Interesting Ideas
I wanted to share with you training that I have received that made a profound difference in both my personal and professional life. I truly wish I had done this training much earlier in my career.
We all want more hours in the day. I think back to how inefficient I was at the beginning of my leadership journey and all the time and energy spent on just keeping myself organized. I thought I had a good ‘system’ in place but every once in awhile I would miss deadlines, or miss opportunities for myself or my school. The stress created by the volume of the work can, at times, be overwhelming.
Getting Things Done (GTD) is training provided by Crucial Learning (formerly Vital Smarts). I have provided the link to Getting Things Done at the end of this blog so you can investigate it more thoroughly.
In order to be transparent I will share that I am a licensed trainer with Crucial Learning and GTD is one of the programs that I can provide for individuals, teams and organizations. I have trained countless individuals in the beauty of GTD in both virtual and face to face training sessions. It is training that has had a huge impact on me and feedback from participants has indicated to me it is a game changer. I would not train with Crucial Learning if I did not believe in its benefits to others. I welcome any inquiries about how we can get you and your team trained in this career changing, life changing program.
It is based on the New York Times bestseller, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen.
For most of us we don’t need more things to do. The training is not about addition. It is not about getting more things done, it is about efficiency and how to properly engage with the items that do take your time and create time pressure stress. You will learn to work more effectively with all the inputs that come to you and not miss important items. The training will free up your mind to allow it to do what it does best, be creative, problem solve, work on relationships, plan and dream. Your thoughts will be clearer when not trying to remember what needs to be done and therefore, decrease the stress of trying to continually keep your commitments straight. A common training phrase is, ‘get it out of your head and into a trusted system” And the gold standard phrase that summarizes the training nicely is, ‘your mind is for having ideas not holding them.”
Want to get your inbox to zero? GTD
Do you use your calendar effectively? Does it contain the right items? GTD
How many of your next steps rely on someone else to do something first before you can proceed? GTD
How many times do you realize that a situation came back and blew up because it was not handled well when first seen or heard? GTD. Learn to give items attention when they first show up so you don’t have to give way more attention to it later, when it blows up.
We all have our way of doing things, and some of these skills you may already be doing. Guaranteed, you will learn additional tactics and the science behind why you should be changing some of your organizational habits. You could have the best tools, applications and programs, but if not used well, they are just bright shiny objects and toys. It is about the habits not the calendar, app or organizational tool. Change your habits, change your behaviour, you don’t need a more sophisticated system.
The best part of the training is that you are shown these new behaviours using your own life, and your current organizational system. You are not working with a fictionalized individual. You use your calendar, your phone, your computer, and your own to do lists to learn important skills. You are your own content. It is training where I want to see people on their phones and on their devices! You will walk away with your schedules, emails, lists and commitments on the path to a structure and clear organization that works for you and the skills to maintain it.
In the feedback I have received from graduates of the course they have identified some new key behaviours in their routine that have been the biggest blessing for them. Learn more about these ideas.
They include:
– Calendar first, then email in the morning. It is a way to avoid the newest and loudest because our tendency is to have something new arrive and make it our priority.
– Determine what items mean to you when they first arrive. We can only do 6 different things with the inputs that bombard us each moment of each day. We can: File, Incubate, Trash, Delegate, Do Now, Do Soon
- Set up a proper inbox (physical and electronic)
– Unsubscribe from unnecessary emails as soon as they are seen
– The 2 minute efficiency rule. It takes less than 2 minutes to do, less time than to write it down or worse, try to remember to do it.
– Not one, large, unruly to do list. Instead to do lists are organized by context.
– Continuing to go through my email and make those decisions in the moment whether to unsubscribe, trash, or file. Commit to not reflag emails as unread.
– A weekly review. A scheduled meeting with myself to look forward to the next week and to go back and look at the week that just past. Review your lists, clean up your lists, make sure nothing is dropped.
And to conclude,
In my feedback method I invite participants to create an advertising blurb based on their experiences and ask permission to use their name within the organization. My past participants are my best influencers for others in the organization. Since this blog is going outside our internal organization I have removed the names. These are eight of my most current comments received and have not been edited.
“Peter I loved the online platform, which surprised me….I’m all zoomed out but this had so much participation and action, I felt engaged the whole time. What can be done to make all online learning work this way?”
“I thought I was a pretty organized person until I took GTD and then realized how much more efficient I could be with work and home life. I have always believed in the saying “It might be hard, but it will be worth it” and tweaking and changing how I manage my “stuff” is game changing for me. GTD is practical, hands on and truly for everyone. “
“By acknowledging that my brain is for having ideas not keeping them – the 2 min jobs that normally occupy my brain and stress me out are not going to anymore. They are happily going to be DONE and off my brain!!!-“
“This course addresses a really important aspect of our professional lives, our use of time. The GTD method is logical and can make a huge difference to people professionally as well as personally. “
“GTD allows one to continue to learn effective ways to utilize time. The training embeds time to look at the effectiveness of our brains, the pitfalls that we encounter and then supports you with the steps to take to do things differently.”
“Getting things done is a toolkit of skills that helps you change your behaviour and use calendars, email and list management tools effectively.”
“I truly have enjoyed the GTD program and cannot believe the difference it already has made, helping to clear my mind by capturing thoughts. My goal this summer is to dig a bit deeper into the program and also read the eBook. I think the concept and “new lifestyle” will help me with all the different aspects of my new position and also with staying on top with my home life.”
“Peter was a great facilitator, clear, concise delivery and he truly believes in and uses the GTD philosophy!”
Could not have written it better myself!
Thanks for reading everyone, be well. I’ll ‘see’ you next week.
Reach out if I can assist you in finding out more about the benefits of Getting Things Done.
Peter Marshall Consulting 