{"id":15902,"date":"2017-05-03T09:36:35","date_gmt":"2017-05-03T16:36:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/?p=15902"},"modified":"2025-05-10T07:25:57","modified_gmt":"2025-05-10T14:25:57","slug":"episode-29-david-allen-gtd-keynote-in-milan-part-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2017\/05\/episode-29-david-allen-gtd-keynote-in-milan-part-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Episode #29 &#8211; David Allen GTD\u00ae Keynote in Milan &#8211; Part One"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In this first installment of a two-part episode, David Allen shares an in-depth, sweeping overview of GTD\u00ae to an audience in Milan, Italy. \u00a0Learn best practices, as well as what you can expect to have happen in your life once you start applying them.<\/p>\n<h2>Listen Now<\/h2>\n<div id=\"video-container\"><iframe style=\"border: none;\" src=\"\/\/html5-player.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/5318221\/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 \u2013KEYNOTE IN MILAN, PART ONE; EPISODE 29<\/p>\n<p>DAVID ALLEN: Bon giorno. I\u2019m delighted to be here.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m gonna share some information with you that basically I developed or uncovered over the last 30 \u2013 32 \u2013 33 years. What I\u2019ll be sharing with you will seem a little simple in a way. The methodology that I uncovered is actually quite powerful, but it doesn\u2019t require you to do any behaviors that you\u2019re not already familiar with. This is not like some new foreign language or some new technology. It\u2019s actually quite common sense, and over these years what I discovered was when things really for us, there\u2019s usually a principle that we\u2019re applying and if you understand that principle, you can get more things done with less effort, but most people are not that aware of that these principles are it seems.<\/p>\n<p>Let me give you an example: Have any of you ever felt slightly confused or overwhelmed and you sat down and you made a list and you felt at least a little bit better? Now invariably when people actually get stuff out of their head, they feel more in control, more focused, better about their world. And if you understood what goes on when you do that. Nothing changed in your world out here and yet you felt better about things. If you understood the principle at play there, you\u2019d never keep anything in your head the rest of your life \u2013 and I don\u2019t. Maybe that will be evident soon, I don\u2019t know. Not much going on up here, except this: Now I\u2019ll suggest that the head office that most people are using is not an office out here but this. The problem is this is a really crappy office. If you\u2019re keeping something just in your head in terms of things to be reminded of, things you need to be aware of, or even what your priorities are, how things relate to each other and it\u2019s just in here, you will not give it the appropriate attention it deserves. It will either bother you more than it should or you will not give it the strategic attention that it deserves. I\u2019ve never seen an exception to that.<\/p>\n<p>Now the scientists who have studied, particularly in the last 10 or 15 years, the cognitive function \u2013 how we think, have discovered that the way the brain developed over many, many, many thousands of years, your brain developed to do something very, very brilliantly so it could survive. You\u2019re using it right now and that is long term history and pattern recognition.<\/p>\n<p>So when you came in this room you said, \u201cOh lights, people, chairs \u2013 there\u2019s a screen\u201d, as opposed to just vibrations of light and sound. So your brain is actually brilliant in the present at seeing patterns and making sense out of it. And yet, you go to store to buy lemons and you come back with six things and no lemons, or you forget where you left your keys. Your brain does not do that very well. As a matter of fact, guess how many things your head can hang onto and function appropriately with that information based on new scientific information? Four things: oh, there\u2019s a tiger over there; there\u2019s a storm coming; I need to build a fire; the baby\u2019s crying. That\u2019s about it. As soon as you add any more than that, you will lose perspective on the whole game. They used to think that short term memory could handle seven things, plus or minute two from a study done in 1959. Now it\u2019s four, but it doesn\u2019t do this very well. So there\u2019s a basic principle here that if you want to get stuff done with less effort, more elegance, you need to understand that your mind is for having ideas but not for hanging onto them. Why does this make such a difference?<\/p>\n<p>Well when you walk back out of here, back out into your world, it\u2019s not gonna show up in a nice pretty package. It\u2019s gonna show up like this. That\u2019s more than four things, by the way. During any ten minute period in your work day, imagine how many things you have to deal with. Marcelo mentioned that all the information stuff that we\u2019re having to deal with, but think about a typical 15 minute period. You get a phone call from an angry client. Your printer just broke. You get a text from your mother. You have a staff person walk in that\u2019s got a new problem you never heard of before. And that\u2019s just in ten minutes. So give yourself eight hours or ten hours of that. At the end of the day how do you feel; on top of your world or buried by it?<\/p>\n<p>Now I will suggest there is a way to surf on top of this world and I take an image from the martial arts. I did get a black belt in karate many years ago and I\u2019m familiar with much of the material that martial artists deal with and there is an image in the martial arts that goes like this: <em>mind like water.<\/em> What does that mean? Well water does appropriate engagement with its world. Water doesn\u2019t overreact, it doesn\u2019t under-react. It deals exactly with the world as it is.<\/p>\n<p>Now, in the martial arts, at the higher levels oftentimes there are many kinds of meditative kinds of practices, clearing your head. Now there may be a spiritual component to it, but there\u2019s a very practical component to it, because if four people jump you in a dark alley, you do not want to have 2,000 unprocessed e-mails sitting in your head. You need to be clear, no residue, no drag on the system.<\/p>\n<p>So much of this is about how do I keep a very clear head so I can be optimal in my performance. But if you\u2019re taking one meeting into the next psychologically or you\u2019re taking work to home or home to work in your head, that is not <em>mind like water<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Now I will suggest that most people thing, \u201cAh \u2013 if I just had more time I could get to this state.