{"id":143525,"date":"2021-06-03T12:24:23","date_gmt":"2021-06-03T12:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/?p=143525"},"modified":"2021-06-03T12:41:30","modified_gmt":"2021-06-03T12:41:30","slug":"gtd-from-the-top-episode-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/2021\/06\/03\/gtd-from-the-top-episode-6\/","title":{"rendered":"GTD From the Top – Episode 6"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\u00adWelcome back to GTD\u00ae from the Top. In this series I\u2019m aiming to distil the core ideas behind the Getting Things Done\u00ae methodology into easily digestible bites. I\u2019m hoping that you\u2019ll use this series to reflect on how GTD might better help you or your organisation to be as productive, fulfilled, and stress-free as you want to be.<\/p>\n

\u00ad<\/span><\/sub>Earlier in the series we explored the fundamental nature of our\u00a0commitments<\/em><\/a>, and the importance of both\u00a0achieving<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0maintaining<\/em>\u00a0<\/a>as concepts to understand our productivity.\u00a0 In the third edition I looked at the importance of\u00a0envisioning outcomes<\/em><\/a>\u00a0as a way to influence both what happens in the future and to optimise our current engagement with our world.\u00a0 In episode four I explored\u00a0best practices in organising<\/em><\/a>\u00a0the information we use to keep ourselves productive when we want to be, and undistracted when we don\u2019t.\u00a0 In the last edition<\/a> I considered what\u2019s necessary to make sure that your organizational system is set up and maintained so that it provides optimal support.<\/p>\n

Episode 6: Where should your focus be?<\/h3>\n

In this last episode in the series, I\u2019ll look at how we can best choose, minute to minute, what to focus on.\u00a0 In a world that provides us with a steady stream of options, some of them productive and some of them unproductive alternatives (options that feel, in the moment at least, like procrastination), how do we choose optimally?\u00a0 How can we trust that we are regularly focused on the things that are best for us, in that moment?<\/p>\n

Not everyone is used to making such thoughtful decisions.\u00a0 In my years of working with clients I\u2019ve seen many who regularly don\u2019t give these decisions much thought.\u00a0 Rather than decide themselves, they delegate the responsibility of making the decision to the universe.\u00a0 They focus on the latest email that\u2019s arrived in their inbox or the last message in their Microsoft Teams channel.\u00a0 Why steer myself when the world seems so willing to steer for me?<\/p>\n

How many of us have allowed ourselves to be driven by their email inbox?\u00a0 I certainly have.\u00a0 You might reasonably ask what the problem with that approach is.\u00a0 Hey, the thinking goes, at least I\u2019m busy.\u00a0 If the boss checks, I\u2019m engaged in something that looks like it\u2019s helpful to the organisation.<\/p>\n

The next time you\u2019re tempted to let the world steer, try this experiment.\u00a0 Write down the top five things that are important to you over the next few months. Then check your email inbox or your Slack channels.\u00a0 How many of those things that are important to you are represented on the first page?\u00a0 Not that many, I\u2019m guessing.\u00a0 So the downside of letting the world steer is that your inbox\u2019s estimation of what should have your attention is at odds with your better-informed judgement about what\u2019s important to you.<\/p>\n

So, if you were going to steer yourself, what would you consider to ensure that you were consistently choosing the things that deserved to have your attention?\u00a0 What might get in the way of making optimal decisions, and how would you avoid those obstacles?<\/p>\n

One potential problem would be lack of perspective that meant that your commitments, be they short-term and tactical or long-term and strategic, weren\u2019t getting the right balance of your attention.\u00a0 This is a trap a lot of people fall into.\u00a0 Without externalising and reviewing all of our commitments from time, we often fall into the trap of giving the in-your-face (or, perhaps better, the \u201cin-your-inbox\u201d) actions too much attention.\u00a0 The GTD model that can help here is the Horizons of Focus<\/a>, which gives some light structure to your various externalized commitments and enables you to review them from time to time to ensure that nothing is falling between the cracks.<\/p>\n

Another common pitfall is striking the wrong balance between getting stuck into what\u2019s new (the latest post in that Slack channel, for example), versus choosing something to do that appears on one of your reminder lists, versus engaging with what\u2019s arrived recently with an eye toward not getting stuck into it, but rather in planning what you\u2019ll do about it later.\u00a0 These options are considered in the GTD\u00ae model called the Three-Fold Nature of Work, which provides a useful framework for self-audit as you make your way through your day.\u00a0 What am I engaged in right now?\u00a0 Scrolling through emails looking for something to get stuck into?\u00a0 Is that the best choice for me right now?\u00a0 Or should I perhaps be engaging with something on one of my lists?\u00a0 The Three-Fold Nature of Work helps to ensure that you have the right balance.<\/p>\n

One final consideration is a fairly tactical one.\u00a0 Once I\u2019ve made the decision to choose something off one of my reminder lists, how can I ensure I\u2019ve chosen the best option in the moment?\u00a0 The GTD model called the Limiting Criteria gives you a guide here.\u00a0 What context are you in, that is, where are you and what resources are available?\u00a0 Anything that you can\u2019t do in your current context can be eliminated from consideration.\u00a0 Then consider time available.\u00a0 You don\u2019t want to be choosing to engage in something that you can\u2019t make satisfying progress on.\u00a0 And finally, what are your energy levels like?\u00a0 Are you mentally and physically up for high-demand action, or would watering the houseplants be a better choice?<\/p>\n

I hope you\u2019ve found this blog series useful.\u00a0 I\u2019ve tried to boil down the core concepts that have become clear to me over the many years that I\u2019ve been coaching and training others in GTD, as well as in my own experience as a GTDer.\u00a0 No matter what\u2019s getting in the way of your productivity, or what possibility you sense might enable you to get more of the right things done with a clear head, GTD provides you with concepts to guide your thinking and your practice.\u00a0 It really is possible to work smarter and live better. GTD can show you the way.<\/p>\n

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\u00adWelcome back to GTD\u00ae from the Top. In this series I\u2019m aiming to distil the core ideas behind the Getting Things Done\u00ae methodology into easily digestible bites. I\u2019m hoping that you\u2019ll use this series to reflect on how GTD might better help you or your organisation to be as productive, fulfilled, and stress-free as you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143526,"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":[319,323,29],"tags":[139,53,212,62,79,346,99,191],"yst_prominent_words":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143525"}],"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=143525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143525"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=143525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}