[…] You might also want to listen to conversation two (about patching leaks in your GTD-system) and conversation one ( about procrastination). If you liked this article, give it a bookmark ->              […]

[…] If procrastination an issue for you, check this podcast in which David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, talks about what causes procrastination and how to move past it.  (Incidentally, did you hear that Apple is claiming that “podcast” infringes its trademarks?  ZDNet argues, quite persuasively, that the action doesn’t reflect so much fear of confusion as it does fear of Apple’s inability to obtain its own trademark for iPodcast.) […]

[…] Several short interviews with David recently been posted to the net provide a brief (and free) introduction to GTD as well as some interesting Q&A. These include a two interviews at donationcoder.com, which can be downloaded as MP3s, and the first two entries in the new "Productivity Talk" series on 43 Folders. These interviews focus on Procrastination and patching GTD Leaks. […]

Being a visual learner, I am not the biggest fan of podcasts, but Merlin Mann’s are always entertaining and informative. His recent series of interviews with the Don of Doing, the Pope of Productivity, the…okay, I’ll stop. His interview series with David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, is a Must Listen. This one on procrastination is especially insightful — I often find that the thing I procrastinate the most on is the thing that is perched right on my learning edge. I’ll add that one of my new mental strategies for fighting procrastination is to ask myself, “How much longer are you going to wait to get better?” Cuts right to what is, for me, the most important self-interest for getting things done.

[…] Merlin from 43folders has started a podcast, Productive Talk with the evergreen topic of Procrastination. He has come out of gate strong, getting David Allen of “Getting Things Done” as his first guest. The audio is a little uneven at first but settles down. Overall, very good and I am looking forward to the next one. Filed under: GTD by Brent | […]

[…] Productivity & Personal Development New Rules for Getting a Job - Landing a Job Interview - Step OnePodcast: Interview with GTD’s David Allen on ProcrastinationThe New Rules for Getting a Job - Visibility […]

[…] In one of the recent podcast interviews I did with David Allen, we talked about procrastination and how he tries to get people — especially knowledge workers — back to just “cranking widgets.” […]

The writer of The War of Art, ref’d in the podcast, is Steven Pressfield. He’s the author of The Legend of Bagger Vance, Gates of Fire, etc.

Btw, only half the podcast downloaded in my iTunes (6:31).

Great info and nice to have in this format. Thanks.

[…] Merlin Mann posted a very nice first episode of a series of Podcasts with David Allen about Getting Things Done […]

Wow. I’ll need to do some digesting (and re-listening) before I can comment more fully, but wanted to say that I found the exchange electrifying, galvanizing, intriguing, thought-provoking, and helpful (so far). I’m so looking forward to the whole series. Thank you, M & D.

BTW, I’m just listening to it on my Mac tower’s speakers, and the audio’s excellent.

David makes a great point: procrastinating isn’t necessarily getting nothing done, but is more about feeling bad that you’re not doing the best thing right now. This really made me think about something I didn’t get out of reading GTD: namely, how to decide what’s most important and get that done! That aspect of getting things done was lacking or underemphasized in the book. David seems to think that we’ll “just know” what’s best to do. It seems that this is the key to stopping procrastination, namely avoiding it altogether by planning ahead. I think the stuff from Stephen Covey (First Things First, Seven Habits, ABC 123 prioritizing) might be more helpful to stop procrastinating than GTD… I’d be interested in opinions.

Hey, great podcast! I liked it so much, I listened to it twice on the way to work. :)

This sounds great. I’m sure I’ll get around to listening to it later…

[…] Podcast: Interview with GTD’s David Allen on Procrastination | 43 Folders   […]

It would be cool if you could include a breakdown of the topics of the show by bullet points, much like venturevoice.com does it. I find that very helpful while listening to interview podcasts — just a thought. Great interview!

Sorry for the delays in this episode showing up in the 43F Podcast feed (http://feeds.feedburner.com/43FPodcast). Should be working now (or soon, depending on how often your RSS reader thingee updates).

Many thanks to all the folks who pointed this out — sharp eyes (and ears) out there.

A Meeting of the Minds…

Interview with GTD’s David Allen on Procrastination (via 43 Folders) …

That podcast was one of the most helpful and interesting things I’ve heard in a long time. Thanks so much!

I’m finding that I have to subscribe to this podcast seperately - it’s not turning up as part of the 43folders podcast feed. Which is not as advertised. Just so you know…

Good stuff! Great blog here too! I’m trying to learn the best ways to podcast and will be listening in on yours for good ideas.

Thanks & keep blogging!!!

I find that the iTunes button points to the 43 Folders subscription which seems to be, uh, hum… procrastinating on including this episode in the list. :-) Can’t seem to find any other iTunes subscription link. Will wait for such in order to get this into iTunes with no fuss.

Awesome. I can’t wait to hear the others.

[…] The topic of the first podcast is procrastination. You can check it out here: Interview with GTD’s David Allen on Procrastination […]

Thanks so much in going to the effort in producing this. These are the notes I took while listening:

• If you don’t have the mental energy to work on that big project, work on some of your lower-energy next actions.

• Is the item you are procrasting about still relevant, or can it go to the dust-bin?

• For starting large projects, give yourself permissions to create rough plans that can be thrown away. You don’t need to get it right the first time. Usually its starts with some “find information” tasks to get things started.

• Make sure everything is documented (no leaks), otherwise you will believe the project is incompete, and therefore not worth working on yet - another cause of procrastination.

Keep up the great work!

Merlin’s comment about Andi Lamont (sp?) giving herself permission to “write a shtty first draft” reminds me of Eric Raymond’s The Cathedral and the Bazaar (about open-source softwar developement):

“You often don’t really understand the problem until after the first time you implement a solution”

Also, Fred Brooks says in The Mythical Man-Month: “Plan to throw one away: you will, anyhow.”

Giving yourself the luxury of making mistakes the first time around — assuming you’re not defusing a bomb — is very freeing.

[…] 43 Folders interviews Getting Things Done author, David Allen - this broadcast:  Procrastination.  I try to get some time to listen to this one day. Podcast: Interview with GTD’s David Allen on Procrastination | 43 Folders […]

You know, something that wasn’t mentioned that affects some people is the curse of perfectionism, and how it is a direct cause of people not wanting to start a project, simply because they are afraid of all the huge amount of work to get that “perfect” result.

I don’t suffer from this personally, but I know some close friends who most definately do… its quite a serious “hump” that they need to overcome.

Whoa. David doesn’t just cut to the point… he slices straight through… an analytic katana. This is all things I’ve hear before to one way or another … but I’ve never hear it put so succinctly… or felt it with such impact. No bulletpoints needed here.

These talks will be a profitable collaboration for everyone involved.

Keep it coming Brother Mann.

(BTW only got 6.5 min from iTunes…)

Brainscan, I think David Allen does give you the roadmap to decide what needs to be done first. First is by context, next is by energy - this is a very important step that should not be ignored, when you have high energy hit up the big tasks but sometimes you don’t have the energy to do the big task so you start with the little easy tasks then build momentum to attack the larger more tedious tasks.

[…] Merlin Mann of 43 Folders talks to David Allen of Getting Things Done about avoiding procrastinationread more | digg story Posted by Ron Domingue Filed in News […]