{"id":15361,"date":"2016-11-11T13:45:07","date_gmt":"2016-11-11T21:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/?p=15361"},"modified":"2025-05-10T07:29:18","modified_gmt":"2025-05-10T14:29:18","slug":"episode-24-making-it-all-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/11\/episode-24-making-it-all-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Episode #24 &#8211; Making It All Work"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Feeling overwhelmed? \u00a0This talk from David Allen is a wonderful overview of the keys to control &amp; perspective. Includes participant Q&amp;A at the end.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Listen Now<\/h2>\n<div id=\"video-container\"><iframe style=\"border: none;\" src=\"\/\/html5-player.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/4819392\/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<h2><\/h2>\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>Podcast Transcript<\/h2>\n<p>GETTING THINGS DONE \u2013 MAKING IT ALL WORK; EPISODE 24<\/p>\n<p>DAVID ALLEN: Here\u2019s the issue that people ask me all the time: What\u2019s new these days, David \u2013 what\u2019s different, what\u2019s up, the technology and all these things and all the stress?<\/p>\n<p>My simple answer is: There\u2019s nothing new except how frequently everything is. Folks, in the last 72 hours, I\u2019ll bet everybody in this room has gotten more change producing, project creating and priority shifting information than your parents got in a month; some of them in a year. That\u2019s what\u2019s new.<\/p>\n<p>Now that change of new meaningful things coming into somebody\u2019s life where they have to reassess, recalibrate, blow it all up and resettle happens so seldom relatively speaking for your parents they just tolerated it.<\/p>\n<p>Folks do you understand we are living in a \u2013 as a matter of fact, it is piling up while I\u2019m speaking. Just thought I\u2019d remind you. Now you can relate to that in a couple of ways. Same events, but how do we then deal with change and surprise? And to me that\u2019s a lot of what our competitive edge is, how well you can deal with that. Now the basic logic of GTD and I\u2019m preaching to the choir here \u2013 that\u2019s wonderful to have a choir of this many people, so \u2013 this is preaching to the choir.<\/p>\n<p>Basically, the optimal state to deal with anything is, and whether that\u2019s just quality time with your kids, writing a new rock song, going to the North Pole, cooking dinner for friends, is a relaxed, focused and in control kind of state to be in and there is actually a systematic way to get there in case you\u2019re not there. It\u2019s not something you just believe and hope it happens, that is something that you can\u2019t actually \u2013 through a workable process that actually gets you there.<\/p>\n<p>Of course the idea is, and I grab this from the martial arts, this concept of <em>mind like water<\/em>, you know Grasshopper. What does that mean? Well you toss stuff into water, what happens? It responds totally appropriate to the input. It doesn\u2019t overreact, it doesn\u2019t under-react, it\u2019s a total response to the input; back to calm and balance, getting ready for the next thing. The water\u2019s also not tensing up before the rock hits it. It\u2019s not going, \u201cOh God, here comes a rock!\u201d It just \u201cpluck \u2013 rock \u2013 you\u2019re right\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>What does that have to do with anything? I don\u2019t know if you\u2019re aware of it, but the power in a karate punch comes from speed not muscle. That\u2019s a lot more powerful than that is, measurable so. That\u2019s why petite people can break boards and bricks. It\u2019s not about calluses. It\u2019s about the pop at the end of that whip. But a tense muscle is a slow one, so a lot of the high level in the training in the martial arts is more about balance and relaxation than anything else. Because that\u2019s where power comes from.<\/p>\n<p>The power in a martial arts punch comes from speed, but speed appropriately concentrated. See this is just pure physics folks. Concentration \u2013 you want more power and you can translate that to results, effectiveness or whatever. It actually comes from your ability to be able to concentrate; just physics, concentrate energy \u2013 you build power.<\/p>\n<p>Any of you ever done speeches or seminars ever done this kind of work, the shorter I try to make something, the longer it gets, because the shorter I make it the more I have to focus on what\u2019s the essence, the more I focus on the essence, the more this thing explodes in creative ways. Fascinating how that works.<\/p>\n<p>But what gets in the way of concentration? What\u2019s the opposite of concentration? What\u2019s the opposite of concentration? How many of you, by the way, while you\u2019ve been sitting in any of our sessions have had something else occur to you on your mind that had nothing to do with what was going on in the session? Any of you?