{"id":14850,"date":"2016-05-25T16:52:05","date_gmt":"2016-05-25T23:52:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/?p=14850"},"modified":"2025-05-10T07:40:30","modified_gmt":"2025-05-10T14:40:30","slug":"gtd-and-the-medical-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/05\/gtd-and-the-medical-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Episode #16 &#8211; GTD and the Medical Community"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This episode features two wonderful doctors and GTD enthusiasts in our GTD community: Dr. Julie Flagg and Dr. Julian Goldman. They join David Allen and Senior Coach Kelly Forrister in a lively and heartfelt discussion about how GTD has helped their stability, clarity, and focus.<\/p>\n<h2>Listen Now<\/h2>\n<div id=\"video-container\"><iframe style=\"border: none;\" src=\"\/\/html5-player.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/4394806\/height\/360\/width\/640\/theme\/standard\/direction\/no\/autoplay\/no\/autonext\/no\/thumbnail\/yes\/preload\/no\/no_addthis\/no\/\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Subscribe or Download<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/getthing-things-done\/id999098861\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">iTunes<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.stitcher.com\/s?fid=66868&amp;refid=stpr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Stitcher<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.libsyn.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Libsyn<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/music\/m\/If5n66lnvvompn4q7yqu4cqxax4?t=Getting_Things_Done\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Google Play Music<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/21mSaFgOhfR7TT8MKxF41n\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Spotify<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/user-697578497\/tracks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SoundCloud<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Transcript<\/h2>\n<p>PODCAST WITH DAVID ALLEN AND KELLY FORRISTER<br \/>\nINTERVIEWING DR. JULIE FLAGG AND DR. JULIAN GOLDMAN<\/p>\n<p>KF: Hi there GTD Connect members, it\u2019s Kelly Forrister. Well I am just thrilled today to bring you another slice of GTD Life. Many of you are familiar with this series, brings inside your fellow GTD enthusiasts and how they\u2019re managing their GTD system, their world, what inspired them, what\u2019s creative for them and today I invited two special guests. I have Dr. Julie Flagg. Hi there Julie.<br \/>\nDJF: Hi, how are you?<br \/>\nKF: Good. Welcome. And I also have Dr. Julian Goldman. Hi Julian.<br \/>\nDJG: Hi Kelly. Great to be here.<br \/>\nKF: And another special guest we have today is Mr. David Allen. Hi David.<br \/>\nDA: Hi Kelly, hi you guys. We\u2019ve chatted. Delighted to be in conversation with all of you.<br \/>\nKF: Yeah, it\u2019s gonna be great and probably will go something in the order of 30-45 minutes and I would say it probably took longer to coordinate the four schedules than it did to actually have this call, but I\u2019m super excited to do this and before we dive in to our discussion, Julie I want to start with you and have you introduce yourself. You\u2019ve been one of our In Conversation interviewees, as many people know. Wonderful interview. But for those who aren\u2019t familiar with you and just a give a refresh of who you are, kind of work you do and uh what can you say to our members?<br \/>\nDJF: So, first of all, it\u2019s great to be here. I have been a GTD member since uh 2001, when I stumbled on the David\u2019s book and read the book and called and got some coaching and my life was really transformed from that moment on. And since then uh, I\u2019ve been in touch with the GTD group probably several times a year. As a Connect member I log on a couple times a week probably and when I have a question I\u2019ll call uh Kelly or contact Meg or talk to David or call Kam Ross or keep in touch with Kathryn, so it\u2019s a very, very vibrant connection and it\u2019s my background team that almost nobody knows about but it\u2019s very much my working family and so GTD has been absolutely critical. When I try to put a number, I think it probably has increased my productivity, uh probably 25 to 30% from the get-go and that\u2019s been consistent. Uh, it\u2019s improved my sleep probably 100% and in the process I think it has made me a better physician and undoubtedly saved some lives and helped me produce some better work and better home life and more fun and \u2013 and uh \u2013 still have time for dinner with my 92 year-old mother and have a great partner, life-partner, so I simply couldn\u2019t say enough for it. GTD is the skeleton of my work. There are people in the group that I try and meet up with. There are ideas that I try to talk to people about, so it\u2019s just been \u2013 it\u2019s been a really, really, fun thing and the power of picking up a book in the bookstore, probably never more powerful for me.<br \/>\nKF: Wow, what a great story Julie. Thank you.<br \/>\nAnd Julian, welcome on the line and tell us a little bit about yourself.<br \/>\nDJG: Well thank you and kind of exciting to have David join us. That was a pleasant surprise Kelly. I am an anesthesiologist. I\u2019m a physician at Mass General Hospital in Boston and in addition to my clinical work, I have administrative roles. I\u2019m a medical director of biomedical engineering for our organization at Partners Healthcare and I also run a research program, a federally funded research program that is trying to improve patient safety and innovation by improving the way our medical equipment can communicate, so that we can have the kind of standards in communication in healthcare that we have everywhere else, like in computers and electronics, and so on. So my work life is very diverse from intense clinical care in the operating room, taking care of patients, running around, being too busy to write almost anything down and certainly too busy to be distracted by mundane things that need to be remembered on a different day at a different time, to other days where I\u2019m involved in back-to-back meetings and uh have a heavy travel schedule as well for the kind of work that I do.<br \/>\nAnd I think that I like the whole idea that has been expressed by David and taught that you know most of us who seek and use GTD methodology are people that you know are really excited and feel fortunate to do the work we do, uh but we want to be even better and more productive and I think it was \u2013 I guess probably, when was the book published, Getting \u2013 with that subtitle, Art of Stress-free Productivity? Was that 2001?<br \/>\nDA: 2000 \u2013 2001, yeah, it was.