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ha, ha. It\u2019s really a good thing that there\u2019s only 24 hours in the day. If you had two more hours, you\u2019d have two more hours of what you\u2019ve got. I suggest it\u2019s not time that you need.<\/p>\n<p>Come on, Leonardo Davinci had 24 hours, Mother Theresa had 24 hours. Johann Sebastian Bach had 24 hours. Now I know Bach didn\u2019t have e-mail, but he had 20 kids \u2013 take your pick. And he still got a lot done. You don\u2019t need time but you do need something. What\u2019s that? You need room, you need space.<\/p>\n<p>How much time does it take to have a good idea, by the way? Zero. How much time does it take to be creative? Zero. How much time does it take to be loving and present with your kids or your staff? Zero. Those do not require time. What do they require? Clear space. If you\u2019re distracted, if you\u2019re worrying, if you\u2019ve got your head wrapped around something, it\u2019s very hard to be present. It\u2019s very hard to be innovative; it\u2019s very hard to be strategic. And those are usually the things that people are after.<\/p>\n<p>By the way, what would you do if you had nothing pulling on your mind right now? What would you do if you had clear space in there, how would you use it? I mean, imagine if you had the freedom to just be as creative as want, and I have a lot of people that have implemented this methodology of Getting Things Done, in the creative fields; movie directors, actors; musicians and so forth. And for them, creating this kind of space allows them to be that much more creative.<\/p>\n<p>One of my coaches that works with us with this material is coaching Robert Downey Junior right now. One of my biggest fans, in the U.S. anyway is probably one of the best known radio personalities \u2013 a man named Howard Stern. These are folks who just found \u2013 wow \u2013 there\u2019s a lot more ability to be creative if I can get rid of a lot of that stuff going in my head.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s quite a number of people that I\u2019m working with that are using this space to be able to see from a higher perspective on a daily basis, in other words, being more strategic in their decision making and in their thinking, as opposed to be reactive.<\/p>\n<p>And a lot of people would just like to be more present, tucking their kids into bed at night or watching their kids play football instead of being on their I-Phone. What you do with space will be quite individual to you. If you suddenly had more space, you would probably use that differently than the people sitting next to you. They would use it in a different way too. But room is what most people want. Can you get there? Yes you can.<\/p>\n<p>There is an art to managing the flow of life\u2019s work and this is not just a simple tips or tricks and I\u2019ll give you some tips and tricks, but I want to remind you that this is really an art. How do I manage the flow of life as it\u2019s coming at me? And I use work in a very broad sense \u2013 anything you want to get done that\u2019s not done yet. And actually you\u2019re all utilizing one of the core principles of Getting Things Done and that is \u2013 well let me check this out. Have you ever taken work home or material home from work that you had to bring back the next day? Do not forget this! This is critical stuff, but maybe you needed to review it or edit it but you had to bring it back the next day. Do not forget this! What strategies did you employ to make sure that you would not forget that material in the morning? Did you ever put stuff on your keys? Any of you ever put anything in front of the door? For this you got an advanced university degree? Actually it is quite elegant. Why? Well the night before, some part of you was smart enough and conscious enough to realize that whoever was gonna try to go through the door in the morning may barely be conscious of it all. \u201cWhat the hell is this? Oh \u2013 that\u2019s right. I have to take it with me.\u201d What a class act.<\/p>\n<p>Actually it is and believe it or not, there\u2019s a real key principle at work here and that is you need to use your mind and your intelligence appropriately, make really good decisions and then park the results of that in such places that you don\u2019t have to be that smart to do smart things.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ll say that again in another way. When you do make good decisions about things and you don\u2019t finish them in that moment, but you park reminders of that in appropriate places, there\u2019s a part of you that does not have to be that smart or intelligent consistently. It\u2019s the really smart people in this room that realize you\u2019re only smart and inspired at random moments. And when you are smart and inspired, capture that and then put place holders so that you don\u2019t have to be that smart and inspired to do smart inspired stuff. And it\u2019s about putting things in front of the door, it\u2019s just the door of your mind, not necessarily the door of your house.<\/p>\n<p>What do you need to be aware of before you walk into the board meeting? What do you need to put in front of the door of your mind when you\u2019re going home with your families in terms of the issues and opportunities your family members are dealing with? What do you need to look at before you start your week? In other words, how do I structure my life so that I put the appropriate information in the right place, so I can see it at the right time, orient myself in space and time and do smart stuff?<\/p>\n<p>Now I know this may sound a little abstract. I will get much more concrete about how you do that, but the key issue and the key challenge and the key opportunity is what needs to be in front of the door of your mind \u2013 when? What do you need to see? What do you need to be aware of? What do you need to put your attention on?<\/p>\n<p>Now, I will suggest that getting to that clear space, getting the kind of in control experience that you might want to have can actually be done with five steps. There are five steps or stages that we all go through when you take any situation to get it more under control \u2013 to get it more stable. Now when I say control, I\u2019m not talking about controlling your boss or your kids or the weather. I\u2019m talking about having something under control, like your car or a meeting, or your head.