<\/p>\n<p>Now if where your mind goes when it goes is doing creative, developmental thinking down tracks your brain has never been before and you\u2019ve been adding additional value to life and work, I\u2019d say, \u201cHey Dude, stay there! Don\u2019t pay any attention to what\u2019s going on up here.\u201d This whole purpose is to get you free to do that, \u2018cause that\u2019s where your value comes from, the uniquely human thing that you will bring to the world that into its place. But that\u2019s not where most people go when they go. Where do you go?<\/p>\n<p>How many of said you, actually since we even started in here, have had your mind go somewhere didn\u2019t have anything to do with what was going on in here? Yeah! And again, if it went to the nice place \u2013 fabulous! That\u2019s not where most people go. Where do most people go? What is it that\u2019s creating the distractions out there folks?<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a lot of important things in your life that did not pop into your mind. Why? Because they are being managed appropriately. A lot of things. Very few people, by the way, are disturbed by, \u201cGee, where do I need to be two weeks from Tuesday at 3:15 in the afternoon?\u201d Why? It\u2019s the one system people trust, their calendar. You trust the right data is on there and you trust you have the behavior to look at it at the right time. So even if you don\u2019t like where you\u2019re gonna have to be two weeks from Tuesday at 3:15, it is not on your mind.<\/p>\n<p>Folks you don\u2019t have to like your life to have a clear head. It\u2019s sorry. You\u2019re not gonna hear positive thinking pap from me. What you\u2019re gonna hear is the value of having a clear head. I mean you can decide what you wanna do with that, but that was my job, at least for myself was to figure out how do you get that? How do we now deal with that? Well if you can figure out why the calendar\u2019s not on your mind, you got the key to life. Just make sure nothing else out there you\u2019re committed to is parked someplace that is not appropriately managed.<\/p>\n<p>How many of you since you woke up this morning until now, thought of something you needed to do, you still haven\u2019t done? Raise your hand. How many have had that thought more than once? You intersect with this information, you have no excuse, neither do I, to have a thought twice, unless you like the thought. This is subtle stuff.<\/p>\n<p>Now I\u2019m making it sound easy \u2013 actually the principle is very simple, it\u2019s very easy to understand the principle; the application of it, execution of this \u2013 ooh \u2013 that\u2019s why we\u2019re all here. If this were easy folks \u2013 I wrote the book. Hey, it\u2019s in there.<\/p>\n<p>So the logic here is that basically you don\u2019t get stuff off your mind by thinking about the beach. You can shift what your conscious mind is on, but that doesn\u2019t get it off the subliminal place that is still pulling on your energy. So the idea is that if I can capture the stuff, clarify exactly what it means to me, organize it into some trusted placed that I can trust I\u2019ll reflect on at the right time and in the right way, see my calendar when I need to see my calendar and that all the data is on there and it\u2019s all made clear that that\u2019s what I need to do \u2013 then you\u2019re on.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019re ability to refocus rapidly on the right thing at the right horizon with the right conversation with the right people is the master skill to knowledge work; you need control and you need perspective.<\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s a lot of what I discovered, the sort of simplicity on the other side of complexity, Oliver Wendell Holmes-esk there, was that self-management comes down to those two things. If you have sufficient control and I don\u2019t mean control \u2013 control is really a master addiction psychologically; trying to control the world and it\u2019s not happening. I\u2019m not talking about that. My definition of control which I expand on in the new book is basically cooperation with reality with intention. You don\u2019t really go control a car, you cooperate with what it is with an intentional focus. You can\u2019t control the market, but you\u2019re out of control if you\u2019re not cooperating with what\u2019s going on in reality and have an appropriate intention relative to that. So that\u2019s what I mean by control. So just \u2013 if I said, \u201cWell the two things you need to manage yourself are perspective and by the way you need to then cooperate with the reality of the world with an intentional focus.\u201d Most people go \u2013 what!? This is my old consulting stuff that came out here. Any of your consultants, you have your two by two. If you ever hire a consultant, beware, you will get a two by two matrix. Here\u2019s mine: No control on the left, high control on the right. No perspective on the bottom, high perspective at the top. Let\u2019s map those together.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s suppose you\u2019re in the bottom left hand quadrant \u2013 no control and no vision or perspective, then you are a victim, basically driven by latest and loudest.