<br \/>\nDJG: So I kind of stumbled upon it in an airport and uh I thought, \u201cGee, that sounds magical! Stress-free productivity.\u201d Of course we\u2019ve all learned a lot since then, but anyway that\u2019s a big of my background and you know, very varied work life and the approach, the methodology and the notion of you know, really doing more and being effective has been very appealing to me and I\u2019ve been grateful to have that education and teaching in my professional and personal life.<br \/>\nKF: Terrific. Thank you. And \u2013 and Mr. David Allen, what do you do as your day job these days?<br \/>\nDA: Ha, ha, ha, ha.<br \/>\nKF: What keeps you busy?<br \/>\nDA: You know, I take my puppy out for a walk and I\u2019m designing the global education for taking GTD around the world, you know, in all the different languages that we\u2019re now starting to distribute this and figuring how to leverage the heck out of the goldmine of resources, of Julie and Julian that we have in terms of how they\u2019re applying this and how many other people they\u2019re lives and conditions could be improved learning from them.<br \/>\nSo Julie I have to say, you just gave me a fabulous image called me and Kelly and Kathryn and company are now the pit crew.<br \/>\nDJF: Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.<br \/>\nDA: Ha, ha, ha, for these serious racers out there like you guys. And that\u2019s really, I mean, I got to tell you that just so rang my bell. Believe me, I\u2019m gonna get a lot of mileage out of that. So \u2026 ha, ha, ha. That\u2019s enough for me Kelly.<br \/>\nKF: Yeah, that actually is a terrific visual, \u2018cause I do get e-mails from you every once in a while Julie and it\u2019s fun, \u2018cause you\u2019ll, \u201cKelly how do you do OmiFo? How do you do this in OmiFocus?\u201d Or, \u201cKelly, what should I do in this \u2026\u201d and it does feel like you\u2019ve been racing and I can imagine Julian your work style is like this as well or you\u2019re busy, busy, busy and then you kind of pause and I love Julian when you pop up on the forums, \u2018cause I think, \u201cOh good, he\u2019s got some breathing time and he can \u2026<br \/>\nDJG: Ha, ha, ha.<br \/>\nKF: \u2026pop into the forums in the community.\u201d But \u2026<br \/>\nDJG: That\u2019s pretty much it. That\u2019s one way to tell, yep \u2026<br \/>\nKF: Yeah.<br \/>\nDJG: \u2026 that\u2019s exactly right.<br \/>\nKF: So what I\u2019d love for this conversation to be framed around, of course it can take any direction it wants, but I thought it would be interesting to hear you both give your spots on the question, how has GTD helped you with stability, clarity and focus? And focus could also be presence or being present, but how \u2013 how do you think GTD has helped you in that? I\u2019d love to hear your thoughts on that. How has it created stability with super busy, you know, highly successful careers and also give you clarity about the kind of work you\u2019re doing and you\u2019re saving lives and also the focus and the direction that you\u2019re doing. I would love any input you \u2013 either one of you have on that. So, Julie, Julian; want to start, whoever?<br \/>\nDJF: I uh, being a very busy OB\/GYN uh I sometimes have my days and weeks and years pockmarked by really good events and sometimes really catastrophic events and \u2013 and uh \u2013 we\u2019re \u2013 we\u2019re very much \u2013 I can\u2019t wait to talk to Julian offline, because there\u2019s a lot of safety stuff, uh ideas, that appeal to be to talk to him about, but the bottom line is and uh \u2013 I \u2013 some of my events, I have uh catastrophic events, have occurred after I\u2019ve done my weekly review and some of them I have done, they have occurred when I have not done a weekly review and it is hugely, hugely, hugely, hugely different. Uh if I am \u2013 have a clear concept of my projects, uh, and my areas of focus, I really think that way. I visually \u2013 I have a visual structure in my mind of my areas of focus. Uh, I am always seeking OmniFocus how to uh \u2013 uh set up my projects and next actions and uh \u2013 it\u2019s just for me, I honestly do not believe that I could be doing clinical medicine right now without GTD and I think probably in a much less level. I am very much involved in going to electronic medical records in our hospital and in our own practice and those transitions are monumental. They require tremendous focus and concentration, tremendous attention to what do we need to accomplish. Uh, I think very much the weekly review is critical, but also kind of \u2013 what can I do with these two minutes? Even the two minutes before the call came through \u2013 what can I constructively do in these couple of minutes that I have? What are my projects \u2013 uh \u2013 and then sort of what were my major goals. You know, I remember when I talked to David In Conversation, one of my major goals was to find another life partner. I mean that was a major goal and just focusing on it and it happened and it\u2019s just hugely important and successful and in my mind, I \u2013 I honestly don\u2019t think I could have done it without GTD. I think I just would have scattered and \u2013 and sort of fizzled. And \u2013 and GTD for me has been \u2013 has been sort of the anti-fizzle. Uh, it keeps me focused. I\u2019ve had two very, very busy nights and the third time in my career, I cancelled patients today and I said, \u201cI simply am in no condition to see patients\u201d, and I took a long nap and then just sat at my desk and did my weekly review. And it just gives, it\u2019s just a tool. I notice there are other people out there that are working really, really hard, much harder than I am, uh and it just gives me a lot more flexibility. It just is absolutely essential to my continuing to work and I think I\u2019m gonna work for many years to come. It gives me the framework. It absolutely gives me the framework.<br \/>\nKF: Awesome. I love that phrase, \u201cGTD is the anti-fizzle\u201d, ha, ha.<br \/>\nDA: You know, let me insert here, we were just having a conversation, actually with Todd Henry that I just did, a new In Conversation, so he\u2019s the new one coming out and you know, a lot of what he has said about your energy \u2026<br \/>\nDJF: Yeah.<br \/>\nDA: And he\u2019s brought up a thing about energy that says, \u201cLooking pruning is critical to manage your energy.\u201d You know, the vine keeper prunes the most creative, cool new shoots that are coming out so that the old mature really high production things don\u2019t get subsumed by all the new stuff and other things and stuff like that, so you\u2019re just reinforcing that for me Julian and what a great, ha, ha, ha, I\u2019m sorry \u2013 how impactful uh your testimony to that is. Thanks.<br \/>\nKF: Yeah, Julian what would you say about that GTD and stability, clarity, focus, anything around that?