<\/p>\n<p>Now these five steps I did not make up. I just identified them. First thing that you need to do, if you want to get something under control is start to recognize what\u2019s not on cruise control, what\u2019s not on automatic pilot. You need to capture or recognize what\u2019s pulling on your attention right now? Then you need to clarify exactly what that stuff means and what you\u2019re gonna do about it, if anything, what you then need to organize in terms of some sort of a systematic way to park reminders in appropriate places so that you can step back and review and reflect on the whole Gestalt or the whole scenario so that then when you engage your attention and your activity it\u2019s done from a trusted place.<\/p>\n<p>Have any of you ever had your kitchen out of control? Ever come home and it looks like somebody had attacked your kitchen and yet you have guests coming over in an hour. Oh my gosh! What did you do?<\/p>\n<p>Well, what\u2019s the first thing you did? The first thing you did was notice what\u2019s not right here? You identified stuff that is not where it needs to be, the way it needs to be. That\u2019s the capture step.<\/p>\n<p>Then what did you do about it? Well you said, \u201cOh that\u2019s a dirty dish, that\u2019s good food, that\u2019s bad food \u2013 that\u2019s a space.\u201d You then determined and clarified what the contents were of these things that were not necessarily in the right place the way they need to be.<\/p>\n<p>And then what did you do with them? You put dirty dishes in the dishwasher; you put spices where spices go. In other words, you organized based upon how you clarified what the stuff was.<\/p>\n<p>And then what did you do? Well you stepped back, looked at the whole scene, looked at the time, \u201cWell I got some time, okay here\u2019s what I\u2019m gonna cook.\u201d and then you pulled out butter and melted it. This is how you get your kitchen under control, it\u2019s how you get your company under control, it\u2019s how you get your consciousness under control. There\u2019s just a lot more than a kitchen in your head, but it\u2019s still the same process. And I\u2019ll unpack these in some detail for you to let you know what this would look like. And this is information that comes from literally thousands of hours I have spent desk-side one-on-one with some of the busiest, bright, best people on the planet, actually implementing this process.<\/p>\n<p>So let\u2019s take each one of these steps. First of all, step one would be identifying the things that are pulling on your psyche, identifying things. Do any of you have anything on your mind, by the way, besides listening to me? Yeah, most people would say, \u201cYo \u2013 yes! I\u2019ve got stuff, other things on my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Well let me find out. How many of you, even since I\u2019ve been talking, how many of you have had your mind go somewhere that has nothing to do with what you\u2019ve been talking about? Anybody had your mind go somewhere? Now, that\u2019s not right or wrong. By the way, if where your mind went was doing creative developmental thinking down tracks your brain has never been before that was adding value to what you were thinking about, I\u2019d say, \u201cHey dude \u2013 stay there!\u201d Great place for your mind to be, but I\u2019ll bet that\u2019s not where most of you went when your mind left. When your mind left, it probably went to something that you still haven\u2019t finished thinking about or haven\u2019t made a decision about or you haven\u2019t parked the results in a trusted place. That\u2019s why things are on your mind. So, the first thing to do is start to identify what are those things that have your attention?<\/p>\n<p>Now I\u2019m gonna invite you to take two minutes, in a minute, and empty your mind. So hopefully you have a pen and paper somewhere and this is an exercise we refer to as a mind-sweep, that is let\u2019s just clear out what\u2019s in there. Now you don\u2019t need to share what you write down with anybody, so be honest with yourself and the trick here is not to make a commitment about any of these things, but simply to recognize what\u2019s on my mind, little things, big things, personal things, professional things. It doesn\u2019t matter. So this might look like: I need cat food, or I need to call the doctor. I need a life. I need a new printer. I need to research a new mobile phone app \u2013 whatever it is. I need to hire an assistant. I need tires on my car. The next holiday coming up \u2013 so write fast, somewhere and see how many things you can grab that are actually on your mind, real things. Take two minutes and do that.<\/p>\n<p>Go!<\/p>\n<p>Okay, how many of you came up with at least four or five things; anybody? How many of you have a sense there\u2019s a lot more sitting in there? Once you leave here, what might you do differently? I would highly recommend, if you have not done something like this lately that you complete that mind-sweep for yourself. Guess how long that usually takes? When we sit one-on-one with mid to senior level professionals, guess how long it takes just to identify the stuff that\u2019s on their mind; not to do anything with it, not to organize it, not to prioritize it, nothing \u2013 just to identify it? Typically it takes one to six hours.<\/p>\n<p>I had it take 16 hours for a guy one time. Finally, I just told him, \u201cWell you get the idea. Ha, ha.\u201d He wasn\u2019t stupid. This was the chairman of two companies. But he was, as we say, a crazy-maker. He\u2019d get halfway through something and then suddenly get inspired about something else and leave that go on to the other thing. The problem was he was semi-retired, so now he didn\u2019t have 12 staff following him around and picking up all the balls he\u2019s throwing in the air. He\u2019s just throwing them in the air and running into them. And that is typical.<\/p>\n<p>If you really wanted to do this, it means you also need to walk around and look in all of your closets and storage areas and all the drawers of your desk and all the stuff piled up around you. Anything that doesn\u2019t belong where it is permanently is something in process, something that you probably have some attention about. And just that experience is extremely powerful for most people to do if you haven\u2019t done something like that lately. Highly recommend that.<\/p>\n<p>Now, each one of these stages has its own best practices and its own worst practices. The worst practice on this one is just keep stuff in your head. Again, it is really, really bad office in there. Your head is for having those ideas, but not for hanging onto them. The best practices, of course, is to get it out of your head, capture it, get it out in some trusted place anyway. Quite simply \u2013 write it down. There are lots of ways you could capture it, you just need to make sure you capture it in some trusted place. Now, there are a lot of capture tools out there now, but the best one you\u2019ve got right in your hand \u2013 pen and paper. Though I\u2019m a pretty high tech guy, I have to tell you that most of the really cool things that I\u2019ve decided to do and come up with, got captured right here \u2013 pen and paper; no WIFI required, no batteries needed.