David Allen on best practices for implementing GTD
Submitted by Merlin on November 13, 2006 - 8:31am.
Productive Talk #07: Implementing GTD
43 Folders and The David Allen Company present the seventh in a series of conversations that David and Merlin recently had about Getting Things Done.
Summary
In this episode, David and Merlin look at best practices for implementing Getting Things Done. David shares some great advice on firewalling review time and warns us how to avoid the perils of “cruise control.” (9:37)
More at: http://www.davidco.com/ and http://www.43folders.com/
Grab the MP3, learn more at Odeo.com, or just listen here (after the cut).
Merlin’s comments
My favorite bit in this one (jump to 1:38) is where we learn that some of David’s best stuff seems to have had a genesis in an unlikely place – from his tenure as the manager of a gas station, back in the day.
This is important, not just because we get a candid glimpse of a very fun guy who’s too often pegged as just another business consultant – I love that David demonstrates how most any job will benefit from firewalled time to do your meta work.
Note especially that, contrary to what one might call “worst practices” of GTD, DA is not suggesting you spend your day obsessing over GTD and trying to perfect your “system.” You set aside time to clear the decks, as he likes to say, so that you can work – really work – and not just live in a perpetual twilight of productivity futzing.
Building those walls and really honoring them from day one may be one of the best ninja tips you can learn for responsibly implementing GTD.
Listen to Episode #07 of Productive Talk
Grab the MP3, learn more at Odeo.com, or just listen from here:
in
- Merlin's blog
- 12188 reads
There are four stages of...
There are four stages of unlearning old habits and learning new ones (sorry, I can’t cite the original source for this idea)
Unconscious incompetence - You are not even aware what your habits are and how they affect the way you live. In the context of 43F et al., its pre-GTD.
Conscious incompetence - This is probably the 2 to 3 week thing you were talking about. It probably happens at regular intervals for even longer. You become very conscious of how your ‘groove’ pulls you in certain directions. In a different context, the Tibetan Trungpa said “when things become chaotic, it is a very positive development”. You realise you need to make some decisions.
Conscious competence - This is all about holding things together, mindfully, methodically. And I like that David described this as “lightened up” kind of state.
Unconscious competence - This is when your groove has changed so that you don’t need to think so much about it anymore. David mentioned the people who said it took 2 or more years to finally get it. It’s happening!
Cheers.