<br \/>\nDJG: Yeah, it\u2019s really interesting listening to Julie, it\u2019s stimulating some ideas as well and just the nature of the question. Your question Kelly is a very sophisticated one. You didn\u2019t ask, \u201cWell how did GTD help you remember your shopping list when you\u2019re running around, or keep you from having to you know, not forget things?\u201d<br \/>\nThis is \u2013 this conversation we\u2019re having now, all of us, is a much more sophisticated conversation. I think for people, for example who understand the value of a retreat. For people who understand the value of meditation, the ability to integrate and then work from a stable base. Uh, that seems to reflect the thinking here.<br \/>\nUm, I think of a lot of our work lives are kind of like, I think of it as skiing and I \u2013 boy I haven\u2019t skied in a long time, but when I lived in Colorado I used to do that and you know, when you\u2019re skiing on something, it\u2019s really hard to stop. Basically you can pause at the beginning, you may select your line, you may select what you\u2019re going to do, but once you\u2019re going and it\u2019s dynamic, if you try to stop, that\u2019s when you fall, so you have to have a plan and you have to decide, this is the time for action and there\u2019s another time when I stop and I make my plan for the next action.<br \/>\nIn my \u2013 in my clinical world in anesthesia, it\u2019s very similar. We see a patient before surgery, we take the time to understand all about their medical history, all about the needs of the surgeon, the peculiarities of their own disease interacting with whatever else is being planned, but then when it\u2019s time to go and it\u2019s time to start the anesthesia and start the surgery, that\u2019s not the time when you stop and change your mind or go back and have another conversation. So there\u2019s a time to pause and a time to plan and a time to go.<br \/>\nKF: Hmm.<br \/>\nDJG: And that\u2019s in a sense what GTD, I find brings to a hectic busy life, because if you get \u2013 stuff gets thrown your way and you\u2019re busy, you actually have a parking place for it, you know how to handle it.<br \/>\nI remember years ago, I \u2013 we were on a call and uh I asked at the time, I think David was leading the call and I asked uh, you know what do I do on my OR days? I can\u2019t even carry things with me. I can\u2019t carry a notebook. I can\u2019t really process. And of course, he said, \u201cWell you shouldn\u2019t be processing. You shouldn\u2019t even be thinking about what you\u2019re gonna do with that. Just write it on a piece of paper and at the end \u2013 throw it in your in-box at the end of the day and you\u2019ll deal with it later on when you\u2019re not busy and \u2013 or the end of that day when you\u2019re fatigued.\u201d<br \/>\nSo David that was a long time ago, it was great advice and it helps with that separation of having a \u2013 and that\u2019s what the weekly review is, it\u2019s that stable base, you know, return, retreat, stabilize and then go like crazy again if you have to. You know that\u2019s kind of the way I think about how GTD brings stability or clarity and focus. It\u2019s in that kind of general model of knowing how to get a stable platform so you could really be productive after that.<br \/>\nDA: You know, I have to \u2013 uh thanks Julian, that\u2019s fabulous. I mean what a sophisticated way to reflect back on this stuff. We were just In Conversation today with somebody who said, \u201cYou know, when you\u2019re riding a bicycle or you\u2019re trying to sort of dynamically steer and stay on course, the fact that you, when something pops into your mind that might throw you off course, because of its distractibility or attraction, either way, as opposed to staying present with what the course is that you\u2019re on, skiing downhill or in the OR, that the ability to write something down, that then took that distraction off that you could then trust would then put it in the appropriate process is a way to stay on course. And the most, you know, to me that\u2019s I get inspired, get chills on my back, I go, \u201cYes!\u201d The most mundane is the most sophisticated in terms of what we\u2019re doing and what you guys are doing. So that\u2019s a great frame of that and actually example of that, Julian, thanks.<br \/>\nKF: David I\u2019m curious too in your thoughts, how do people know when they need to, when things are unstable when they are unclear and need more clarity or they\u2019re out of focus, what are the signs that people need to go back and do more work at those three levels?<br \/>\nDA: They have stuff on their mind other than what they\u2019re doing.<br \/>\nKF: Hmm.<br \/>\nDJG: Hmm, it\u2019s funny you say that \u2026<br \/>\nDJF: It\u2019s almost like a palpable sensation.<br \/>\nDJG: Um hm.<br \/>\nDJG: It\u2019s like a physical sensation that this does not seem right and I shouldn\u2019t be continuing. I have to stop.<br \/>\nDJG: Yeah, I do that at the beginning. For example, my OR days start quite early of course, that\u2019s the way surgery works, but I\u2019ll still take 15 minutes and uh look at my calendar at home, before I go to work, look at my calendar, think about what my day is like, think about what do I have to address immediately that may slip through the cracks. Do I have to delegate some \u2013 something that\u2019s really critical, or perhaps send a pre-emptive e-mail and let someone know they won\u2019t be able to reach me today because I\u2019m busy clinically and it\u2019ll have to wait or who they could contact and by just partitioning things that way and planning accordingly and by having an up to date calendar, which I depend completely on my calendar being, you know, comprehensive and up to date, it changes how I could face the day. Now I can focus and put all of my attention, uh to where it needs to be, which of course is to take care of my patients.<br \/>\nDA: Well you guys are helping frame much more sophisticated sense of Gestalt of how we manage ourselves and our energy because in the old days, you know, yesterday and back \u2026<br \/>\nKF: Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.<br \/>\nDA: \u2026 you know, people would go and surgeons would go and believe you know, physicians who have that kind of drive, are gonna say, \u201cThat\u2019s not life critical right now, forget it.