<\/p>\n<p>Any of you ever find yourself there? Folks if you\u2019re not there half a dozen times a day, your life is stale.<\/p>\n<p>Oh, come on \u2013 any of you ever come in early? I\u2019m here and I\u2019m early \u2013 and you came in early and you were on your game. Then the phone rings. Damn \u2013 somebody else is up early. \u201cBlah blah blah \u2026.\u201d And you\u2019re taking pages of notes and isn\u2019t this a fascinating thing?<\/p>\n<p>Somebody walks in, corporate drive-by. They came in early too. \u201cBlah blah blah \u2026\u201d Wha \u2013 wha wha??<\/p>\n<p>And you came in, you were on your game and in 2.6 minutes you were out of control and you lost your total focus. It\u2019s not a negative place. It\u2019s not about being negative. It\u2019s just called a descriptor of where you are. To a large degree you could just say the positive spin on this is I\u2019m just responding to things I put into motion. If we put the summit in motion, it\u2019s like we\u2019re just scurrying around to make sure it happens. In a way, we are the victims to our previous creativity, so I don\u2019t look at that as a negative thing, that\u2019s just called fulfillment. Actually most of your day you are fulfilling things you put into motion and you\u2019re just cleaning up and getting it current.<\/p>\n<p>Now if people are really in the negative side of this, they go, \u201cOh my God! I\u2019ve lost control!\u201d They\u2019ll tend to, and usually very appropriately so, try to get control. \u201cI got to get this thing under control!\u201d So then they go get under control. Now what they\u2019re doing, by the way, this is how you\u2019re tell to respond in the victim mode or crazy busy. As soon as you find yourself in crazy busy you can pretty much bet that you have lost control and lost perspective and some part of you is just trying to run around like a wild little rat and try and get it back, but somewhat inefficiently, or you just got to numb out to the game.<\/p>\n<p>Okay, so now we go, \u201cLet\u2019s get control of this thing.\u201d Now if you get control, but you don\u2019t have any perspective, now I\u2019ve got \u2013 now you got too much structure. So this is where the structure is appropriate, it\u2019s old, we haven\u2019t redone our work chart, given the changes that went on. You know, I\u2019ve already got too many structures, too many constrictions. A lot of the software out there is not working that well because they\u2019re putting too many controls in it; not free enough.<\/p>\n<p>So then they go, \u201cWell wait a minute. We need more perspective.\u201d So then what you go do is you hire somebody that\u2019s got lots of perspective. You get one of those visionaries, but if they don\u2019t happen to have a very good control factor, what have you got? You got a crazy-maker. \u201cHi, here\u2019s an idea, let\u2019s go do this. Here\u2019s another thing to do. Wow!\u201d absolutely no consciousness of resources or constraints. Some of you are married to one, some of you work for one and some of you are one and you know who you are. The problem is that the crazy-makers don\u2019t want to get organized so they look at micro-managers and they go, \u201cThat anal retention doesn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The micromanagers don\u2019t want to take risks and set goals because they look at the craziness that the visionaries are creating, called, \u201cNo, no! I\u2019m not gonna take that kind of risk. Blow it up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There is an upper right hand folks. Captain and commander, ha! You got your eye on the prize. Boy, you got your keen eye on the horizon and you have a light touch on the helm and boy you can take your focus and shift it down to the most micro place at the right time and then shift it up to here and then move it back to here to keep that shift exactly going the way it needs to go.<\/p>\n<p>Any of you ever had one of those wonderful but insanely infuriating bosses. You hadn\u2019t seen him for 2-1\/2 weeks and they walk in and they walk right over to the one thing that\u2019s screwed up, \u2018cause they got it in their gut. How do you get it?<\/p>\n<p>By the way, if any of you ever lost control or perspective, just let it get a negative thing, it\u2019s called how long do you let yourself stay there? Because the whole point is, hey you\u2019re getting some feedback dude, you need some control and you need some perspective. And I got it as simple as I could get it, and that was: Look, there\u2019s five things you do to get control and there\u2019s six conversations you need to have with yourself and other key people to make sure you\u2019ve got the right perspective. I couldn\u2019t get it any simpler than this. I am Mr. Lazy and I couldn\u2019t get it any simpler. I tried. And each one of these five stages of getting control is a very different set of behaviors with different tools and different best practices, not one thing.<\/p>\n<p>Oh come on, any of you ever been in a situation or a project or a team situation where you said, \u201cWait a minute, we need to get organized and get focused.