Mike Lasso - Director of Partner Development's School of Rock

Twins~Sox

Thanks for saying Sorry! It's a hard habit to break!

Chapter 1 "A New Practice for a New Reality" (Post #2)

After reading the title of the 1st chapter in Getting Things Done, "A New Practice for a new Reality," I'm sure I have you on the edge of your seat. David Allen states that this new way of doing things could represent a huge paradigm shift. (I'll let Morpheus, Laurence Fishburne, explain)

So for those of you who took the red pill let's dive in to chapter 1.

David Allen says that the methods presented in this book are based on two key objectives:

1. Capturing all he things that need to get done - now, later, someday, big little, or in between-into a logical and trusted system outside of your head and off your mind
2. Disciplining yourself to make front-end decisions about all of the “inputs” you let into your life so that you will always have a plan for “next actions” that you can implement or renegotiate at any moment.
   

Allen goes on to state that he considers work to mean, “anything that you want or need to be different than it currently is…Many people make a distinction between ‘work’ and ‘personal life,’ but I don’t : to me, weeding the garden or updating my will is just as much ‘work’ as writing this book or coaching a client.”

Allen then shows the reason we must implement new systems in our lives is because work today is very different than work has been in the past. Work was self evident in the past. “Fields were to be plowed, machines tooled, boxes packed, cows milked, widgets cranked. You knew what work had to be done-you could see it. It was also clear when the work was finished you could see it. Work today has few “edges” Allen points out, “Most people I know have at least a dozen things they’re trying to achieve right now.”

In the Zone (or 'Mind like Water')
"Reflect for a moment on what it actually might be like if your personal management situation were totally under control, at all levels and at all times…What if you could dedicate fully 100 percent of your attention to whatever was at hand, at your own choosing with no distraction?" Allen says that our minds will continually dwell on unfinished or unprocessed ideas or projects. This will distract us unless we have a trusted system outside of our heads to keep us in order. Allen calls this a "Mind like Water" ( or peaceful) or being "in the zone." Take for example something I remember Michael Jordan saying years ago. Jordan said that there are some moments in a game that he is so focused and "in the zone" that the basketball rim feels as big as a doorway. I think David Allen is saying that if we don't clear out our unfinished ideas/tasks/projects etc. we will never be able to really focus on the right/best/next thing properly.

More to Come later. I'll be reviewing chapter 2 very soon. I think Allen is going to get into some practical aspects of his theory in the upcoming chapter. In the meantime if anyone is reading this it would be great to get a comment or an email from you about your experience with productivity/time management systems that have worked for you.

Great Feedback Letter From a Patient

We received this note from a patient today:


Dear Aubree, Linda and the Family HearCare Staff,

What A lovely surprise! The plant is beautiful and much appreciated. But , even more lovely is that I heard the florist delivery man ring my bell. I've not heard my door bell ring in over six years.Thank you all very much for all you've done to make my life so much happier.

Fondly,

______(patient's name)

Who is the big country star? (AAA, Dallas~2009)

Clay Walker and his band! Dr Muscarello, Indiana James, and Big B! Yee Haw!

Blogging Through "Getting Things Done" by David Allen (Part 1 The Introduction)

I'm starting a series of posts here on the Accuquest Blog about productivity. (Normally I would imediately fall asleep or click off this page at the word productivity) For that reason alone I'll try to make this entertaining and humorous as much as I can so that I don't lose interest either. If you're anything like me you have a million ideas cross your mind as you see patients, answer the phone, charting etc... Also if you're anything like me it is often a miracle if one of these ideas actually goes from conception to implementation. Even on a day where I have a full schedule I still have some down time. Sometimes I use this well and pick up an extra task where I left off but so often I end up just doing the next urgent thing that comes up. I guess this is better than ignoring work and letting it pile up but I know my time is not even close to being used intentionally. I've found that because I'm allowing my time to be used this way the short-term almost always gets in the way of the long-term. I could go on a political rant just about now about our economy and how Wall Street has probably been acting just like me for more than a decade and that's how we are now in the mess we're in but I'll spare you (mainly because I really don't even know how to spell economics much less how it works). Back to the issue at hand. I'm going to write a few summaries here on this blog (if all goes well) of the book, Getting Things Done by David Allen. I've had this book reccomended to me by numerous friends and acquaintences over the last few years so I decided it was time to read it. Feel free to ignore these posts or send me hate mail to the following address brian@accuquest.net (trust me it's my address:-) if this doesn't interest you in the slightest. Even if no-one reads this but me it helps me to summarize and process what I've read in the book.

So far I've blocked out my schedule, buckled down, put my nose to the grind stone (whatever that means) and read the introduction (about 3 pages). Yes productivity is now my middle name, seriously I legally had it changed to Curtis Productivity Watson (I just pronounce it with a french accent to impress people).

Here are a few introductory thoughts from the book. David Allen states that his overall purpose in writing this book is, "Teaching you how to be maximally efficient and relaxed, whenever you need or want to be(p. xi)" Allen goes on to state that he has developed this system over the last few decades of organizational consulting. He breaks the book into 3 main parts:

1. Part 1 describes the whole game, providing a brief overview of the system and an explanation of why it's unique and timely, and then presenting the basic methodologies themselves in their most condensed and basic form (p.xiii-xiv)
2. Part 2 shows you how to implement the system. Its your personal coaching, step by step, on the nitty-gritty application of the models. (p. xiv)
3. Part 3 goes even deeper, describing the subtler and more profound results you can expect when you incorporate the methodologies and models into your work and your life.

Now I know most of you are on the edge of your seat. "What comes next?! I must know! I will not rest until Curtis gives me more riveting summaries on a *%#@ ing productivity book!!!" I will try to read and write about the book in a timely manner but as I've already stated I'm in great need of an overhaul in how to organize my life so if you don't mind I have many pressing things that I need to put off and do later. Hopefully I will be writing more soon. In the meantime you're welcome to grab the book and follow along and leave a comment or your own thoughts.