\u201d Or, \u201cMaybe somebody will handle it, maybe something will show up and maybe it might be a part of later on, but it\u2019s not the most important thing right now\u201d, and then ignore that and then drop it out of their consciousness, or drop it out of their psyche at that point and then they get whipped back on the back end by that not being handled. And \u2013 and that, you know \u2013 it\u2019s \u2013 it\u2019s almost like understanding the whole Gestalt has to be handled immediately. You can\u2019t, you know, if you\u2019re jumped by four people in a dark alley, you can\u2019t forget that there\u2019s a fifth, and sixth person waiting in that other street, ready to jump you when you handle these four. You know, they are included in that situational awareness. So building a situational awareness and the things that then sensitize that so you know Julian and Julie you guys are absolutely fabulous demonstrations of the difference of taking that sort of responsibility to be accountable for the non-urgent critical \u2013 life-critical things in the moment that then if I don\u2019t handle that will then distract me from my ability to handle those ongoing.<br \/>\nDJF: Well I think it\u2019s that capacity that when you\u2019re with your patient \u2013 I was with a resident, she said, \u201cOh it\u2019s \u2026\u201d this kind of a night or that kind of a night.<br \/>\nAnd I said, \u201cNo, this is \u2013 we are with this patient right now and this is all that we are. There is nothing more. It doesn\u2019t matter. We aren\u2019t gonna make \u2013 she\u2019s gonna get \u2013 at the end of the day, she\u2019s gonna get the very best possible outcome.\u201d And \u2013 and absolutely GTD enables me to go and I can have four patients that I\u2019m dealing with, but when I\u2019m with that patient, it absolutely lets me just drill right down to, \u201cI am here for you.\u201d That\u2019s all that matters and that is \u2013 it just makes me at peace.<br \/>\nDJG: You know it\u2019s interesting you say that Julie and I \u2013 I think there are two parts to this, in that there\u2019s a way of thinking about things, in other words there\u2019s a way of thinking and recognizing that one has to be focused on the issue at hand to do a good job. So that\u2019s one aspect. And the other aspect is if you do have everything managed in terms of your information and reminders, it allows you to then practice that focus. And I have to say that certainly, uh \u2013 some of \u2013 managing all the bits and pieces of my life is an ideal. It\u2019s an ongoing challenge to get to the place where I want to be. At the end of the day in the OR, or whatever else I might be doing, you know, getting home in the evening and having several hundred e-mails to process, I can\u2019t necessarily do that and I certainly have things that slip through the cracks. However, so there\u2019s that data part, but then there\u2019s the \u2013 the general model of how to handle something and a problem and understanding \u2013 knowing that appropriate focus \u2013 or it gets focus that matches the need is to me, seems to be an essential part of the GTD approach to \u2013 to handling tasks and projects.<br \/>\nDJF: And actually developing tools that make it happen.<br \/>\nDJG: Yes.<br \/>\nDJF: What do you absolutely have to have? So she said, \u201cWell how do you keep it?\u201d<br \/>\nAnd I said, \u201cWell here. And we\u2019re totally electronic, but for the mission critical stuff, I still have a small white sheet of paper for each patient that\u2019s got the scoop, because \u2026\u201d<br \/>\nDJG: Me too, same thing.<br \/>\nDJF: I have \u2013 I have \u2013 \u201cI keep it very close to myself and I do not let anybody else see it, but I have to know that it\u2019s there. And when I sign out the next morning, I can go, ding, ding, ding, ding, and \u2026\u201d<br \/>\nAnd she said, \u201cOh, that\u2019s how you do it.\u201d And so while we\u2019re very electronic and very, very savvy, there\u2019s still parts of me that there\u2019s still 3 x 5 cards in my pocket.<br \/>\nDA: Well.<br \/>\nDJF: And I still have the note taker wallet in my back pocket.<br \/>\nDA: Well you \u2026<br \/>\nDJF: You have to have that scoop.<br \/>\nDA: You know Julie, a lot of what I\u2019m doing and we\u2019re doing now to sort of reframe in a much larger scope and I \u2013 I think more critical scoping of GTD is creating the right maps.<br \/>\nDJF: Yeah.<br \/>\nDA: What map do you need to orient yourself, so you have your map to orient yourself for that patient? There\u2019s in you pocket. You don\u2019t use the map all the time. You don\u2019t look at your GPS while you\u2019re driving, you\u2019d run into something, but it\u2019s gotta be there and so you need to have that there. So I think that concept of \u2018what do I need to do to make sure I\u2019ve captured the appropriate data, clarified and processed it, so that then I can have the display I need where I need it, whether that\u2019s a dashboard in your car or the dashboard you\u2019re walking into doing your rounds. You know \u2013 that\u2019s \u2013 it\u2019s such a brilliant idea. I mean I keep thinking about Atul Gawande, who is a GTD fan.<br \/>\nDJF: Oh, I know, aw.<br \/>\nDA: The whole idea of what map do you need in the OR when you\u2019re taking out of a heart or you\u2019re doing whatever.<br \/>\nDJG: Well we\u2019re doing \u2013 you know, interestingly enough we\u2019re \u2013 in \u2013 in my research lab, we\u2019re working on, on context sensitive check lists that update dynamically.<br \/>\nDJF: Yeah.<br \/>\nDJG: Because it\u2019s the same idea. I mean, if I can, I\u2019ll ask \u2013 I\u2019m gonna play Kelly for a minute and ask you a question Julie. On those \u2013 on your index cards or on your paper \u2026<br \/>\nDJF: Yeah.<br \/>\nDJG: \u2026 you know, I\u2019m assuming that you don\u2019t write everything down about the patient, you just write down those things that you might forget and \u2026<br \/>\nDJF: What we did is when we went to our electronic medical record at the hospital two years ago, before then we had our paper system and we basically did not, you know, maybe one in ten thousand times we would forget a blood clot or something, but \u2013 and then when we went to electronic, we went down to pretty much one in one hundred errors, very, very frightening time. So then I started to have a hidden paper sheet and then I started to tape my check-list to the white board in the OR and uh so \u2013 and it became a useful tool.<br \/>\nBut it is in part to make sure that we don\u2019t forget to get an informed consent, that we don\u2019t forget that she has a clotting problem, that we don\u2019t forget she\u2019s HIV positive and \u2026<br \/>\nDJG: So it takes it off your mind. I think that \u2013 what I was aiming at is I think is that the idea is you write things down to make sure they\u2019re not on your mind because they\u2019re on the paper.<br \/>\nDJF: Right. I do not want to be thinking, \u201cDid I get \u2013 do I \u2013 do I have a blood clot here?