding her project: Dear Sara, I wanted to share with you what I did to help my son with his efforts to get into college. Like your daughter, my son is a senior looking at schools. The deadlines for college applications had been approaching, and he had not completed any applications. In response, I took him through the Natural Planning Model. Specifically, here's what I did with him: 1) Purpose I asked him to tell me why he wanted to go to college. At first he started with reasons that seemed to belong to others, but I encouraged him to get real with it — why did he really want to go to college? Was it to learn a trade? Develop strong friendships? Have an adventure? Meet new people? Enhance his education by broadening it or giving it more depth? 2) Guiding Principles I asked my son what was important to him as we went through this process. He said that he wanted the process to be easy and fluid, and it was also important to him that we do it in a spirit of cooperation. 3) Vision Once we got his Purpose and Guiding Principles clear (and I had him write all this down by the way), I asked him what his ideal scene was for college as best as he could describe it in that moment. I used the following cues to stimulate his thinking: - Large or small school? - Metropolitan or rural setting? - East coast? West coast? In between? Or abroad? - Large classes or small intimate learning settings? - Male/Female ratio? - Living on/off campus? - What is his major? - What will he know at the end of four years? - What types of courses will he take? - Athletics? - Drama? - Other extra-curriculars? — he came up with wanting to be close to ski areas (!) - Political/ideological/religious leaning of the school? 4) Brainstorm We skipped this phase because he already had plenty of schools he was interested in. For kids who haven't yet identified schools of interest, I'd encourage them to take a very broad look at every school that holds any appeal to them, using tools like Barron's, etc. 5) Organize I then had my son rank each of the schools on his preliminary list on a scale from 1 to 10, based upon the criteria he himself had established in the Vision section. When we looked at the schools ranked 6 and above, we realized we had too many. When we only looked at schools ranked 7 and above, we came up with 10, which seemed more manageable. I'd also recommend that students apply the idea that most college counselors encourage — to include a few "fall-back" schools, as well as at least one that would be a stretch for them in terms of the average GPA and SAT scores. 6) Next Actions There were a few schools for which my son lacked sufficient information to be able to rank them, so that became a next action for him — to take "virtual tours" and see what number he would assign based on that information. There were only a few, however, so the next actions we identified were to determine the application requirements for each school in his top ten and set them into a grid so that we could see which applications were due when, and what needed to be completed. This process worked very well. Not only did it get my son moving toward getting his applications done, but it also shifted the energy that we all had around it from drudgery to joy and anticipation of the adventure ahead. I would love to hear from any of you who might try this with your high-school student. I can be reached at wayne@davidco.com.

Here is the email I sent to this participant regarding her project:

Dear Sara,

I wanted to share with you what I did to help my son with his efforts to get into college. Like your daughter, my son is a senior looking at schools. The deadlines for college applications had been approaching, and he had not completed any applications. In response, I took him through the Natural Planning Model. Specifically, here's what I did with him:

1) Purpose

I asked him to tell me why he wanted to go to college. At first he started with reasons that seemed to belong to others, but I encouraged him to get real with it — why did he really want to go to college? Was it to learn a trade? Develop strong friendships? Have an adventure? Meet new people? Enhance his education by broadening it or giving it more depth?

2) Guiding Principles

I asked my son what was important to him as we went through this process. He said that he wanted the process to be easy and fluid, and it was also important to him that we do it in a spirit of cooperation.

3) Vision

Once we got his Purpose and Guiding Principles clear (and I had him write all this down by the way), I asked him what his ideal scene was for college as best as he could describe it in that moment. I used the following cues to stimulate his thinking:

- Large or small school?
- Metropolitan or rural setting?
- East coast? West coast? In between? Or abroad?
- Large classes or small intimate learning settings?
- Male/Female ratio?
- Living on/off campus?
- What is his major?
- What will he know at the end of four years?
- What types of courses will he take?
- Athletics?
- Drama?
- Other extra-curriculars? — he came up with wanting to be close to ski areas (!)
- Political/ideological/religious leaning of the school?

4) Brainstorm

We skipped this phase because he already had plenty of schools he was interested in. For kids who haven't yet identified schools of interest, I'd encourage them to take a very broad look at every school that holds any appeal to them, using tools like Barron's, etc.

5) Organize

I then had my son rank each of the schools on his preliminary list on a scale from 1 to 10, based upon the criteria he himself had established in the Vision section. When we looked at the schools ranked 6 and above, we realized we had too many. When we only looked at schools ranked 7 and above, we came up with 10, which seemed more manageable. I'd also recommend that students apply the idea that most college counselors encourage — to include a few "fall-back" schools, as well as at least one that would be a stretch for them in terms of the average GPA and SAT scores.

6) Next Actions

There were a few schools for which my son lacked sufficient information to be able to rank them, so that became a next action for him — to take "virtual tours" and see what number he would assign based on that information. There were only a few, however, so the next actions we identified were to determine the application requirements for each school in his top ten and set them into a grid so that we could see which applications were due when, and what needed to be completed.

This process worked very well. Not only did it get my son moving toward getting his applications done, but it also shifted the energy that we all had around it from drudgery to joy and anticipation of the adventure ahead.

I would love to hear from any of you who might try this with your high-school student. I can be reached at wayne@davidco.com.