\u201d That\u2019s right! There are two key admonitions. That\u2019s what you\u2019re really talking about. The problem is organization is only stage three of the five stages of control. A lot of people need to get more disorganized to get more in control, because they\u2019re organized at a level that is inappropriate and it\u2019s actually constraining them to deal effectively and flexibly with reality.<\/p>\n<p>So these five stages and these are \u2013 actually these are all laid out, especially my first book is where I spend a lot of time on that. The new book I\u2019ve changed the vocabulary a little bit because I wanted to express how universal this really is. My big a-ha over these years is why do these simple little things that people started to do with GTDs, create such profoundly transformational experiences internally when they started to do that? And that\u2019s the reason for the new book. It didn\u2019t change any of this information, it just deepened it and widened it in terms of both my understanding of it and how you can apply this to cooking dinner for friends; if you\u2019re out of control \u2013 apply this. You got a conversation with a teenager that\u2019s of control \u2013 apply this. Have a department that\u2019s out of control \u2013 apply this. The model works and it works universally. Many say, yeah but David we need the right perspective. I understand. The other part of the matrix is, I need to now make sure that we\u2019re making the right choices about all this stuff. And these are very closely tied together, of course. Because if you don\u2019t have appropriate perspective, you will keep losing control and these six horizons: what are we about and what\u2019s core to us in terms of our principles. What does wild success look like? And by the way, what do we need to accomplish to make that wild success happen and by the way, what are the things that need to be maintained so this engine actually works and can get us there, and by the way, what are things we need to finish to make all that work and then therefore what are the actions we need to take? I can\u2019t get it any simpler than these six conversations.<\/p>\n<p>People say, let\u2019s get focused and set priorities. I go, which one? Try to drop any of those out and they won\u2019t work.<\/p>\n<p>So basically the idea of capture, you guys know this \u2013 you just get the stuff out of your head, get it out and get it into some place where I\u2019ve corralled these things that have the attention. I need to find out what\u2019s on my kid\u2019s mind right now. I need to find out what\u2019s on my department\u2019s mind right now. No kidding. It doesn\u2019t mean you give everybody permission to have a bitch session. It does mean that you find out what\u2019s pulling on people\u2019s attention. You\u2019re not gonna get control until you at least identify what those things are \u2013 very simply though, come on \u2013 right it down. These are the simple things. They are based on profound principles that seem to work universally that once you get it out, of course, then you\u2019re gonna have to say, \u201cOkay, well now I got it all out\u201d, and a lot of people do \u2013 stage one is a big a-ha for a lot of people. \u201cI\u2019m now writing things down.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chairman of a company that I work with, he got that. I walked in, he was having a board meeting and he was so proud, \u2018cause he\u2019s now writing post-it notes and post-its all over. He loves 3 x 3 stickies, man. He\u2019s got them all over the desk. He\u2019s got an idea \u2013 he\u2019s writing it down. The problem is, he didn\u2019t get to stage two, so you open the drawer and post-its!<\/p>\n<p>So a lot of people, you know, the first thing is, \u201cWow, I just unloaded my head. I feel so much better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Right but now you\u2019re going to need to unload what you just unloaded that into \u2013 the in-basket. Now you got to get in to zero.<\/p>\n<p>And for that folks, you\u2019re gonna have to make decisions. You wanna get that pile into the outbox, you\u2019re gonna have to decide. I\u2019m sorry. You\u2019re gonna have to decide what that piece of paper and why it\u2019s there and what you need to do about it. You\u2019re gonna have to decide what to do about mom.<\/p>\n<p>How many of you have ever had something that was just like a big to-do list? 99% of every to-do list we\u2019ve ever seen as coaches is nothing but an incomplete list of still unclear stuff. We see things like: \u201cMom. What about that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBirthdays coming up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGreat. So what are you committed to about that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell you want to look into?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m sorry folks but it comes down to this nitty-gritty. You think I\u2019m kidding? I\u2019m talking about some of the smartest, brightest, most sophisticated people on the planet, when we sit down and ask them questions like that: \u201cOh God \u2013 I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What happens? Stuff.