<\/p>\n<p>Now that\u2019s not my organization system, that\u2019s simply a capture system and I\u2019m sure many of you walk around with note pads or cards or some sort of thing to capture this stuff, so just make sure you\u2019ve got a good capture tool.<\/p>\n<p>Physical in tray, I use mine more than anybody, because I need a place to be able to just throw mail or throw notes that I\u2019ve taken or receipts or business cards I\u2019ve collected. I just need to gather all that together in one place and not have it spread all over the place.<\/p>\n<p>So the low tech I would suggest is usually the most effective way to capture things. Now you can capture in the high tech functions too. I have a little app on my I-Phone where I can just punch a button, talk to it and it automatically sends that to my e-mail so it doesn\u2019t get lost in the phone, which is kind of neat. It\u2019s called <em>Braintoss<\/em>, if you\u2019re interested. The problem with the computing world is that it\u2019s so wonderfully new every day and the apps that they give you, it is very easy for all of the high tech stuff to become a serious black hole that you\u2019ve got stuff in there but forgot where it went. All of that can work, recording things, writing things down, that can all work, as long as you work them.<\/p>\n<p>Now, once you collected all this stuff, you can\u2019t just leave it there. If you did, you\u2019ll become one of those compulsive list makers and you\u2019ll have lists all over God and creation, everywhere. That\u2019s not gonna help either because the stuff will crawl back up into your head, if you\u2019re not appropriately then dealing with what these things are you\u2019ve captured. So even though I throw stuff into the in-tray, I need to get that in-tray empty every 24 to 48 hours.<\/p>\n<p>By the way, a lot of things are being captured for you right now. Things are landing in your e-mail as I\u2019m speaking. Things are landing in your social media as I\u2019m speaking. If you\u2019re still using voice mail, you\u2019re getting those kinds of things or answering machines. Those are all collecting things for you into sort of the in-tray areas where those things are. But if you let them just lie there, then that\u2019s not gonna help either, oftentimes that just creates more pressure. So you need to move it to the next two stages.<\/p>\n<p>The next two stages are really, really critical in terms of your thinking process and in terms of getting clarity. \u2018Cause the next thing you need to do is you need to clarify what those things are that you just wrote down. So I\u2019ll be inviting you to keep in front of you the list you just made and you\u2019re gonna need to decide what exactly did I just write down and what exactly does that mean to me?<\/p>\n<p>Now there\u2019s a fairly simple algorithm or formula that you will apply and for this, I need you just to focus on one or two things on your list, because, by the way, if I were coaching you one-on-one, you would not have been making a list as such. Each one of those items that you wrote down, I would have you write on a separate piece of paper and then those would all be piled up into your in-basket. Again, that might take somewhere between one to six hours just to gather that inventory of stuff and then the rest of two days, which is usually what our coaching implementation requires. The rest of those two days would be spent going through each one of those items and putting it through this following drill.<\/p>\n<p>The first question I would ask you about anything you wrote down or anything in your in-baskets is what is it? Now I know that seems like a silly question but have any of you ever received a big e-mail from let\u2019s say Human Resources with six attachments and you\u2019ve been cc\u2019ed on this about the policies of the protocols and the conference coming up and the registration and the forms. You ever had the tendency to put that back in the <em>huh stack<\/em>? You all know what the <em>huh stacks<\/em> are? You open it up, you go, \u201cHuh!\u201d and you close it up again. That\u2019s the <em>huh stack. <\/em> So you need to determine what specifically is this thing in my e-mail? Are they asking me to do something? What is it?<\/p>\n<p>Now, the first key question you really need to make a distinction about, about any of these things that you\u2019ve captured is: Is it something that you are committed to move on? Is it action-able? There are two optional answers to this folks: Yes and no. I know this is really keep but stick with me. Most of you have a bunch of stuff in your life and in your head, you have not made that simple distinction about. Is it something that you are going to move on or not \u2013 yes or no?<\/p>\n<p>Now we get a lot of things in our world that would be on the no side. You get three kinds of things actually that there\u2019s no action about. The first one would be just trash or stuff that you don\u2019t need, spam or now that you\u2019ve seen it you don\u2019t need it, so throw it away.<\/p>\n<p>There are some things we get, as a matter of fact, a lot of things we get, especially in e-mail, there\u2019s no action on it, but you need to keep it for the information embedded in it in case you need to refer to it \u2013 that\u2019s reference. No action required, but it\u2019s potentially useful information that I might need later on.<\/p>\n<p>And then there\u2019s a third type of thing that has no action on it, and the third type of thing is the things you say, \u201cYou know, there\u2019s no action on it now, but there might be later.\u201d Incubate. Maybe you heard about a training program coming up but it\u2019s six weeks away and you have some other pending items so you\u2019re not ready to commit to it yet, until some other things get clarified. That would be on hold. Or things you say, \u201cWell you know I might want to do that, but I don\u2019t have the resources right now to do it, but I don\u2019t want to lose the idea.\u201d What we call someday\/maybe.<\/p>\n<p>So there are quite a number of things that have no action and they would fall into those subcategories. Now I imagine most of the things you wrote down, maybe even all of the things you wrote down a few minutes ago on your list would be actionable, because they were top of mind probably for you, but we just need to make that clear. Are you committed to move on whatever you wrote down there? Are you committed to do that or do something about that? And if you say yes, the first thing to ask you, this is gonna show up as a little tiny question or a little tiny text and it ought to be in thousand point type. It is such a critical question to ask and answer and that is: What\u2019s the very next action on this?