\u201d when I\u2019m in up to my elbows in blood. I &#8211; I just \u2013 I can\u2019t \u2013 I can\u2019t do that. Um, I \u2013 I have to have everything \u2013 I &#8211; if I\u2019m gonna be able to say at the end of the day, \u201cI got the best possible result\u201d, I cannot be worrying you know, do I have a blood clot? I just can\u2019t so that\u2019s where we developed this hybrid system and I probably will go to my grave with a 3 x 5 card in my pocket \u2026<br \/>\nKF: Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.<br \/>\nDJG: Yeah, we all go \u2026<br \/>\nDJF: Because you never know when you\u2019re gonna need it.<br \/>\nDJG: So David, how \u2013 how do you envision the \u2013 the notion of contextually relevant data is something that uh, you know a lot of people are thinking about, especially health care, but in many areas of course, and we\u2019ve been working on that as a \u2013 as a way for example to, you know, why have a check list that tell you, for example, um, to check the patient\u2019s allergies, if you\u2019ve already checked the patient\u2019s allergies and the electronic system knows that it\u2019s been done? Or why have the check list remind you to get informed consent from the patient, if it\u2019s already been done and it\u2019s documented electronically? So why waste, you know, everyone\u2019s time with steps that are unnecessary because they\u2019re already documented somewhere?<br \/>\nDA: Yeah, yeah \u2026<br \/>\nDJG: So how \u2013 how are you thinking about that?<br \/>\nDA: Well Julian actually it\u2019s a great question and these are \u2013 this is really um, sort of framing the new frontier, because uh \u2013 to Julie\u2019s point and Julie I hadn\u2019t heard that before but as soon as you start to go to \u201cLet\u2019s trust the system to do this\u201d, because the system is not nearly as sophisticated as all the variables and subtleties that we don\u2019t really realize are involved in our decision making and critical decision making that \u2013 that you can\u2019t trust that system to be able to make that decision for you.<br \/>\nSo \u2013 the \u2013 the two ways to answer that. One is um, I highly distrust contextural stuff simply because of all those variables. You know, some of the early uh stuff they\u2019re doing right now to say, \u201cWell when I get home, show me all the home calls I need to make or show me all the things.\u201d Yeah, but come on, that\u2019s a pretty arbitrary way to try to describe the different categories. You know, I\u2019m sure there\u2019s lots of ways in your context that that would get much more subtle and much more critical that says, \u201cWait a minute! I still need to know this, even though I\u2019ve checked that off, that\u2019s still something I personally want to know about \u2026\u201d x, y and z. And so \u2026<br \/>\nDJF: I think \u2013 especially with electronically you say, \u201cWell electronically we check it, but we have to be really honest with ourselves.\u201d There\u2019s a lot of stuff that\u2019s done electronically that\u2019s frankly not done. It\u2019s checked off, so you know, we\u2019re in this horrible transition period, but we have \u2013 you know, we have to be completely effective and truthful and so \u2026<br \/>\nDA: Well \u2026<br \/>\nDJF: \u2026 we have to know it\u2019s there.<br \/>\nDJG: That\u2019s my experience too.<br \/>\nKF: And it seems like the theme here too is um, systems are great and of course check lists and getting all that documented, but don\u2019t check your intuition at the door. I would imagine Julie and Julian, you both call on your \u2026<br \/>\nDJG: I like that Kelly.<br \/>\nKF: \u2026 intuition quite a bit. Yes?<br \/>\nDJG: That\u2019s great. You hit the nail on the head.<br \/>\nKF: Yeah.<br \/>\nDJG: It can\u2019t be taken away. Exactly.<br \/>\nDA: The key is \u2013 what do you need to do to get this off my mind, so I can be present with what I\u2019m challenged to do? So you know, all of you have been speaking to that point, you know and that\u2019s the sort of underlying principle, the GTD principle that says, \u201cWait a minute! If it\u2019s on your mind, aside from developmental constructive thinking about it, it\u2019s on your mind called \u2013 oh that\u2019s a distraction.\u201d And the worst part of it is the subliminal stuff on your mind because it\u2019s not on your conscious mind but you didn\u2019t handle it consciously when it showed up and is still there resident internally and then sucking wind out of your sails when you\u2019re trying to do your top work, so that\u2019s the martial art of all of this and to be able to say, \u201cWhat is it that\u2019s on my mind when I walk into this person, and when I do my rounds, what do I want to know, what do I want to see?\u201d And I think that\u2019s a very individual call. I don\u2019t see anybody being able to really template that yet, other than how do we build a template that just sort of a template that manages your own template?<br \/>\nDJF: Yeah, it\u2019s just such a very \u2013 even since I was a resident, I had templates in my clipboard that I was sort of always evolving and I feel like \u2013 I feel the templates on my clipboard, out on a clipboard, I\u2019m still sort of looking for that magic. You know this is really gonna hit the nail on the head, uh to get it just right, so that we can do superb, superb work.<br \/>\nKF: Well Julie \u2013 consolation Julie for you on your index cards, one of my favorites uh tools that sits on my desk is actually a stack of index cards and I\u2019ve all my systems and they\u2019re pristine most of the time and all my projects and all my lists and even this morning I was just starting to feel like the wheels on the bus were wobbling a bit with just how much is on my plate at the moment and I pulled out one of my cards and I wrote my punch list, \u201cHere\u2019s what has to happen today. Here\u2019s what has to happen this week.\u201d And it was really just my little mini 3-1\/2 x 5 card map that I had next to me and immediately I calmed down, I went \u2013 got it. It\u2019s \u2013 I\u2019m covered. So even those of us that are super electronic nerds as myself \u2026<br \/>\nDJG: Um hm.<br \/>\nKF: \u2026 those cards are just \u2013 there\u2019s something about being able to create that kind of ad hoc map as David calls it, just right on the fly, \u201cShow me what I need to know.\u201d<br \/>\nDJG: And Kelly it\u2019s funny you brought up the \u2013 you just partitioned something into \u201cIt has to happen today \u2013 it has to happen this week\u201d, and I \u2013 way back when, I guess around 2001, where we started this \u2013 this journey, uh, I \u2013 I \u2013 I really was frustrated at how difficult it was to use a regular electronic device or calendar to put something in that kind of parking spot. It\u2019s either for the week \u2013 you know, any time this week is okay, but is has to get done this week, and I think back then what I used were post-it notes on plastic dividers and a loose leaf and so one of them was for the week and one of them was for the day and I could move things back and forth and uh \u2013 it\u2019s \u2013 it\u2019s funny how hard it is to \u2013 to make that happen electronically.