Fear as a motivator
We resist change until the pain of continuing in the current situation exceeds the pain of the change.
Basic GTD: The Calendar
In GTD, the Calendar is used in a very different way than in other traditional management systems.
Two ways of thinking, one objective
Surely you are aware that there are times in your life when you have thoughts like “What can I do to be more competitive or productive?”, “How can I improve my skills and advance my career?”, “Should I move to this or that city?”. This kind of big-picture thinking is called divergent, and is the one you use to generate ideas when you face a problem.
Why you should have a side project
It seems that side projects are only an entrepreneurial thing, that they are done just by people who seeks a new or alternative way to get money and make their life. Of course, that might be the target of a side project, but you do not need to think about the creation of a company to work on a side project. Having a personal project, apart from your usual work, has many other benefits.
How to fight interruptions
Today, our productivity is always threatened by the existence of constant interruptions that we cannot control (do we really want?). An interruption is anything that prevents you from starting and ending an important task. It is hard to do the important and ignore the trivial when the universe is conspiring against you.
Some of the following measures to fight interruptions will not please many…
Basic GTD: Get it all out of your head
“There is usually an inverse proportion between how much something is on your mind and how much it’s getting done.” ~ David Allen
Deliberate practice... or how to be an expert
The Swedish psychologist K. Anders Ericsson has devoted much time to research into how experts in different fields (such as medicine, music or chess) acquire a higher level of performance, and how significant is deliberate practice in that process.
The conclusion of his research is…
Being a professional doesn't mean working more
The term workaholic is used to define people who are addicted to work. In the best case, this problem comes from having a strong motivation for what you are doing, but far more often it comes as a result of poor organization which, over time, has led you to spend more hours at work in order to achieve the results you need. Instead of refining the way you work to become more efficient, you have decided to use brute force…
Time, energy and money
“Wealth is the freedom and the ability to choose what to do with my time.” ~ Chuck Blakeman
“While you’re young, you’ve got all the time and all the energy to enjoy life, but no money. When you get to your middle years, you’ll have all the money and all the energy, but no time. And when you’re retired, you’ll have all the money and all the time, but no energy.” 1
This is, unfortunately, the great paradox of our modern society. But it need not be so. Your vision of life can include time, energy and money equally at all ages. Just stop thinking about retirement and set the goals that will lead you to enjoy all your time.
And start.
Now.
1 From the book Making money is killing your business, by Chuck Blakeman.
Is GTD only for geeks?
Surely, much of the success of GTD is because, at the beginning, it was widely adopted by the high-tech world—bloggers, programmers, geeks, etc.—, which certainly helped to spread its benefits quickly and virally…
