Hello!
I've always felt that, for the most part, change was a good thing. Not always welcome—but good! A shift in my reality consistently gives me an opportunity for a healthy new perspective and greater clarity. It's why I so consistently recommend the Weekly Review as both a critical pattern interrupt and change in your workflow, as well as the perfect way to integrate all the changes and meaningful inputs that have appeared in your world in the recent past. The eternal challenge is to regain a clear, current and creative focus when it gets lost in the tangle of the daily grind.
Speaking of change, we also recently redesigned our store to make it easier to navigate and better describe the education behind what's in there. We'd love your feedback if you get a chance to hop in.
All the best,
DAVID'S FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Getting clear, current and creative
The most common lament that most people have, who have implemented GTD, is their lack of habit of the Weekly Review. They will often say to me, "GTD works really well, except that I haven't really been able to get to the Weekly Review on a regular basis." Sound familiar?
This seems to be one of the biggest hurdles to implementation of the "mind like water" techniques—not establishing the ongoing review and cleanup and recalibration of one's personal management system and its contents.
There is no system, formula, software, or set of lists, no matter how completely filled out, that can tie together the almost infinite number of variables that go into "getting our act together." The only thing that makes it work is a consistent intervention of you. At some point you must lift yourself out of day-to-day tree-hugging and do at least a modicum of forest management. Having a Projects list is a great step in that direction, but just having it doesn't keep it current, or keep ensuring that there are next actions on each one appropriately decided and tracked. It also doesn't ensure that the whole inventory is reviewed and the contents weighed appropriately, given the changing nature of priorities and outer realities.
There is a light-year's difference between being "sort of" organized and having everything downloaded, clarified, updated, and reviewed from at least a slightly elevated horizon. The brain does not get to graduate to its more exalted and more effective command post of making intuitive choices from its options without this. It remains chained to trying to remember what it ought to be thinking about. Unfortunately, it doesn't do that very well so it gets its punitive lashes from our own inner judge.
If anyone can tell me how they can get to the level of full creative freedom without reviewing and self-renegotiating all their commitments on a consistent basis—I'd love to hear it. It would be great if I didn't have to do it. But until then, brushing teeth, taking showers, balancing my checkbook, and doing a Weekly Review remain necessary drills to keep my world where it needs to be.
"The maintenance of life and the pursuit of happiness are not two separate issues."
-Ayn Rand
DAVID'S COACHING TIPS
This is what I do folks, on a regular basis, to get clear, current & creative.
- Collect Loose Papers and Materials
- Get "IN" to Zero
- Empty Your Head
- Review Action Lists
- Review Previous Calendar Data
- Review Upcoming Calendar
- Review "Waiting For" List
- Review Project (and Larger Outcome) Lists
- Review Any Relevant Checklists
- Review Someday/Maybe List
- Be Creative & Courageous
You'll find this checklist, with more examples and detail, in all 3 of my books and as a laminated card in the GTD System Guides.
GTD PUBLIC SEMINARS
Check out our current public seminar schedule. New dates and locations are being added frequently, including events in Canada, Mexico, and the U.K. Register before April 1st and enter the discount coupon code Productivity10 to receive a 10% discount* off seminar attendance.
*May not be combined with other discounts or applied retroactively
GTD CONNECT® ONLINE LEARNING CENTER
Learn the keys to Project Planning in the upcoming webinar led by two of our senior coaches. Free for GTD Connect members. April 8th @ 11am California time.
Connect is also hosting a "Weekly Review Encouragement Group" in the Connect member forums. All support...zero guilt!
GTD INTERACTIVE COURSE
Looking for a quick and easy way to get your team up to speed on GTD? Learn more about our new GTD eLearning course. It's a great option for globally diverse teams.
GTD TIMES BLOG
How can you trust something is on your list (and not think about it?) Read David's reply.
FREE PODCASTS
Listen to the free Best Practices of Review podcast. David Allen and his team share how they get clear, current and creative.
WHAT IS GTD®?
GTD® is the popular shorthand for "Getting Things Done®", the groundbreaking work-life management system and book by David Allen that transforms personal overwhelm and overload into an integrated system of stress-free productivity. Read more...
GTD®, Getting Things Done®, and GTD Connect® are registered trademarks of the David Allen Company.