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s not actually a picture of an office. That\u2019s the x-ray of somebody\u2019s head who has a clean desk. Neither one of which is a best practice, so I don\u2019t care which smug you were, it\u2019s just that at least people have crude place-holders for stuff we can start to work with. The really scary ones, we walk in \u2013 there\u2019s nothing on their desk. Why? They\u2019ve got it all constipated up in their head and it takes longer to try to unravel all their psychic spaghetti. At least these people got crude place-holders right in front of them.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, you\u2019ve got to decide what to do about your stuff. First of all, you have to identify it, you have to capture it, then you\u2019d better decide what to do about it \u2013 what it means, because until you decide what it means you don\u2019t know how to organize it. People just go, \u201cLet\u2019s go get organized.\u201d They\u2019re rearranging incomplete piles of unclear things. That\u2019s why the organizers have not worked, because they didn\u2019t get the content of it in there so that it served what the real purpose of it really is.<\/p>\n<p>So basically folks, I\u2019m sorry, here\u2019s the sophistication: Put it where it goes. Come on \u2013 the definition of organization is where something is matches what it means to you. I think I\u2019m the only person on the planet who\u2019s actually come up with the definition of organization and that\u2019s the big duh. A magazine to read goes in a different place than a magazine that is out of date that you are no longer gonna read. Do you folks understand that? And then of course, once you get all this organized, you put it all of these appropriate buckets, then you better step back and look at that bucket appropriately. Let me look at all the stuff that I told myself I wanna read and decide, \u201cNo \u2013 a beer\u2019s better.\u201d But you better have a radar that\u2019s scanning so that you\u2019re managing your \u2013 managing that forest on some consistent basis, instead of just hugging those trees folks. That\u2019s why the weekly review is so critical. That\u2019s what pulls all of this together.<\/p>\n<p>As many of you know, the first hurdle to GTD is just to do it to begin with, just to unload the stuff out of your head, make some decisions about it and start to create some structure. The second thing is keep it going. And it\u2019s not about keeping it going, it\u2019s about if you lose the perspective that that is gonna give you with all that stuff out, this stuff will, you will start to take your life back into your psyche to manage instead of your system and your system won\u2019t be worth it. That\u2019s why it\u2019s very easy to fall off the GTD wagon \u2013 very easy. As soon as your lists start to be incomplete and as soon as you\u2019re not looking at it to really give you the appropriate perspective, it will not be worth your time to keep inputting and this thing will die exponentially fast. I\u2019m sorry, I\u2019m just reporting. Don\u2019t shoot the messenger here. I know, I have to work it \u2013 I have to work this too like all of you. You need to look through the hole, so whatever it takes for you to say, \u201cWait a minute. Let me step back and see what I need to see as often as I need to do that.\u201d And that\u2019s not every hour, every day \u2013 heck no. You wouldn\u2019t want to have to do that.<\/p>\n<p>And then of course, that\u2019s when you engage. Once I can do all that, I got it all out of my head and decided what it all means, I got some structure, I stepped back, reflected on it in the appropriate horizon at appropriate intervals, now let me go do that, or this, or that, and you do it with clarity, with nothing pulling on the psyche because it\u2019s not been managed appropriately. In other words, you go do. By the way, you\u2019re always doing. If you say, \u201cI\u2019m gonna go do nothing\u201d, that is what you\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n<p>You say, \u201cDavid, don\u2019t you just ever do nothing?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I say, \u201cYeah, as often as I can.\u201d But that is a doing and that is a conscious choice, but you better know what you\u2019re not doing before you can feel comfortable about not doing it. That\u2019s how you get control. And you just apply that however you want to apply it. You\u2019ll see my new book just expands on all those ways that we\u2019ve seen this work in all those ways.<\/p>\n<p>Then, of course, you got choices. Okay, well now I got it out there, but what do I do out of the \u2013 most of you have over 150 next actions right now that you could do if you had discretionary time today, without you making choices. Well that\u2019s where you come to perspective.<\/p>\n<p>And here\u2019s all the good questions folks. Come on \u2013 conceptually you start at the time. Why? Why are we in this room? Why are we having a summit? Why are we in this meeting? Why do I exist? Those are good questions to answer, but that\u2019s the big questions and those are the big questions that of course that\u2019s openly gonna give you your perspective.