{"id":4668,"date":"2011-01-20T11:30:55","date_gmt":"2011-01-20T19:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gtdtimes.com\/?p=4668"},"modified":"2014-02-03T14:39:01","modified_gmt":"2014-02-03T22:39:01","slug":"what-to-do-if-youre-smart-and-imaginative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2011\/01\/what-to-do-if-youre-smart-and-imaginative\/","title":{"rendered":"What to do if you&#039;re smart and imaginative"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/gtdtimes\/2011\/01\/brain.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-4671\" title=\"brain\" src=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/gtdtimes\/2011\/01\/brain.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"160\" height=\"160\" \/><\/a>David Allen received this email from a student:<\/strong><br \/>\nI consider myself to be very smart and imaginative. The people that get to know me always have a very good impression of me and have great expectations from me. More importantly, I have a lot of dreams and ideas. But I&#8217;m not very practical and everything ends at a theoretical phase. I never have clear objectives and I&#8217;m always confused by dozens of thoughts and can&#8217;t focus properly on what I do.<\/p>\n<p>Most of the time I feel like I&#8217;m wasting my time, and would rather be doing something else. I always feel I ought to organize, so I make a nice, tight schedule. But after a couple of days\u00a0it&#8217;s gone, and I&#8217;m back at the beginning.<\/p>\n<p>If I had to describe the last 10 years of my life in a sentence I would say: &#8220;I woke up every morning to row in yet another direction.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->I have read your book and tried to apply roughly your technique. I have to admit that it works to some extent, but it did not bring the radical change in my life that I expected.<\/p>\n<p><strong>David replied:<\/strong><br \/>\nThank you for reaching out with your email. I empathize with your situation &#8212; I&#8217;ve been there myself many times in my earlier life.<\/p>\n<p>The best thing to do is to ask yourself, &#8220;What do\u00a0I really want to be experiencing in my life?&#8221; And then, when you have that short list in front of you, ask yourself, &#8220;What is the most immediate thing I could commit to, that would start to move me in the direction of getting those experiences?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>You may find that the experiences will show up sooner than you think!<\/p>\n<p>I hope that may be of some help to you. And you have my best wishes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ask yourself, &#8220;What is the most immediate thing I could commit to, that would start to move me in the direction of getting those experiences?&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","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":[699,27,32],"tags":[22,745,29,69,28,94,739,122,123],"class_list":["post-4668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all","category-david-allen","category-productivity-tips","tag-getting-things-done","tag-david-allen","tag-gtd","tag-implementing-gtd","tag-getting-started","tag-project-planning","tag-inspiration","tag-productivity","tag-projects","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>What to do if you&#039;re smart and 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