<br \/>\nKF: Um hm.<br \/>\nDJG: And uh \u2026<br \/>\nKF: Yeah.<br \/>\nDJG: Yeah, a simple thing like that and yet, that\u2019s how we really work and live and \u2013 and the electronic tools don\u2019t map very well. I\u2019m pretty comfortable with these different tools. I think I\u2019ve tried, I \u2013 I don\u2019t know, probably 80 or 90% of any product that\u2019s been discussed, at least if it\u2019s Mac compatible or web based, I probably tried it. If it\u2019s discussed on the forums or elsewhere and \u2026 I\u2019m still a little frustrated.<br \/>\nDA: Well to validate all of you guys, you know, several of the serious GTD enthusiasts that I\u2019ve come across fairly recently, you know, what they do is the night before or early in the morning just glance through all their systems and take a 3 x 5 card and say, \u201cOkay, if I get any windows today, here are the three or four things I need to handle\u201d, and they \u2013 they really go at a low tech to be able to make that work. You were working technologically \u2013 I understand that, so I think that can be supported and supported in spades technologically once you get what this is about. So \u2026<br \/>\nDJG: Um hm.<br \/>\nDA: \u2026 it\u2019s coming but no promises how soon.<br \/>\nDJG: Well the problem David is that I \u2013 I have to stop using an index card for my daily list because I can\u2019t read my handwriting. Only a pharmacist can read it.<br \/>\nKF: Ha, ha, ha, ha.<br \/>\nDJF: Ha, ha, ha, ha.<br \/>\nDA: Got it.<br \/>\nDJG: Yeah, yeah.<br \/>\nDJF: There\u2019s another secret that you have talked about that\u2019s a really cool in terms of just getting things done, \u2018cause alternately you know that\u2019s the part \u2013 big part of the beauty of your system is just do that bitchin\u2019 thing that you don\u2019t want to do and do it first thing in the morning.<br \/>\nDA: Ha, ha, ha, ha. Yeah.<br \/>\nDJF: Now I will give you one of the things that torments physicians is that we\u2019re required to be board recertified and you\u2019ll get this e-mail that says, \u201cIn three days, if you do not do this, it\u2019s going \u2013 you\u2019re going to implode and your \u2013 your license will be taken \u2026\u201d You just have this horrible sense that the license will be taken. It\u2019s obviously ridiculous, but you know you\u2019re in for a couple of hours of talking to this lady in Dallas about what you need to do. But because of David like I have this funny \u2013 I just took off. I said, \u201cDammit, I\u2019m gonna do this!\u201d And so the first thing I did and it kind of gave me this boost all day long and so it was this goofy thing, but you \u2013 somehow in your litany of advice you said, \u201cDo the thing that\u2019s just got that thorn in your side that\u2019s driving you crazy, do it first thing in the morning and you get this sort of lift all day long\u201d which is very nice. It\u2019s like a bonus, it\u2019s a GTD bonus and that\u2019s a nice little thing.<br \/>\nKF: Ha, ha, ha.<br \/>\nDA: And let me graduate that Julie, thank you, and I \u2013 me too. I mean I\u2019m talking to myself when I say all that \u2018cause I have to deal with the same thing. It\u2019s really about: I need clear space. And I think you know, a lot of my message going forward for the rest of the years of my life, I\u2019m sure, was gonna be, \u201cCome on folks, clear space is where you want to get to, because that gives you the ability to be present for the meaningful things in your life.\u201d So what\u2019s most in the way of clear space? The thorniest things. Right? The things that are distracting and pulling on you and every time I do this I\u2019m going, \u201cYeah but, oh my God, I should be \u2026\u201d You know, it\u2019s quieting that noise is the critical factor.<br \/>\nDJG: Well David, if I may say that I think in a sense your emphasizing the roots of your work. That\u2019s full circle back to the beginning which is as I\u2019ve heard you say many times, the reason you focus on \u2013 on the runway is to allow people to move to the higher level.<br \/>\nDA: Yeah.<br \/>\nDJG: And I think you know that\u2019s \u2013 and in a sense that\u2019s what we\u2019ve been talking about during this \u2013 this whole conversation.<br \/>\nDA: Exactly.<br \/>\nDJG: Using examples of that.<br \/>\nDA: And you guys are such brilliant examples of your operating from a higher space and you know that. You look around your colleagues, you know you can probably, you know, I\u2019ll \u2013 I\u2019ll tell you \u2018cause you probably won\u2019t self profess it, but I\u2019ll bet you know, you\u2019re standing out in the crowd.<br \/>\nDJG: In a good way or a bad way, when you say \u2013 you know?<br \/>\nDJF: Ha, ha, ha, ha.<br \/>\nDA: A good way to keep assessing your capabilities and attraction and a bad way to all the people around you that \u2013 that you then become the result of them having to then manage themselves.<br \/>\nDJG: You see in our profession we\u2019re all used to left-handed complements, we have to be careful.<br \/>\nDJF: Ha, ha, ha. Well with that list, you keep coming back and it drives \u2018em nuts, \u2018cause you know you remember \u2018cause it\u2019s on \u2013 it\u2019s on \u2013 that accountability list that we all \u2013 it all ultimately to be effective, which is what Julian said was, you know, you have to do what you say you\u2019re gonna do and you really need the list to remember what on earth it was you said that you were gonna do last Friday night uh just before you went to sleep. And if you don\u2019t have it written down, you aren\u2019t gonna remember what you said to that person that you love so much and you thought it was related to travel, but you have no idea if it was.<br \/>\nKF: Ha, ha, ha, ha. Um \u2026<br \/>\nDJG: But it\u2019s like in a sense Kelly, if I can share a thought which is \u2013 we have it a little bit easier than some people do in terms of prioritizing what we have to get done. When \u2013 I \u2013 I think and of course I don\u2019t want to speak for Julie, but I\u2019ll give it a try and then Julie, just correct me, but \u2013 I \u2013 I think we \u2013 you know all of us who care for patients make that our priority, when that\u2019s \u2013 if it \u2013 if there\u2019s a list of things to do, a list of things to focus on or be concerned about, that always becomes number one, so in a sense, it\u2019s almost like cheating. You know our prioritizing \u2013 our number one item is the easiest thing we do. Now the rest of the stuff can be a little more difficult. Uh, but at least we have one area where we can easily, you know, it bubbles to the top all the time.