<\/p>\n<p>At the same level, at 50,000 feet are your core values. What\u2019s really, really important? Now that\u2019s the big how \u2013 that\u2019s not the tactical how are we gonna do this? That\u2019s how do we want to operate as a company? How do I want to operate as a human being? Here\u2019s my purpose, but I want to make sure that I consistently being positively as best I can, focusing myself towards positive things, supportive the world around me \u2013 I don\u2019t know. You can answer all that stuff. That\u2019s basically one of my guiding principles \u2013 first things first. I mean Steven Covington, fabulous work at this level, inspire us to keep remembering some of those core things at those levels.<\/p>\n<p>But how much is knowing your life purpose and your core values gonna help you decide which e-mail to write first tonight? A little bit \u2013 a little bit. You\u2019re probably gonna need to get a little more operational in your conversation with yourself. Well what, with my purpose fulfilled, what would that look, sound or feel like, in reality? Just for wildly successful \u2013 what\u2019s the what in terms of that\u2019s your career, my lifestyle. Five years from now we\u2019re gonna be doing this \u2013 this is what\u2019s gonna be up. So that\u2019s kind of the big vision in reality out there. What does that look, sound or feel like? And then of course, you\u2019re going to need to back that a little further then. Knowing what your big vision is, that\u2019ll help you a little bit more decide which e-mail to respond to first, but you\u2019re probably gonna need to back it down and say, yeah but what do I actually need to accomplish to get the vision going and move us toward whatever that big picture is? And this is where anywhere from three months to two year goals, you know, your plans and your company\u2019s, those kinds of things will be what we call 30,000 \u2013 at the 30,000 level. What do we need to accomplish towards that vision?<\/p>\n<p>Now once you have that clear, it\u2019s gonna be a little bit easier to decide which e-mail to write first. But then, once you have that target there, you say, \u201cYeah, but I gotta make sure I\u2019m healthy and that we have our finances in order and that staff are happy and that the computer\u2019s been backed up and what do we need to maintain? One of things a lot of the other programs miss is that a whole lot of your day is maintenance. I gotta eat, I gotta sleep, I have to take care of family, I have to feed the dog. I have to take care of myself and believe it or not, you don\u2019t \u2013 that\u2019s not unimportant stuff. That\u2019s 20,000 feet.<\/p>\n<p>What are the things I need to maintain in terms of my job? I need to keep clients happy. I need to grow staff. I need to back up computers \u2013 you know, your job description. What are the things that have to happen so this engine just works moving this thing there; 20,000. Most of you have 10 to 15 of those areas.<\/p>\n<p>And then out of all that, I say well if you\u2019ve finished all those conversations with yourself and other key people, you\u2019ve got about 30 to 100 things you actually need to finish. Right? Oh, I got to get tires on the car. I got to hire an assistant. We need to reassess whether we\u2019re gonna hire this consultant or not. We need to look at and we need to install and we need to implement and we need to buy and we need to produce and you know, that\u2019s the \u2013 all those things you need to finish.<\/p>\n<p>Now we\u2019re getting down, we\u2019re operational. This is a clip off my list from a couple months ago. Now you\u2019re gonna get a lot more operational. You get this list complete and clear, it\u2019ll be a little bit easier to decide which e-mail you think you might want to write tonight. But out of all that you can say, \u201cYeah, but you still haven\u2019t seen anything to do yet.\u201d All those are just outcomes. The doing comes down to, \u201cOkay what are the e-mails I need to send?\u201d Now we\u2019re on the runway folks. This is where the rubber hits the road and if you do not have next actions on all your glorious visions and dreams folks, you\u2019re flying around in a plane with no landing gear. How does that feel? Not very secure. And now you\u2019re talking stuff \u2013 there\u2019s the level of commitment there down on the runway level and that is a typical list. Those are snapshots out of mine.<\/p>\n<p>Now if all that\u2019s clear, how much easier will it be to feel comfortable about looking at your e-mail and deciding which one to send or, \u201cNo I\u2019m not gonna do any. I\u2019m gonna hang and schmooze at the Summit.\u201d A lot easier, still risk, still not gonna have total amount of data to know exactly what to do. But if you\u2019re gonna do that, that systematic approach, it actually works in terms of the five stages of control and the sixth, but you\u2019ve gotta be able to build a system to be able to hold that stuff appropriately. You\u2019ve got to fill it with the right stuff and you\u2019ve got to use it folks. This does not happen because you just want it to. This is the investment in process that has to happen. But once you\u2019re there folks, the ability to get control when you don\u2019t have it, to relaxed, stay focused, be inspired and get going and have a systematic way to achieve it, that\u2019s what GTD is about.