{"id":144734,"date":"2022-05-05T16:25:30","date_gmt":"2022-05-05T16:25:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/?p=144734"},"modified":"2022-05-05T16:25:39","modified_gmt":"2022-05-05T16:25:39","slug":"why-bother-with-gtd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/2022\/05\/05\/why-bother-with-gtd\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Bother With GTD\u00ae?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re just starting out learning \u201cGetting Things Done\u00ae\u201d, perhaps having read the book, and now reading this to deepen your understanding, or having been on one of our courses and wanting more of the benefits you\u2019ve already discovered, then it might be worth considering what you should be aiming for whilst improving your own GTD practice. What are the payoffs for all the initial effort you must put in?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes, when I tell people what I teach for a living, they will say something like \u201cGTD, that\u2019s all about lists, isn\u2019t it?\u201d. I know from this viewpoint that they have either only read a short synopsis of David Allen\u2019s work or tried to use it for a short time and stopped before they had got to experience the real results of GTD because it absolutely isn\u2019t \u201call about lists\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You will already, at your early stage with GTD, know about the 5 Steps of Mastering Workflow and the fact that if you have a Next Action, that you can\u2019t do in under 2 minutes or delegate to someone else, you should defer this Next Action for you to do when you are able in the future, which may well mean adding it to a list or your calendar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, you will be aware that if this Next Action won\u2019t complete the whole thing, you have a muti-step outcome on your hands, which we call a Project, and this too needs tracking in some way, again likely on a list of some description.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lists are the most common way of tracking Next Actions and Projects in GTD, although there are other ways to externalise your commitments so that they can be held outside your brain, which is a core principle of the methodology. Some people prefer to create mind maps or pictures or images rather than simple flat lists, especially for the higher horizons. Indeed, you could draw your goals and visions, so you can really \u2018see\u2019 them, use a GANT chart to track projects in coloured columns and a photo covered pinboard or scrap book to represent your Areas of Focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not trying to dispute the fact that those of us who use GTD are very likely to have more lists than those who keep all their needs, wants and wishes just rattling around in their heads. I\u2019m simply wanting to highlight that lists are not \u2018the point\u2019 of GTD, they are merely a means to an end. What end though?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Allen uses the metaphor of \u2018Mind Like Water\u2019 in his book, which he learnt while gaining a black belt in martial arts. The idea is, if you\u2019re fighting someone, or if you\u2019re fighting your Inbox, that you want your mind to be free and able to react appropriately to whatever is thrown at you, be that a punch – or an email marked urgent with six attachments, two links and an amorphous subject line!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Water can be as flat as a mill pond or as violent as a waterfall, it is always reacting to its environment proportionately and able to adapt to changes quickly with a tendency to return to calm whenever possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYour ability to generate power is directly proportional to your ability to relax.\u201d \u2013 David Allen<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This doesn\u2019t mean that all GTDers are constantly walking around in a zen-like state, although if you want to reach inner peace, at any time, it will certainly help to have all your outstanding issues externalised and reviewable. To be fully present, relaxed and able to focus on, and adapt to, any and all activities you are taking part in, is certainly one end to be aiming for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.”\u2013 Heraclitus<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another is trusting that what you are doing at any point in time is the right thing for you to be doing. This supports you being fully present, as you will not be distracted by worries that you really ought to be doing something else. If you can trust that what you are doing throughout the day is the right thing for you, for your job, your colleagues, your family and friends, then this has myriad knock on advantages: increased self-confidence and self-esteem, more enjoyment in whatever you are doing, the ability to switch off easily at the end of a day knowing you\u2019ve given the best you could have done, to name but a few.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, add what is specifically your own” -Bruce Lee<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, you see, \u201cGetting Things Done\u201d is certainly not \u2018all about lists\u2019, and rather, it can affect your very way of living, helping you get the right things done and be more balanced, relaxed, content and engaged with your life and your place in the world as you do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s worth the \u2018bother\u2019 of learning!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re just starting out learning \u201cGetting Things Done\u00ae\u201d, perhaps having read the book, and now reading this to deepen your understanding, or having been on one of our courses and wanting more of the benefits you\u2019ve already discovered, then it might be worth considering what you should be aiming for whilst improving your own […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":144735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_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":[310,3423,311,312,318],"tags":[53,157,62,79,93],"yst_prominent_words":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144734"}],"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\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144734"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=144734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}