David Allen's book *Getting Things Done* is remarkable
not only because it has sold 2 million copies in 30 different languages but
the underlying reason behind all of that is that it absolutely speaks to people
about how they can create greater focus and freedom in their lives
how they can actually get more done with less stress. Also remarkable is a bit
like sort of open source software everything is in there that you need to
understand the comprehensive Getting Things Done® methodology
nothing's left out nothing's missing there's no kind of hidden bits
as a result as a coach and trainer certified by
the David Allen Company to do this work i often come across people who are
self-trained and often for many years they've been following videos and tips
and forums and supporting themselves of course
through the book as well in learning gtd but invariably there's some
misunderstandings that they come into coaching with and i've started to
notice some patterns so i'd like to explain to you three
pitfalls i guess you could say three places where people potentially don't
get as much as they possibly can out of the methodology due to some
simple misunderstandings and in this video of course i'd like to just clear
those misunderstandings up for you [music]
the kind of theme to the things that people come to me with that are sort of
misunderstandings and self-taught GTD® -ers and overall the overarching theme
(sort of ironically actually) is that they're trying so hard to do GTD
right that they sometimes lose sight of the spirit of it all they sometimes get
so caught up in a way with the the practicalities and
mechanics of it and make some assumptions of course
about the methodology that are slightly incorrect that they lose their
self-awareness right that their drive for productivity and reduction in stress
they start to accept things into their lives
about the methodology that are sub-optimal for them and then invariably
they think the methodology has let them down
so one of the things that i see a lot is over tooling
people just well put it this way technology has
solved a lot of problems and created a lot of problems for us i think we're all
aware of that and because it has solved so many problems i think
there's a tendency to think that more is better
the reality is that in relation to yourself in relation to your systems in
relation to your brain very often more features are not
necessarily helpful to you right they actually create friction
you're actually twiddling dials and working with flags and setting up all
kinds of rules and tags and things much of which can waste time or waste
psychological energy or in the case of a lot of these rules and routing
procedures are just shifting the problem around to
different places actually creating more places that you have to go
to look to understand what you need to do at any point in time
so over tooling is a big key and if you are a self-taught gtd here i would just
encourage you to really scrutinize your systems and your tools the technology
behind them and really ask yourself in every moment
is this creating a sense of relaxation and productivity for me or is
this actually creating a bit of friction you know and it was a good idea
i need to let go of the second second thing is that you know
the weekly review we talk about is an absolute cornerstone
of the gtd practice so after kind of getting your inbox clear and doing that
on a regular basis doing regular weekly reviews are a big
big key but again here people often lose sight of the
kind of intent of the weekly review and one part of it is that yes you're
looking at your system from lots of different ways and
you're shoring up your system and you're getting it correct but beyond
correct it's an amazing opportunity to kind of bump up to the meta level
and look at how your GTD system is working for you
are your projects really stated as clear finish lines are your next actions
really self-evident and bite-sized how's that
waiting for list going have you been using your agenda in meetings is the
calendar you know really effective or do you need to find ways to block time to
do a bit more processing what's up what's real for you what's
going to give you a greater sense of focus and freedom in your life
and so the weekly review in a lot of ways can become your
opportunity to coach yourself if you take that spirit into the review
if you just do it by rote yes you will get benefit but not nearly as much
as if you use it as an opportunity to self-reflect as well
finally i think a much under misunderstood and underutilized part of
the getting things done methodology is something we call the threefold nature
of work here we basically say that you can
either be defining your work working from predefined inventories of
work or dealing with interruptions dealing with work as
it shows up those are really the only three states
but that statement in itself is kind of kind of profound because what happens is
a lot of people don't do enough defining so they don't have a really good
inventory so sort of latest and loudest always looks
looks sort of right there work as it shows up and they'll self-distract and
they'll dive into emails and they'll let things into their world
that they don't actually you know really really need in that moment to let into
their world so this is the way in which once you
kind of yes you've got to unbox zero you you started doing the reviews you built
your system this is the way in which you use your system effectively
practicing this art of knowing well when to say no for example and to capture
something instead of just dealing with it in the moment
when it's time to attend to your inbox when it's time to attend to a specific
project and let yourself run down that path that rabbit trail for a bit
because it is actually a productive move and again it is more of an art than a
science but it's one that you really need to keep concerted
focus on as you go along so all of this again comes back to self-awareness it
all comes back to how can gtd work for you
and frankly what i've found coaching hundreds and hundreds of people is
everyone's brain is different right that should come as no surprise to
you but so what we do in in the one-to-one sessions is we really
look at you know what's true for you what's up what's working what's not
how can we apply the principles the principles are really pretty rock solid
and universal but how can we apply them to your situation where might there be
some misunderstandings these are three big keys right uh so if
you are teaching yourself and working through gtd on your own or if
you even if you're interested in getting a bit of one-to-one help or
support have a look at your tools are you over building them
have a look at the weekly review are you just going through the motions there or
is it really a dynamic process you look forward to or you can self-evaluate how
you're doing and have a look at the threefold nature
of work especially if you have it if you've kind of missed that bit of the
chapter it's an absolute key to sustaining gtd and knowing what to
focus on when which is frankly the whole point
relaxed focus trusting your choices that's it
i tell people if you're doing that you're doing gtd right and well right
so go and and have a look at those things
i hope this has been useful i hope it clears up some misunderstandings
there's a lot more a lot of other patterns i've seen over time so
depending on feedback and if people want want more from from these videos
i may go into a few more that i've seen another time hope this was helpful to
you