<\/p>\n<p>Does that make sense folks? This is advanced common sense and there\u2019s a whole lot of people in this room that have said, \u201cWait a minute, there is something here the world needs to know.\u201d I think about all this and it could have fooled me in a way. And I am a fellow student along with everybody else. I have to eat my own dog food for sure.<\/p>\n<p>Questions: Let me open up to you guys. I\u2019ve kind of railed at you here for a while. If you have a question, raise your hand and we\u2019ll send you a mike so everybody can hear it. I don\u2019t have to repeat it. So whoever\u2019s next raise your \u2026 Is there a second mike somewhere.<\/p>\n<p>Down here.<\/p>\n<p>MALE VOICE: Hi David. Um, I think about goals and responsibilities kind of in the opposite way, so leader, coach, husband, health first and then that would drive my goals in each of those areas and I\u2019m curious to get your thoughts on that.<\/p>\n<p>DAVID ALLEN: Sure, absolutely works fine. You can take this \u2026 It\u2019s a very holistic model. As a matter of fact, 20,000 and 50,000 are very close together. 20,000 family, 50,000 family core value, support, love, you know, family. 20,000 family would be \u2013 yeah, family relationships and having family activities and what are all those kinds of things, so you could have a very big goal driven off 50,000 feet and my goal is to insure my kids get a fabulous education for \u2026<\/p>\n<p>At 20,000 feet it\u2019s like, we need to structure the summer appropriately for kids. I call that a project. How many of you already have summer on your radar? Is it on your project list? Well get summer onto cruise control. So that\u2019s a \u2013 there\u2019s all goals. Making a phone call is actually a goal, so don\u2019t get tied in the vocabulary there. Just go \u2013 okay have I identified all the outcomes, some part of me is committed to, from whatever horizon that comes from? So don\u2019t get too tied up. The problem is I give you a model. David, is that 30,000 or is that 20,000? Who cares? The trick is is what\u2019s the next action? That\u2019s the grounding question on all of this. So you can say, what\u2019s the next action on I\u2019m gonna build my kids a fabulous life of growth and learning until I finish that project when they\u2019re 45.<\/p>\n<p>Great! What\u2019s your next action?<\/p>\n<p>Uh, kids and summer.<\/p>\n<p>Great! What\u2019s your next action?<\/p>\n<p>It all comes down to, okay, dude how are you gonna reallocate the resources in your life to fulfill whatever your commitments are. All these things are just tools to help you surface what those things might be from whatever level. It is sometimes helpful we\u2019ve seen to understand the different altitudes, because those are actually different levels of conversation. If I get you to focus at 20,000 feet, you will not think of stuff at 40,000 feet because the brain doesn\u2019t work that way. You have to put a 40,000 foot filter on \u2013 oh yes, thanks David.<\/p>\n<p>So these are all just focusing tools that help people identify what are the commitments going on at these levels or this is a tool to get myself to focus on those levels and put my creative energy there in ways to fulfill even a bigger picture. Does that help?<\/p>\n<p>Yes ma\u2019am.<\/p>\n<p>FEMALE VOICE: The author of a popular blog, Zen Habits says that there is a link between early rising and productivity, whereas, Dean Kamen, the inventor of the segway and other medical devices says that he likes to stay up late, as late as possible, invent his stuff and get up whenever he wants. What\u2019s your take on that? Do you think it\u2019s \u2013 those of us who have trouble getting up in the morning should make a special effort to try to get up \u2026<\/p>\n<p>DAVID ALLEN: No.<\/p>\n<p>FEMALE VOICE: \u2026 as early as possible or \u2013 are you attached to certain schedules? Or how do you feel about early rising?<\/p>\n<p>DAVID ALLEN: I\u2019m attached to sleep. I love sleep. That\u2019s why I\u2019m good at GTD so I can sleep longer?<\/p>\n<p>FEMALE VOICE: How much sleep do you get a night, just out of curiosity?<\/p>\n<p>DAVID ALLEN: I don\u2019t know. I think people have different rhythms and different styles and whatever, so I wouldn\u2019t put any rules on that. I know \u2013 I was reading data that teenagers shouldn\u2019t even start school before 10:00 o\u2019clock in the morning because just there are physiological changes that are going on and they need the morning for that rest, for the body and mind. I don\u2019t know. So I\u2019m not an expert in any of those areas.<\/p>\n<p>See my whole thing is get all of this off your mind, get clear and then just do what you feel like doing. If you want to sleep \u2013 sleep. Just do enough GTD so that some part of you is not going to go, \u201cOh damn, I forgot batteries.