{"id":145047,"date":"2022-08-11T11:39:02","date_gmt":"2022-08-11T11:39:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/?p=145047"},"modified":"2022-08-11T11:39:09","modified_gmt":"2022-08-11T11:39:09","slug":"what-would-maverick-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/2022\/08\/11\/what-would-maverick-do\/","title":{"rendered":"What Would Maverick Do?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“I feel the need, the need for speed.” \u2013 Top Gun<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whisper it, but more than once down the years I\u2019ve heard it said that Tom Cruise is a fan of GTD\u00ae. He\u2019d be a great GTD ambassador if it were true. Let\u2019s face it, he gets things done – over 75 movies, career earnings of over 750 million dollars, and all this achieved while cultivating a reputation for being surprisingly relaxed in the pursuit of his greatness. He\u2019s famous for being super-friendly with fans and his megawatt smile is the only one I can think of to rival the one beaming out from David Allen on the cover of \u2018Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free Productivity<\/a>\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Tom hasn\u2019t always been so relaxed. He\u2019s had his flops, too \u2013 \u2018Vanilla Sky\u2019, \u2018Days of Thunder\u2019 and even a \u2018Razzy\u2019 Worst Actor award for \u2018The Mummy\u2019. And in those troubled times I like to think that Tom has sought inspiration from his greatest-ever screen creation and asked himself, \u201cWhat would Maverickdo?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What he\u2019d realise is that Top Gun hero, Pete \u2018Maverick\u2019 Mitchell, has something to teach us all about regrouping in the face of adversity and that it very much applies to those times when you\u2019ve fallen \u2018off the wagon\u2019 with GTD as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a pilot, Maverick would know that in an emergency you first aviate<\/em>, then you navigate<\/em>, and finally you communicate<\/em>. Let\u2019s break this down\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AVIATE<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first thing you need to do in an emergency is to keep flying and avoid what pilots euphemistically call \u2018uncontrolled contact with the ground\u2019. In work and life crises, control is also the first thing you need to get back. If you\u2019re conscious that you\u2019ve lost the control and perspective that GTD provides and that you need to get back \u2018on\u2019 then your GTD version of \u2018Aviate\u2019 should be an \u2018emergency scan\u2019 \u2013 looking rapidly through your GTD system to catch the things that most need attention; e.g.<\/p>\n\n\n\n