]]> wayne@davidco.com (Wayne Pepper) http://www.davidco.com/coaches_corner/Wayne_Pepper/article82.html Wed, 19 Mar 2008 09:51:22 PDT GTD Productivity Getting Things Done David Allen DavidAllen Time Management LifeHacks Life Hacks Self-Help Self-Improvement Priorities Tips Time Savers http://www.davidco.com/coaches_corner/Wayne_Pepper/article82.html Coach's Corner We were in a staff meeting the other day discussing some of the finer points of David Allen's 3-Fold nature of work. Part of the Doing phase, the 3-Fold nature describes how you spend your time: Doing Pre-defined Work (choosing from what's already processed and organized on your lists and calendar) Doing Work as it Appears (responding to latest, loudest and new opportunities) Defining Work (your own processing and reviewing time) Everyone has a mix of all three of these choices. It won't necessarily be an even split of your time and attention. Depends on your job, and frankly your personality. I often like to do bite size chunks of doing work as it appears to stay interested and engaged in something that's taking more mental effort. It's a balance though and only you will know if you are in/out of balance with any of these choices. If you think about it, even someone whose job is about doing work as it appears, like a fireman, is still working on being ready for the fire while they are not IN the fire. In fact, their ability to deal with that fire effectively requires them to have spent time getting their gear ready so that they can move quickly. It's no surprise, whenever I cover this module in a GTD class, the majority of the participants find themselves spending more than than they think they should in Doing Work as it Appears and not nearly enough time in Defining Work. The tricky part about it is that each of these phases can really affect one another as well. The less time you give yourself to define your work, the less defined work you have to choose from and the greater the tendency to do work as it appears. Do any areas of 3-Fold nature seem out of balance to you? Anything you can you do to shift that?

Doing Pre-defined Work (choosing from what's already processed and organized on your lists and calendar)
Doing Work as it Appears (responding to latest, loudest and new opportunities)
Defining Work (your own processing and reviewing time)

Everyone has a mix of all three of these choices. It won't necessarily be an even split of your time and attention. Depends on your job, and frankly your personality. I often like to do bite size chunks of doing work as it appears to stay interested and engaged in something that's taking more mental effort. It's a balance though and only you will know if you are in/out of balance with any of these choices.

If you think about it, even someone whose job is about doing work as it appears, like a fireman, is still working on being ready for the fire while they are not IN the fire. In fact, their ability to deal with that fire effectively requires them to have spent time getting their gear ready so that they can move quickly.

It's no surprise, whenever I cover this module in a GTD class, the majority of the participants find themselves spending more than than they think they should in Doing Work as it Appears and not nearly enough time in Defining Work. The tricky part about it is that each of these phases can really affect one another as well. The less time you give yourself to define your work, the less defined work you have to choose from and the greater the tendency to do work as it appears.

Do any areas of 3-Fold nature seem out of balance to you? Anything you can you do to shift that?


]]> kelly@davidco.com (Kelly) http://www.davidco.com/blogs/kelly/archives/2008/04/rolling_up_your_1.html Sun, 27 Apr 2008 12:30:22 PDT GTD Best Practices http://www.davidco.com/blogs/kelly/archives/2008/04/rolling_up_your_1.html Kelly's Blog I don't typically use this forum for marketing messages about our products and services. But today I'm bending the rules a bit. I'm told that today is the day that we are officially releasing our new "GTD Live!" CD set. This should be pretty exciting news for anyone who always wanted to go to a David Allen seminar but hasn't gotten the chance. It's a well-produced, full recording of David delivering an entire 2-day seminar, and it's packed with insights, tips, and practical applications on GTD in a way that only David can tell you. And an added plus from a learning point of view is that with GTD Live! you can listen to David anywhere, anytime - even if you've fallen off the wagon and you just need a little shot in the arm to get you motivated to get back on. Here's a summary of the content of the 10-CD set: - Mastering the Five Stages of Workflow - The Productive Experience - Keys to Collecting and Processing your Stuff - Project Thinking - Organizing Email and Filing Systems - Dealing with Procrastination and Setting Priorities - Planning and the Power of Focus - Establishing Your Ideal Scene, Successful Outcomes It also comes with a bonus of several of our favorite "In Conversation" recordings of David speaking with high-profile GTD users, as well as a set of our GTD Templates, a learning tool to help you stay on your game. At this link you''ll find more information about the product as well as four audio preview clips of the content.


I don't typically use this forum for marketing messages about our products and services. But today I'm bending the rules a bit. I'm told that today is the day that we are officially releasing our new "GTD Live!" CD set. This should be pretty exciting news for anyone who always wanted to go to a David Allen seminar but hasn't gotten the chance.

It's a well-produced, full recording of David delivering an entire 2-day seminar, and it's packed with insights, tips, and practical applications on GTD in a way that only David can tell you. And an added plus from a learning point of view is that with GTD Live! you can listen to David anywhere, anytime - even if you've fallen off the wagon and you just need a little shot in the arm to get you motivated to get back on.

Here's a summary of the content of the 10-CD set:

- Mastering the Five Stages of Workflow
- The Productive Experience
- Keys to Collecting and Processing your Stuff
- Project Thinking
- Organizing Email and Filing Systems
- Dealing with Procrastination and Setting Priorities
- Planning and the Power of Focus
- Establishing Your Ideal Scene, Successful Outcomes

It also comes with a bonus of several of our favorite "In Conversation" recordings of David speaking with high-profile GTD users, as well as a set of our GTD Templates, a learning tool to help you stay on your game.

At this link you''ll find more information about the product as well as four audio preview clips of the content.


]]> michael.dolan@davidco.com (mdolan) http://www.davidco.com/blogs/michael/2008/04/gtd_live_cd_set_announced.html Fri, 04 Apr 2008 10:33:15 PDT GTD Getting Things Done http://www.davidco.com/blogs/michael/2008/04/gtd_live_cd_set_announced.html mdolan's Blog