<br \/>\nNow that\u2019s a double edged sword, because it\u2019s \u2013 it\u2019s easy to \u2013 if we didn\u2019t have uh a good system and a methodology it would be easy to lose those other things to that highest priority all the time.<br \/>\nSo Julie do you \u2013 does that \u2013 is that similar or I\u2019m \u2026<br \/>\nDJF: I have always actually thought that in fact being in medicine that is a huge simplifier. I don\u2019t know how people don\u2019t work in medicine. And I think that I absolutely agree. It\u2019s \u2013 it\u2019s we are spoiled.<br \/>\nDJG: Yeah.<br \/>\nDJF: We wake up in the middle of the \u2013 I \u2013 I wake up, they tell me where to go, I go, I smile, I do my work, I do my operations and \u2013 and then I go to the next thing that\u2019s on my list. So it\u2019s actually \u2013 it\u2019s wonderful. I \u2013 I feel I know that I could not do anything else. And I feel really, really, really fortunate and honestly if it were not for GTD, the rest of my life would be a shambles \u2026<br \/>\nDA: You know guys \u2026<br \/>\nDJG: \u2026 unequivocally.<br \/>\nDA: I probably told this story somewhere before but you know an old client and friend of mine Erich Rose, who you know ran surgery at Columbia Presbyterian, I think he\u2019s still there and he said, I had dinner with him in New York and he said, \u201cYou know David, uh transplanting hearts \u2026\u201d and he was the first guy to transplant a \u2013 a \u2013 a kid\u2019s heart successfully, he said, \u201ctransplanting hearts \u2013 that\u2019s easy.\u201d Ha, ha, ha. \u201cThat\u2019s no big deal, but now I\u2019m responsible for integrating a surgical department from New Jersey, the hospital that we just bought \u2026.\u201d Or whatever, he said, \u201cI have no idea what to do about any of that.\u201d He said, \u201cCan you just get me the OR?\u201d Ha, ha, ha.<br \/>\nKF: Ha, ha, ha.<br \/>\nDJG: Yeah, that rings true. But uh you know, it\u2019s an interesting way we look at life, I suppose.<br \/>\nKF: Well guys, we\u2019re coming to our end here. As much as I have loved this conversation and I would love to hear some final words from all of you on your focus and what\u2019s coming \u2013 what\u2019s on the horizon for you that\u2019s fun, exciting, creative, in any \u2013 inspiring for you in your work or personal life, what\u2019s \u2013 what\u2019s your focus? Julian what would you say to that?<br \/>\nDA: Uh, I\u2019m gonna hijack this Kelly for a second. Because I\u2019m gonna challenge uh both of you, of something and just gonna ask a favor of you.<br \/>\nDJG: I knew there would be a test. I knew it!<br \/>\nDA: There is a test. If you didn\u2019t have stability and uh clarity and focus that GTD gave you, what\u2019s the price you pay? Because you know, we\u2019re \u2013 we\u2019re going out to a much larger world right now and there are a lot of people that think our stuff is really about getting lists and corporate and you know whatever, but when you really get down to, wait a minute, what\u2019s the improvement of the conversation \u2013 what\u2019s the improvement of your conversation with yourself and if you didn\u2019t do this, what\u2019s the price you\u2019ll pay? So it may be a tough question in a short period, but I \u2013 I couldn\u2019t resist tossing because of what you guys have contributed so far.<br \/>\nDJF: Julian you go first.<br \/>\nDA: Ha, ha, ha, ha.<br \/>\nDJG: I was gonna say, Julie you go first. Okay, I\u2019ll go. Uh, David it\u2019s a great question. Uh, so I in all modesty I\u2019m a little uncomfortable saying just the number of active projects I have that are work-related. I\u2019m \u2013 I have a large uh research lab that\u2019s uh \u2013 had the opportunity to positively influence health care policy and health care technology and I\u2019m also building out some other \u2013 other things within the hospital and have \u2013 I wear other hats that relate to uh standards development for medical equipment internationally and my point in mentioning these things is just how diverse they are and I\u2019ve a lot of balls in the air and it\u2019s pretty hard to keep them all up at the same time and manage them and certainly they do drop and I can\u2019t always keep them going, but what gets me out of bed every morning and what gets me excited is the fact that in all the areas of my professional life, these activities are synergistic. The technology, the patient care, health care policy, whatever they are, they\u2019re all synergistic and I feel like one of the luckiest people in the world to do what I do and I couldn\u2019t do it if I didn\u2019t have an approach that would let me \u2013 and to the best of my ability, manage what I\u2019m doing for the sake of \u2013 of the best possible outcomes uh to influence health care in a positive way.<br \/>\nSo I \u2013 without it \u2013 without \u2013 without it \u2013 I would just be confused all day long. I\u2019d be trying to remember things, trying to continue to forget things and I \u2013 I still do. I\u2019m so far from perfect, I\u2019m almost embarrassed to say that I\u2019m modestly successful in some of these things, but I know how pitiful I would be if I didn\u2019t have the approach that I use, and also the help. I, you know, Julie mentioned the help she gets and I\u2019ve had coaching with uh Julie Ireland and it\u2019s been, you know, magnificently helpful to me. So uh, I just basically wouldn\u2019t be nearly as effective as I am, even though I\u2019m still not as effective as I wish I could be.<br \/>\nDA: Wow, thanks.<br \/>\nKF: Julie, you\u2019re up.<br \/>\nDJF: Yeah, I think that for me, it\u2019s really \u2013 it\u2019s everything. I have uh I have kind of envisioned that for the last sort of 30 or 40% of my career that I would be just safety oriented in OB\/GYN, that would be my main focus and then the computer systems came in and \u2013 and then I realized that I was gonna be much more involved in the IT aspects of safety and so I really had to modify what I was gonna be doing. It wasn\u2019t gonna be how quickly can I deliver a baby, uh but you know how was I gonna incorporate the \u2013 the computer and really make as fine a medical record as I made way back in 1987, uh that we could make as really superb medical record. So I had \u2013 because of the areas of focus, I had to kind of like shift my \u2013 that area of focus from pure safety to \u2013 I had to modify it and so GTD let me modify it.<br \/>\nUm, with my personal life, just staying committed to rowing every day, to you know, taking care of my mother so then I can just go quickly and go see her uh before this evening and then \u2013 but on the way I could pick up my trousers at the dry cleaner so that I could get everything done in a seamless way \u2013 it\u2019s really helped me to get it all done and \u2013 and not be crazy.