<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m gonna suggest that most of you for most of what you wrote down is not yet the next action to take on it. So look at what you wrote and see: What\u2019s the very, very next thing you would need to do to make progress on the first thing you wrote down, or any of them? When I say next action, I mean physical, visible activity. Is it a phone call to make, is it a website to surf, it is a conversation to have with your partner, is it something you need to do at your computer, a document you need to draft? What\u2019s the very, very next thing? If you had nothing else in your life to do but finish whatever you wrote down, number one thing, and you walked out the door, where would I see you go and what would I see you do? Absolutely critical question to ask and answer right on the front end to help clarify what exactly this means to you and to start to create appropriate engagement with it.<\/p>\n<p>Now once you make the next action decision you have some options there, actually there are three options. The first option would simply be to take the action and that\u2019s The Two Minute Rule. And that\u2019s sort of become famous in my methodology. If you get nothing more out of me talking today, then The Two Minute Rule and start to apply it \u2013 if you haven\u2019t done that already, it\u2019d be worth putting up with me all day, just for that. The Two Minute Rule simply says, if it would take less than two minutes to finish an action when you think of it, wherever you are, if you\u2019re ever gonna do that action at all, do it right then, because it would actually take you longer to organize it and review it than it would be finish it the first time it\u2019s in your face. In a high e-mail environment, probably 30-40% of your actionable e-mails have a less than two minute action to turn them around, assuming you can type.<\/p>\n<p>Now if it takes longer than two minutes to do whatever the action is, then you need to ask yourself, are you the right person to be taking this action and if not, you need to hand it off. That is it needs to be given to somebody else who\u2019s a more appropriate person to be taking that action. Most of the executives that I work with one-on-one, when I start to coach them, I have to go warn all of their direct reports that laxative is about to hit their boss\u2019s brain and just because they get 62 e-mails that afternoon tasking them to do stuff, is not because the boss just made it up, it\u2019s because the boss is the bottleneck.<\/p>\n<p>Folks things constipate uphill not down \u2013 trust me. I have yet to coach an executive and I\u2019ve coached some of the best that didn\u2019t have at least four or five major initiatives that they were hung up about because they hadn\u2019t made the next action decision on it and they were the bottleneck and that\u2019s understandable because the higher up you get, the more complex these things are, if you haven\u2019t noticed yet; any of you yet to discover that as you graduate, it doesn\u2019t get easier? See if all you\u2019re doing is cranking widgets as we say, that\u2019s not hard to figure out how to spend your day, but if you\u2019ve been tasked to implement diversity among 2,000 widget crankers, that\u2019s pretty easy to avoid.<\/p>\n<p>So ask yourself on the things you wrote down a few minutes ago, what\u2019s the very, very next action and I would suggest that you make that decision sooner than later.<\/p>\n<p>Now, if you can\u2019t hand the action off to somebody else and it takes longer than two minutes to do that action, then you need to park a reminder of that action, you need to take, whenever you can take it, appropriately and that will be your inventory of actions that you need to keep track of.<\/p>\n<p>By the way, most of you will have between 120 and 220 next actions of that nature, if you did a complete mind-sweep and completely clarified your commitment to move on things. That\u2019s a typical inventory by the way.<\/p>\n<p>Now there\u2019s one other question that you need to ask and answer to get clarity about whatever it is you wrote down or about anything you\u2019ve collected and that is: Will that one action finish this thing? And if not, you have a project and you need to identify the outcome that you\u2019re committed to do.<\/p>\n<p>By the way, most of you have between 30 and 100 projects right now. That\u2019s a typical inventory given the broad definition that I have of a project. A project being basically anything that one action will not complete that you can finish within the next year. So get tires on your car \u2013 that\u2019s a project. Hire the assistant \u2013 that\u2019s a project. Handle your next holiday trip \u2013 that\u2019s a project. Get your watch fixed \u2013 that\u2019s a project. Buy the company \u2013 that\u2019s a project. They will look like a wide range of things, but keeping track of that inventory is gonna be absolutely critical to be able to surf on top of your game. What are all those projects that you had?<\/p>\n<p>Anybody have any body projects \u2013 projects about your bodies? I\u2019ve got a big one right now: get my eyes fixed. \u2018Cause I have mild glaucoma, had cataracts and I have another little weird thing on one of the membranes. So that\u2019s a big project. I\u2019m gonna get all that onto cruise control as we say. Probably take about six months to get all that done. Hey, come on \u2013 when you\u2019re 71 you\u2019ll notice things start to fall apart a little bit. So \u2026<\/p>\n<p>[Applause]<\/p>\n<p>Is that because I made it to 71? Ha, ha.<\/p>\n<p>Now most people\u2019s to-do lists \u2013 how many of you have something that looks kind of like a to-do list? Anybody got a to-do list out there? Okay, great. Well 99% of every to-do list I\u2019ve ever seen is still an incomplete list of still unclear things and it actually creates as much pressure as it relieves. Why? Because when you\u2019re looking at it, you\u2019re looking at things that you still haven\u2019t finished making the right decisions about. Typical to-do list kinds of things: Mama. Right, well I\u2019m sure you had one. Why did you put it on the list?<\/p>\n<p>Oh, her birthday\u2019s coming up.<\/p>\n<p>Ah \u2013 what are you gonna do about mama\u2019s birthday?<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t know what I\u2019m gonna do.<\/p>\n<p>Bank. Yeah, there are some \u2013 why did you put it on the list?<\/p>\n<p>Well I thought we might want to \u2013 might maybe a credit line \u2013 huh.<\/p>\n<p>So that\u2019s the problem with what most people have done is they\u2019ve simply captured, not only not captured everything, but even what they captured is still not clear.