{"id":143091,"date":"2021-01-07T20:18:03","date_gmt":"2021-01-07T20:18:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/?p=143091"},"modified":"2021-01-07T20:20:48","modified_gmt":"2021-01-07T20:20:48","slug":"gtd-from-the-top-episode-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/2021\/01\/07\/gtd-from-the-top-episode-3\/","title":{"rendered":"GTD From the Top – Episode 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Welcome back to GTD\u00ae From the Top, a blog series in which I\u2019m distilling the core ideas from David Allen\u2019s Getting Things Done\u00ae methodology into a blog-sized narrative. For those of you who are experienced GTDers, I\u2019m hoping I\u2019ll provide some insights and new ways of thinking about your GTD systems and practices. For you newbies, my goal is to entice you into further engagement with GTD by making it clear what its benefits are and why it has proven so popular \u2013 David Allen\u2019s books have sold over 2 million copies worldwide.<\/p>\n

Here are the links for those of you who missed Episode 1<\/a> and Episode 2<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Episode 3: Want something to be different? Focus is the key.<\/h3>\n

So far in this series I\u2019ve talked about the importance of our commitments, those atomic elements of GTD. I\u2019ve also provided a framework for thinking about how our commitments translate into the things we make happen in our lives. As I said in episode two<\/a>, if our interest is optimised stress-free productivity, then it\u2019s important to strive for an optimal balance, so that all of our commitments get appropriate focus from us: neither too much nor too little.<\/p>\n

When we think about where commitments come from, though, I think it\u2019s important to stress a surprising element of the GTD methodology, namely its recommendation that we focus on things that aren\u2019t true.<\/p>\n

Now before you think I\u2019ve succumbed to some kind of lockdown lunacy, let me explain.<\/p>\n

In his work, David Allen has consistently stressed the importance of focus. In fact, he says \u201cwe\u2019re in the focus business.\u201d GTD is about helping you to be able to focus, to make it clear how to focus, and on what to focus.<\/p>\n

But that leaves a fundamental question hanging, namely \u201cwhat\u2019s so great about focus?\u201d Why do we stress it so much? Because focusing in the right ways brings big payoffs. You want something in your life to be different? Then change your focus.<\/p>\n

What would be good things to focus on? A unique element of GTD is its emphasis on imagining \u201cdesired outcomes,\u201d those things that we want to be true, but which aren\u2019t true. Not yet.<\/p>\n

Want something in your life to be different? Focus on your desired outcome: what will be true when this is complete? When the problem is solved? When I have the thing you want?<\/p>\n

Now you might reasonably be saying to yourself at this point, \u201cso all I need to do is imagine my outcome, and it is more likely to happen? Really?\u201d In our advanced seminar, we go into detail about why this is true. Because of the ways our brains are structured, when we identify with an outcome, we open up our mental filters so that we receive information about how to make the outcome come alive.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s on offer here is an intoxicating mix of power and freedom. Commitments are not only imposed on us by others. We can have control of them.<\/p>\n

By choosing to focus on these not-yet-real things, by identifying with them, we make them more likely to happen. As David says, \u201cyou don\u2019t need any more creativity or intelligence than you were born with. The issue is: where are you pointing it?\u201d<\/p>\n

So ask yourself, what are you choosing to focus on?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to GTD\u00ae From the Top, a blog series in which I\u2019m distilling the core ideas from David Allen\u2019s Getting Things Done\u00ae methodology into a blog-sized narrative. For those of you who are experienced GTDers, I\u2019m hoping I\u2019ll provide some insights and new ways of thinking about your GTD systems and practices. For you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143092,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_eb_attr":"","gtp_columnspro_styling":"{}","gtp_paragraph_styling":"{}","gtp_heading_styling":"{}","gtp_spacer_styling":"{}","gtp_video_styling":"{}","gtp_group_styling":"{}","gtp_cover_styling":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[310,319,312,318,29],"tags":[1526,139,51,53,4131,79,82],"yst_prominent_words":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143091"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143091"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=143091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}