<br \/>\nI see so many people leaving medicine because of the changes because they haven\u2019t been able to adapt and they just go, \u201cForget it!\u201d And I\u2019m seeing great, great, great clinicians leaving medicine and I so miss them. These are superb people but they just didn\u2019t want to make that adaptation and I think honestly that with GTD it kind of makes you say, \u201cOh you can do this. You know, just take it down into a little bite. You know, call up somebody, get some tutoring. You know, meet them next Friday, you can figure this out. There\u2019s just really this one problem that\u2019s really bugging you.\u201d And so to me that\u2019s what the beauty of GTD is, is that it makes you go, oh this is a big project, but my daddy was a builder. You know he used to take us when we were very little to look at the George Washington bridge and he said, \u201cThis is just a million little steps that made this beautiful bridge\u201d, and I think that GTD kind of goes, it really is just a matter of picking up your trousers so that you can go to the meeting after work tomorrow, so you\u2019d have something to wear and you\u2019re not worried about \u2013 are you gonna have clean trousers tomorrow.<br \/>\nDA: This is mission critical stuff absolutely.<br \/>\nDJF: Mission critical, so to me, GTD it makes me and it was very important for me to find a partner and I found this most incredible person in the world and it\u2019s just such an amazing thing and I honestly think that without GTD \u2013 I \u2013 I honestly think that \u2013 this \u2013 you know, I decided this was damned important and so I made it happen. And \u2013 and I just benefit from that every single time. So I feel like it\u2019s kept me \u2013 it\u2019s kept my world really fun. It\u2019s let me tend to the other stuff and by God, I\u2019ll have clean trousers for this thing after work tomorrow and you know, and then I get to talk to people like you guys \u2013 just unbelievable. It\u2019s an unbelievable thing.<br \/>\nDA: Thanks guys.<br \/>\nKF: Great stuff. I\u2019m so appreciative of all of you for doing this, because it was just such a great, rich conversation. I love the different analogies that \u2013 Julian I love the \u2013 the image of the skier, it was really interesting just picturing a skier and the elegance of that and you have times where you stop, or in my case you fall, and you just \u2013 it\u2019s a really interesting analogy. Yeah.<br \/>\nAnd Julie, you just make me laugh. You\u2019re just such a delight and I welcome your e-mails and thank you \u2013 I\u2019m so glad to be considered your pit-crew, and Julian you can ask the same of us as well.<br \/>\nDJG: I certainly will.<br \/>\nDJF: I will just tell you one other thing, meaning Julian. I had this anesthesia idea and now after this conversation, I know I can call him and \u2026<br \/>\nDJG: Oh yes, we started e-mailing each other right before the call too. It\u2019s kind of cool. It\u2019s good to be chatting.<br \/>\nDJF: Yeah, so it\u2019s been wonderful connections and that\u2019s another richness that is \u2013 it\u2019s simply fabulous and I can\u2019t thank you guys enough. That\u2019s really what I would say.<br \/>\nKF: Awesome.<br \/>\nDJG: Indeed. Thank you, I\u2019d like to express my thanks as well and Kelly boy you work, you\u2019re flat out always pulling the community together, answering questions, giving it your all. It\u2019s not unnoticed, very appreciated and David, uh \u2013 you\u2019re still expanding the thinking and revisiting and refining which is, you know, is exciting. I\u2019m really eager to see what else you have to bring us.<br \/>\nDA: And your Formula One racers are what keep me in the pit. You know.<br \/>\nDJF: Ha, ha, ha, ha.<br \/>\nDJG: Ha, ha, ha.<br \/>\nDA: Good work.<br \/>\nDJF: Okay, we send our love. You guys are awesome. Thank you.<br \/>\nKF: Thank you all. Alright. Take good care.<br \/>\nDJF: Bye, bye, be safe.<br \/>\nDJG: Bye, bye.<br \/>\nDJF: Bye, bye.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This episode features two wonderful doctors and GTD enthusiasts in our GTD community: Dr. Julie Flagg and Dr. Julian Goldman. They join David Allen and Senior Coach Kelly Forrister in a lively and heartfelt discussion about how GTD has helped their stability, clarity, and focus. Listen Now &nbsp; Subscribe or Download iTunes Stitcher Libsyn Google &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/05\/gtd-and-the-medical-community\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Episode #16 &#8211; GTD and the Medical Community&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17903,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,715],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-podcast-2","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.8 (Yoast SEO v26.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ep 16: GTD and the Medical Community<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Two wonderful doctors in our GTD network have a lively and heartfelt discussion about how GTD has helped their stability, clarity, and focus.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/05\/gtd-and-the-medical-community\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Episode #16 - GTD and the Medical Community\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Two wonderful doctors in our GTD network have a lively and heartfelt discussion about how GTD has helped their stability, clarity, and focus.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/05\/gtd-and-the-medical-community\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Getting Things Done\u00ae\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gettingthingsdone\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-05-25T23:52:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-10T14:40:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/podcast.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"291\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"292\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"GTD Times Staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@gtdtimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@gtdtimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"GTD Times Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"40 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/05\/gtd-and-the-medical-community\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/05\/gtd-and-the-medical-community\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"GTD Times Staff\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/52d8dfa5db8d4e8792586794625c12a4\"},\"headline\":\"Episode #16 &#8211; 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