For software… A done product is a dead product. — Jamie

Being challenged at work is a privilege. It means that you have a chance, on someone else’s nickel, to grow. It means you can choose to matter.

Simple is Smarter

“Don’t be the best. Be the only.” — Jerry Garcia

“We’re at a stage now, where more information is available about you, online and on your phone, than there is in your house.” — Tim Cook, VICE News Tonight, Oct 2 2018

The better you get, the better you better get!

David Allen

A problem well defined is half solved.

Children

You have no idea how much you will miss the people your children used to be. — @codinghorror link

GTD Transformational

Over the years many people have reported “transformational” experiences in working with the Getting Things Done® methodology. I have seen people lose pounds in just a few days, their faces brighten, their countenance and attitude swing way to the positive, and even make tremendous shifts in how they think and work for the rest of their lives.

That is certainly rewarding feedback and testimony to the validity of the methodology. Many people consequently tend to think that there is something mystical and even “spiritual” about it. Here’s my perspective: there is something mystical and spiritual about people, not the process.

Learning to unhook our energies from the past and from incomplete cycles, and then to take charge responsibly about where we put our attention and focus, is about as basic an empowerment process as one could engage in. Of course it can seem transformational, because we move over (or up) into the driver’s seat of our own consciousness when we do those things. Fully integrating GTD will quiet the noise and let you feel in control of the reins of your life in a way you may not have for a long while.

If that intimidates you, I invite you to take a look at what’s holding you back. If that inspires you, what’s your next action?

–David Allen

Time

Time and attention are your most limited resources. Be fiercely protective of how you spend them. — Patrick Rhone

Getting Things Done is not simply about getting things done. It’s about being appropriately engaged with your work and life. tweet

“The hallmark of how well you do #GTD is how well you can do nothing.” –@GTDGuy link

“You’ll never out train an unhealthy diet.”

Weekly Review Intent

This is a great quote as a reminder for a weekly review.

The GTD Weekly Review allows you to clarify and renegotiate all your agreements with yourself. – David Allen

Throw it out?

If it’s not helping me to ______________, if it’s not improving my life in some way, it’s mental clutter and it’s out.” — Christopher Hawkins

David’s Food for Thought

You Can Only Feel Good About What You Are Not Doing, When You Know What You Are Not Doing

From my experience, a majority of the stress most people feel comes not from too much to do, but from broken agreements with themselves. You can fool all the people all the time, but you can’t fool yourself for one second. When you tell yourself you ought to do something, and you don’t do it, you suffer the slings and arrows of self-doubt, frustration, depression, and the fatigue of overwhelm.

If that’s true, how do you get rid of the stress?

You have three options:

  1. Don’t make agreements you don’t want to make or won’t be able to keep. Are you saying yes to more than you can realistically complete? You’d lighten up a ton if you’d just lower your standards! You might consider saying “no” more often.
  2. Complete your agreements. Wow, think how you’d feel if you totally finished your list of to-do’s. (Of course, within three days you’d have a bigger list, from all the enthusiasm and energy you’d generate from finishing the current one!)
  3. Renegotiate your agreements. I think this is one of the master keys for personal sanity. A renegotiated agreement is not a broken agreement— it’s going back to course COMM when your priorities, interests, and commitments have changed. Here’s the big problem with this one for many people: It’s impossible to
renegotiate agreements with yourself you can’t remember you made.

Keep lists, folks. Look at them as often as you need to. Not so that you have to do everything. On the contrary, so you don’t have to do everything. You can only do one thing at a time. You can either feel good about what you’re doing, or awful about all the things you’re not. Your choice.

You’d just better know everything you’re not doing. and be fine with that, before you’re really free to be fully anywhere at all.