<\/p>\n<p>By the way, every single thing on any one of your lists right now is either attracting or repulsing you psychologically every time you look at it; there\u2019s no neutral territory folks. You\u2019re either going, \u201cWow! Okay! Wonder when I can get that done?\u201d or you\u2019re going, \u201cAh \u2013 there\u2019s still thinking and decisions I haven\u2019t made about this. I don\u2019t have the energy to think and decide right now. Stop reminding me I\u2019m overwhelmed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Now, which is more attractive to look at? Which one of these lists do you think would be more attractive to see \u2013 the one on the left or the one on the right that clarifies what exactly your commitments are and what you\u2019re gonna do about them? Again, this is the result of smart thinking that makes good decisions, parks those things in appropriate places, so you don\u2019t have to be that smart again to do smart stuff, because if you only wrote down one thing, on that list that you made before, then you\u2019ve missed potentially at least one, perhaps two still clarifying contents. You may not have the next action yet and you may not have identified the final project is done when what\u2019s true. So the secret to getting things done \u2013 what does done mean? I get to mark it off as complete when what\u2019s true? That\u2019s the project. And what does doing look like and where does it happen \u2013 that\u2019s the next action.<\/p>\n<p>And as simple as this may sound or seem to you, this is extremely profound when people actually make those decisions about most of the stuff that they\u2019ve got and most people have not done that yet. I would be very surprised, unless you\u2019ve already implemented my methodology and quite well implemented it, I would be surprised if any of you in here have a complete project list right now, with you. And that\u2019s gonna be an absolutely key inventory for you to review on a weekly basis to stay sane.<\/p>\n<p>The late, great Peter Drucker, and we saw a quote from Peter, and I knew Peter. One of the things he would tell you, \u201cAs knowledge workers\u201d, he was really the first person to really popularize that idea of knowledge work. What is knowledge work? You have to think to figure out what to do. You have to think about that e-mail about what to do about it. That\u2019s knowledge work and he would tell every one of us in the room right now, \u201cYour biggest job is defining what your work is.\u201d He didn\u2019t tell you how to do that, but that\u2019s how you do it. He just warned you that that was gonna e the biggest issue you will have is determining exactly what your work is.<\/p>\n<p>So, clarifying your mind-sweep: The worst practice is wait \u2018til the pressure forces you to make these decisions. You\u2019re gonna decide what to do about mom and you\u2019re gonna decide what to do about the bank at some point, but when and why \u2013 when it first shows up on your radar or when the heat on the situation gets so hot somebody has to make a decision about it.<\/p>\n<p>In your companies by the way, when would you guess the vast majority of action decisions are made, when things first land on somebody\u2019s radar or when the heat on the situation from the customer, the boss or the situation forces people to make that decision.<\/p>\n<p>And if you say, \u201cWell it tends to be that\u201d, I would say, \u201cWelcome to the club.\u201d I\u2019ve done all kinds of seminars and speeches in many of those companies that are supposed to be the best companies to work for and they all say, \u201cOh my God, you\u2019ve been here.\u201d Most organizations have a major improvement opportunity in terms of clarify, stability and control and focus by simply making these decisions on the front end instead of on the back end. It doesn\u2019t mean that you need to take the action now, but don\u2019t avoid it because you don\u2019t know what it is. The biggest source of procrastination that I\u2019ve seen is people avoiding making a next action decision about something and then they\u2019re thinking there\u2019s too much to do, it\u2019s too complex and they don\u2019t start, but once you get used to deciding the very next action on something, I mean down to the very granular, physical, visible activity, you\u2019ll see that those are not that hard to do.<\/p>\n<p>Have any of you ever been in meetings where the outcome of the meeting was not clarified. \u201cExcuse me, what are we trying to accomplish here, by what time?\u201d If that information is not clear, I wouldn\u2019t even go to the meeting because you will not know how to frame the conversation or the thinking. And many meetings that talk about all kinds of things and have visions and ideas and so forth, but any of you ever walk out of those meetings with this vague sense that something probably ought to happen because of that meeting? You just hope it\u2019s not you. Because what question do people tend to avoid asking, especially in collaborative companies? \u201cExcuse me Jose, is this mine or yours to take the action on this?\u201d And that question is often avoided because people say, \u201cHmm, no \u2013 no we\u2019re a team.\u201d Right, at some point you\u2019ll find out who had the next action on what you talked about and not in a highly collaborative way.<\/p>\n<p>Real collaboration says, \u201cGod we\u2019re all up to here. Can we decide where the locus of focus is and who\u2019s got the ball on this right now, so we all don\u2019t have to feel that pressure?\u201d No kidding. We have seen whole cultures change, corporate cultures, divisions, departments, change their culture simply by buying into these two questions a lot more: What are we trying to accomplish, what\u2019s the next action? What are we trying to accomplish, what\u2019s the next action? If that becomes part of your corporate or business vocabulary, it\u2019s gonna make a big difference, if it\u2019s not there already.<\/p>\n<p>Okay, well let\u2019s suppose you\u2019ve captured everything and clarified everything, then you need to park reminders where they need to go. Any of you feel like just tearing up the notes you just took \u2013 throwing them away? Probably not. Why not? \u201cI need to keep reminders for myself of the work I have defined.\u201d That\u2019s right. Where are you going to keep them? Probably not on those note pads that you were taking notes.