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So the whole idea is pay attention to what has your attention. See you\u2019ll hear that. I was gonna make that a whole chapter in the book. My editor said, \u201cYou know, that\u2019s \u2013 let\u2019s put it as a part of it\u201d, so that book would have been much longer actually if I really spent the time. That\u2019s \u2013 listen to that one, because that\u2019s a lot of my new message. If you don\u2019t give appropriate attention to what has your attention, it will start taking more of your attention than it deserves.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why GTD is equally respectful and irreverent about everything. God \u2013 fabulous! What\u2019s your next action? Cat food. Wonderful! What\u2019s the next step? And I don\u2019t mean to be facetious about it. Look, if your connection to your spiritual source is on your mind, that\u2019s because some part of you thinks there\u2019s something you\u2019re not doing or managing about that, unless it\u2019s on your mind just as an inspirational trigger. In which case, have it on your mind all the time. It\u2019s not a bad idea. I like that.<\/p>\n<p>Does that make sense? So find out what you\u2019ve got attention on and say, \u201cWould more sleep handle that or giving myself permission to sleep handle that?\u201d I don\u2019t know. Thanks.<\/p>\n<p>Yes.<\/p>\n<p>CHRISTOFF: Every time I hear this clear your mind statement, I wonder should we have really empty heads. Now in my opinion, this is wrong interpretation. I think that we dump the unorganized stuff from our heads during the capture and then we upload the clarified and neatly organized stuff during the weekly reviews and we call these new contents the informant intuition.<\/p>\n<p>DAVID ALLEN: Yes.<\/p>\n<p>CHRISTOFF: How do you agree with this interpretation?<\/p>\n<p>DAVID ALLEN: Absolutely Christoff. You\u2019re right on.<\/p>\n<p>CHRISTOFF: Thanks.<\/p>\n<p>DAVID ALLEN: Most people are just so far away from ever experiencing anything like a clear head, I gave them sort of a false little goal out there. Just get everything off your mind, \u2018cause once you do, you\u2019ll find out what\u2019s really on your mind, because it\u2019s not your mind anyway. Your intelligence has the spiritual component to it. That\u2019s a part of you that\u2019s unique that has an intelligent thought. Your system doesn\u2019t do that, but clearing your head \u2026 If you\u2019re conscious you can\u2019t get everything off your mind if you\u2019re conscious. Something will be on your mind. What you want to do is directed appropriately so that you\u2019re tapped into what you\u2019re talking about and intuition, you know, if you\u2019re spiritual \u2013 allergic to the word spiritual, kind of like intuition. You know, that\u2019s how the corporate world is going to start to digest that. \u2018Cause it really is. It\u2019s like my intuitive hit.<\/p>\n<p>Did you folks hear Paul yesterday? I\u2019ve got to start to trust this thing. The problem is, most people their psyche is so clogged up with stuff, they couldn\u2019t tell the difference between intuition and indigestion. Ya know? Is this feeling that I should or was this chili after lunch? I\u2019d defy most people even know the difference, but I agree.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Feeling overwhelmed? \u00a0This talk from David Allen is a wonderful overview of the keys to control &amp; perspective. Includes participant Q&amp;A at the end. &nbsp; Listen Now Subscribe or Download iTunes Stitcher Libsyn Google Play Music Spotify SoundCloud Podcast Transcript GETTING THINGS DONE \u2013 MAKING IT ALL WORK; EPISODE 24 DAVID ALLEN: Here\u2019s the issue &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/11\/episode-24-making-it-all-work\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Episode #24 &#8211; Making It All Work&#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":[27,716,715,32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-david-allen","category-free-resources","category-podcast-2","category-productivity-tips","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>Episode #24 - Making It All Work<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"David Allen shares the keys to his 3rd book, &quot;Making It All Work&quot;.\" \/>\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\/11\/episode-24-making-it-all-work\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Episode #24 - Making It All Work\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"David Allen shares the keys to his 3rd book, &quot;Making It All Work&quot;.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/11\/episode-24-making-it-all-work\/\" \/>\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=\"2016-11-11T21:45:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-10T14:29:18+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=\"31 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/11\/episode-24-making-it-all-work\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2016\/11\/episode-24-making-it-all-work\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"GTD Times Staff\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/52d8dfa5db8d4e8792586794625c12a4\"},\"headline\":\"Episode #24 &#8211; 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