{"id":18632,"date":"2017-04-26T20:11:07","date_gmt":"2017-04-26T19:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/?p=18632"},"modified":"2017-08-16T10:51:21","modified_gmt":"2017-08-16T09:51:21","slug":"avoiding-target-fixation-gtd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/2017\/04\/26\/avoiding-target-fixation-gtd\/","title":{"rendered":"Avoiding target fixation with GTD"},"content":{"rendered":"

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On April 21st, 1918 Manfred von Richtoven, ‘The Red Baron’, was shot and killed by an anti-aircraft bullet. Considered the greatest flying ace of his time, he had made a rookie mistake by flying too low into enemy territory. It was a mistake he himself taught young pilots never to commit, and the Red Baron was a perfectionist. How, then, had arguably one of the greatest fighter pilots of all time met such an end?<\/p>\n

Things had gotten personal. He was pursuing a novice Canadian pilot who had attacked The Red Baron’s cousin moments earlier, aiming for revenge and his 81st kill. The Red Baron was determined. Too determined. He succumbed to a well-known psychological phenomenon known as ‘target fixation’.<\/p>\n

Other factors, such as long-time battle stress and previous war wounds, may have contributed to this phenomenon. But the fact remains that the great fighter ace began making rookie mistakes – like not tracking his altitude and position – once he became obsessed with fulfilling a single goal at any cost. The ultimate cost of this monomania was his life.<\/p>\n

As a coach in the GTD methodology, I witness the cost of obsession frequently. Talented, visionary executives – the fighter aces of the corporate world – often prioritise a handful of ‘key projects’ above all else, to the extent that they give little attention to other areas. The rest of their life and career, as predicted, goes into a tailspin.<\/p>\n

This is why having a complete, current inventory of all commitments in a trusted system – and reviewing it regularly enough to make adjustments and course-correct – is critical to sustaining a high-flying output over the long term. In addition to acknowledging these commitments (big and small) by writing them down, stepping back during a weekly review to assess their status prevents countless ‘rookie mistakes’ (missed birthdays, anniversaries, and alumni lunches) and leads to a more well-rounded, fulfilling lifestyle.<\/p>\n

Failing to track his altitude and position, obsessing over his next kill, The Red Baron met an untimely end.<\/p>\n

What is the cost to you of not tracking similar so-called ‘little things’ in a trustworthy way?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On April 21st, 1918 Manfred von Richtoven, ‘The Red Baron’, was shot and killed by an anti-aircraft bullet. Considered the greatest flying ace of his time, he had made a rookie mistake by flying too low into enemy territory. It was a mistake he himself taught young pilots never to commit, and the Red Baron […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":18636,"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":[309,315,310,26],"tags":[51,1010,53,133,1011,82,1008,1009,1012],"yst_prominent_words":[997,991,994,722,998,996,1006,1004,1002,1005,1000,993,1007,999,1003,990,995,992,1001],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18632"}],"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\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18632"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.next-action.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=18632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}