<\/p>\n<p>So now, the third stage is to move to creating categories that you park this information in that work appropriately for you. Quite simply, organize means put stuff where it goes. You know, it\u2019s a simple definition but organization simply says: once I determine what something means I put that where those things go. In your kitchen, where do spices go? Where spices go. Where do dirty dishes go? Where they go. Where does a list of your projects go? Where does reminders about phone calls you need to make go? Where do reminders about things you need to buy at the hardware store go? Where do you park things to talk to people about when you\u2019re in next meeting with them?<\/p>\n<p>For the most part, once people start to catch this process and this methodology, all you really need are lists. So any kind of a list manager can work well to keep track of these things and it doesn\u2019t have to be that complex an event. As a matter of fact, you can have a pretty simple system that you can then park reminders of these things in appropriate places. For the actionable items on your list or that you determine, you do need one project list, at least one. I have all of my projects all on one list. It\u2019s about 35 or 40 right now; just one list. I don\u2019t need to look at that every hour, every day, but once a week that gives me stability, gives me clarity, make sure that I\u2019m not losing the ball on anything; sometimes more often than that. But one project list for most of you in here would probably be sufficient.<\/p>\n<p>Now some people like to organize different kinds of project lists. If any of you were doing major sales and you are accountable for selling to lots of customers and clients, many times sales people like to keep a separate list of their sales projects, so in case their boss wants to ask them the status of things, they already have that sorted.<\/p>\n<p>I know some people that keep a list of all the projects their boss has given them on a separate list, so they\u2019re not surprised at any point when the boss shows up and they know exactly what are the things that he or she is expecting of you. Some people like to split personal and professional on two separate lists. Any and all of that is fine. There\u2019s no right or wrong way to do that, but making sure that you have both determined the projects and then parked them somewhere that you can review that inventory on a consistent basis is critical.<\/p>\n<p>Then you have actions that you need to take \u2013 the next actions you need to take about things and that comes in two flavors. The first kind of action would be actions that need to happen specifically on days or at certain times on certain days and that\u2019s obviously where your calendar comes into play. So if I need to call Bill on Thursday, I didn\u2019t set an appointment but I just need to call him on Thursday, he won\u2019t have the material until Wednesday night but he\u2019s leaving town on Friday. Sometime on Thursday I need to reach Bill \u2013 that will go on my calendar, so that when I get to Thursday I see, okay got to call Bill today. That\u2019s the window I have. So appointments, obviously, meetings, but also things that need to happen specifically on that day, not necessarily tied to a time, those all go on calendars.<\/p>\n<p>Now most of the actions you and I have are not calendar actions. They\u2019re actions that you need to take in and around your calendar from the things that you have already committed to in terms of time. All the rest of your actions, calls you need to make, things you need to do at the computer, things you need to buy at the store, things you need to talk to your life partner about \u2013 those things just need to be kept somewhere that you get to them as soon as you can get to them and you\u2019re not re-writing lists every day. You should not be re-writing lists every day. You want to just have the inventory. So you could do that just one next action list. The problem with that is most of you have over a hundred of those and if you put all of those on one list, that can feel a little overwhelming and a little bulky to work with. So people, over the years, have found what\u2019s very helpful is to sort those action reminders based upon context and that\u2019s usually based upon the tool required for the action or the location required for the action.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, I have a list of stuff to do at home. I don\u2019t need to see that until I\u2019m at home. I don\u2019t need to bother that with me while I\u2019m on this trip and I\u2019m flying to Moscow tomorrow. So I\u2019ll be gone for a few days, I don\u2019t need to see that stuff. I have the list available to me to add to it as I might have an idea of something I need to do at any point in time, it will go on that list, but I don\u2019t need to review it along with all the other stuff until I\u2019m there.<\/p>\n<p>People often like to create a separate calls lists \u2013 calls I need to make. Obviously it\u2019s helpful to keep lists of the meetings and people that you intersect and interact with, especially the more senior of you in here, professionally. You\u2019ll notice, you probably have already noticed that much of your work gets done through interacting with other people. Things you need to talk to your assistant about, things you need to hand off to your direct report. That\u2019s then very useful to keep a list for each one of those people and each one of those meetings because many times the next action on something is something that you need to bring up as an agenda item in the staff meeting. Or the next action on something is something you need to talk to your wife or your husband about the next time you\u2019re talking about business of life stuff. So nice to then sort those things in ways that make sense to you and people often then customize the system.<\/p>\n<p>If you read my book <em>Getting Things Done<\/em>, you\u2019ll see in there a number of suggestions that we found over the years that people have found to make that a little more useful. Sometimes your system needs to be a little more complex to make things simpler. That happens to be a cybernetic principle by the way. If you\u2019re trying to manage something very complex with too simple a system, it will make it even more complex. So most people actually are trying to manage a very complex life with simply a calendar and a to-do list \u2013 too simple. You don\u2019t need to get it much more complex to get it much more under control, but you need some \u2013 there needs to be some discrete ways to sort this stuff so that it is manageable and you need to keep track of stuff you\u2019re waiting on to come back from other people \u2013 very important list.