INSPIRE #208: Discover the Art of “Getting Things Done” & Stress-Free Productivity!
David Allen, World Famous Time Management Expert, Shares Secrets Behind Getting Things Done While Reducing Stress & Anxiety, Increasing Freedom & Productivity!
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BOOKS BY DAVID ALLEN:
SHOW INTRODUCTION:
Today we’ll be talking with David Allen, the undisputed king and best-selling author of Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
And that’s just what we’re going to talk with David about, how in the world do we get things done, without more pressure, more stress, more hours, and less life at the end of our days.
Plus we’ll talk about cleaning out our inbox, de-cluttering our lives, jumping chasms over weekends, and how in the world to move past amorphic blobs of undoability.
MORE ON DAVID ALLEN:
David Allen is widely recognized as the world’s leading expert on personal and organizational productivity. His thirty-year pioneering research and coaching to corporate managers and CEOs of some of America’s most prestigious corporations and institutions has earned him Forbes’ recognition as one of the top five executive coaches in the U.S. and Business 2.0 magazine’s inclusion in their 2006 list of the “50 Who Matter Now.” Time Magazine called his flagship book, “Getting Things Done”, “the definitive business self-help book of the decade.” Fast Company Magazine called David “one of the world’s most influential thinkers” in the arena of personal productivity, for his outstanding programs and writing on time and stress management, the power of aligned focus and vision, and his groundbreaking methodologies in management and executive peak performance.
David is the international best-selling author of “Getting Things Done: the Art of Stress-Free Productivity”; “Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life”; and “Making It All Work: Winning at the Game of Work and the Business of Life”.
He is the engineer of GTD®, the popular Getting Things Done® methodology that has shown millions how to transform a fast-paced, overwhelming, overcommitted life into one that is balanced, integrated, relaxed, and has more successful outcomes. GTD’s broad appeal is based on the fact that it is applicable from the boardroom to the living room to the class room. It is hailed as “life changing” by students, busy parents, entrepreneurs and corporate executives. David is the Founder and Chairman of the David Allen Company, whose inspirational seminars, coaching, educational materials and practical products present individuals and organizations with a new model for “Winning at the Game of Work and Business of Life.” He continues to write articles and essays that address today’s ever-changing issues about living and working in a fast-paced world while sustaining balance, control, and meaningful focus.
SHOW NOTES:
David Allen Online: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
Upcoming Seminars Worldwide:
- Russia
- India
- Brazil
- Europe
- Scandinavia
Key Topics:
- What David means by having 35 jobs by 35.
- How David Allen went from those 35 jobs to Lockheed, Palm Pilot, then GTD (Getting Things Done)
- How to leverage consciousness or tap in so we can work less
- How Getting Things Done is much more elegant and easier if you’re on a spiritual path (whether it’s the Tao, Buddha, or whichever it is)
- How David see’s the spiritual significance in everything AND how Getting Things Done helps us on our spiritual paths.
- Why things need to be stopped, renegotiated or completed…and how Getting Things Done helps you with the completion process.
- How Getting Things Done helps us have more freedom, more space, work less, and plug in more to intuition, heart, spirit, or whatever you want to call the higher source of that ‘small still voice’ or what guides us.
- What are 5 steps we engage in to get things under control
- Why getting things done is not about getting things done, it’s really about getting appropriately engaged with everything in your life so you’re totally present with it.
- Why GTD is ‘lean for your brain’
- How much time does it take to get Getting Things Done going (in home, business, or anywhere)
- How to free yourself from feeling overwhelming
- What’s an amorphic blob of undoability
- What’s wrong with a to do list?
- Why a to-do list is not really a to-do list
- What’s the problem with people’s to-lists and calendars
- How to take care of all of your ‘open loops’
- What’s great about mindfulness, but how to make things even easier
- Why you don’t want to meditate on cat food
- And what you want to make sure you do when you meditate to help you focus
- Using Inspire Nation as an example for Getting Things Done
- Why you want to get everything down to identify the open loops
- And how long you want to block off to do this
- Why it’s important to start with where people’s attention is, rather than where it should be.
- Why it’s important to break down the beginning steps of a project
- How David Allen discusses the Inspire Nation Club with Michael, and the importance of an “@Jessica List”
- Why you don’t want to use pop-ups to remind you of things
- Why there’s an inverse relationship between ‘on your mind’ and ‘getting done’
- Why you don’t need to meditate to figure projects out, but instead need to practice these techniques and ‘build the cognitive muscles’
- Why you want to start where you’re at.
- Why you want to get it all down so that you don’t have to over-structure, but can have information there ready to go if you need it.
- Where to start with your paperwork
- What’s an important algorithm to help you get through your paperwork.
- What’s a foolproof way to start filing?
- Why he’s a HUGE fan of a labelmaker “there’s magic to a labeler”
- The Dymo PNP labeler is the simplest.
- A quick way to begin to clean up email.
- How to do this with Gmail
- Why a lot of googlers use Getting Things Done (GTD)
- How to use gmail as a list-manager
- How to use your google-drive spreadsheet as your organizer
- What you can do to start today
- What’s the importance of writing things down
- What’s the importance of a list manager
- Why you want to buy David Allen’s Getting Things Done book
- The center of the book will help coach you through – it’s a manual for people.
- How David has freed himself from time
- Why chill should be the new normal
- Why you want appropriately doing to be appropriately being (and what in the world that means)
- Why the most being people may also be the highest doing people
- A challenging invitation: What would you do if you had more space/time in your life…how would you use it???
Related Podcasts:
How to Stop Wishing, Start Doing & Take Command of Your Life (Bernard Roth, “Achievement Habit”)
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SHINE BRIGHT!
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Love that you were able to get David Allen on your show–he’s such a huge inspiration for me. As someone who studies and writes on project management, I particularly like his explanation of GTD being “lean for your brain.”
I’ve used “Getting Things Done” for the past two years and it’s completely changed my life–as you suggest, GTD is great for not just productivity, but for mental health.
If you’re interested in learning about my journey with GTD, please check out my story: http://blog.capterra.com/how-getting-things-done-changed-my-life-5-lessons-i-learned/