<\/p>\n<p>Before I close today, I\u2019m gonna share with you a few of the key behaviors that most executives that we coach walk away with right immediately and one of those is keeping track of stuff that they\u2019ve handed off to staff \u2013 a waiting-for list. So again, the more senior in here, you\u2019re gonna use agendas, that is things to talk to your staff about and then you need to keep track of the things that you\u2019ve asked them to do that you care about; hugely beneficial lists, especially for the more senior of you in here. True for actually anybody, but I\u2019ve noticed particularly much of the stress of many of the executives that I work with comes from the fact that they have not kept track of things they\u2019ve asked staff to do and they follow-up when it blows up as opposed to regularly renegotiating that with themselves and other people.<\/p>\n<p>Now the non-actionable things \u2013 that\u2019s pretty self-evident; trash goes where trash goes. Many of you probably need to clean up a little bit because simply by the passage of time, certain things become trash. Have you discovered that trash self-generates, it does not self-destruct. Any of you have a drawer at your desk, a center drawer? Everything in that drawer probably belonged there at one point. The problem is that those ballpoint pen refills in there, perfect place for them when you had that pen. Ha, ha. So again, oftentimes you need to regularly clean house for the things that have become irrelevant to you, whether that\u2019s drawers in your desk, trunks of your cars.<\/p>\n<p>Do any of you have one of those mystery electronic drawers? Anybody got one of those drawers that has collected all of those things? Because the appliance died but this charger, I might need that. Right. I\u2019ve got one of those drawers. All that stuff is in there and I usually clean it when I can\u2019t get anything else in there; nothing wrong with that. Again, this idea of putting things where they go based upon what they are \u2013 I\u2019m gonna give you a silly little example, but it makes a point.<\/p>\n<p>How many of you in here have a whole bunch of crap you just don\u2019t want to deal with? Anybody got a bunch of just stuff you just don\u2019t want to deal with? You know how you can get clear of that? Get yourself a big box and a big marker and label the box <em>Crap I Don\u2019t Want to Deal With<\/em> and put it all in there; you walk free! Why? That\u2019s all the crap I don\u2019t want to deal with. Now there is a little bit of an implicit agreement with yourself that you will regularly look through that and make sure that\u2019s okay that you\u2019re not dealing with it. I know that sounds a little silly but that\u2019s actually the truth. If you put stuff where it goes, where those things are, then you get to be clear of it. The problem is, is most people have crap they don\u2019t want to deal with spread all over their life and then it starts to add this pressure to you. So put it all in one place; very helpful.<\/p>\n<p>The second piece is obviously reference material and I have good suggestions about that other than a regular purge, maybe yearly of wherever you\u2019re holding reference information. I have reference information strewn all over my computer. I still have paper based reference files, not nearly as many because of scanning and PDFs these days, there\u2019s still paper based stuff you still are gonna need to capture and I\u2019ve got some suggestions in my book about just how to keep that nice and simple. If you don\u2019t have a good filing system, either in your computer or even a paper based filing system, then things that should be filed aren\u2019t and they start to stack up all around you and then create a gray haze in your offices and your lives, so you need to have a good system for that.<\/p>\n<p>So worst practice: blend all of these categories together. Best practice: make sure you\u2019ve got nice clean edges to this stuff.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ll bet most of you in here have at least one pile of your own stuff you\u2019ve gone psychologically numb to and the reason would be because there are different kinds of things in that one pile. Oftentimes, it\u2019s reading material. Some things in there just need to be reference, some things you might still be telling yourself you want to read, some things may be out of date and when those things start to blend together, your mind has to shut it out because it\u2019s too complex to keep rethinking what\u2019s in there.<\/p>\n<p>Now these first three steps of capture, clarify and organize sound simple and you already do all these kinds of behaviors from time to time, but once they\u2019re done completely it can be transformative. A current client I\u2019m working with now, a guy in Chicago, it\u2019s taken us five days to just capture, clarify and organize. Now he\u2019s one of the brightest people, most successful people you would ever meet. He\u2019s a \u2013 what they call a unicorn, a billion dollar high tech start-up. Four years ago he had 35 people, he now has 750. Five years ago he was doing 33 million, last year he did a billion. He teaches entrepreneurial at the University of Chicago. He\u2019s on five boards. He\u2019s one of the sharpest, fastest people I\u2019ve met. Now his presenting issue to me was he said, \u201cDavid I feel like I\u2019m just hitting my stride, but I\u2019m up to here. I have no more room.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So it\u2019s been quite an education for him to go through this process, the space that it\u2019s been able to give him has been tremendous. Now what you do with this is again what you do with this. And most of you have a system already, but I will suggest you might want to consider some refinements, if this has rung your bell, as we say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this first installment of a two-part episode, David Allen shares an in-depth, sweeping overview of GTD\u00ae to an audience in Milan, Italy. \u00a0Learn best practices, as well as what you can expect to have happen in your life once you start applying them. Listen Now Subscribe or Download iTunes Stitcher Libsyn Google Play Music &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2017\/05\/episode-29-david-allen-gtd-keynote-in-milan-part-one\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Episode #29 &#8211; David Allen GTD\u00ae Keynote in Milan &#8211; Part One&#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":[27,736,716,715,32],"tags":[745,29,69,122,789,790],"class_list":["post-15902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-david-allen","category-educational-tools","category-free-resources","category-podcast-2","category-productivity-tips","tag-david-allen","tag-gtd","tag-implementing-gtd","tag-productivity","tag-speeches","tag-learning-gtd","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 #29 - David Allen GTD\u00ae Keynote in Milan - Part One<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"David Allen shares an in-depth, sweeping overview of GTD\u00ae to an audience in Milan, Italy. 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