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Kelly Forrister
Feeling Good About What You’re Not Doing
One of my favorite David Allen quotes is, “You can only feel good about what you’re not doing, when you know what you’re not doing.” Have you ever tried to be spontaneous about something (a problem or opportunity) but you feel that gnawing sense of anxiety that there might be something lurking that’s not only undone but unidentified in any of your trusted places? Or perhaps you know you have the reminder somewhere, like your email Inbox, but you’re not sure exactly what it is you said you would do. It can be very difficult to let go of one thing and move to the next with complete creativity, focus and freedom when you’re not sure what it is that you won’t be doing.
How can you feel good about what you’re not doing? Create a complete inventory of what you’ve said yes to so you know what you’ll be saying no to. That way, when the choice comes to switch gears, whether it’s someone standing at your office door asking for your input on a problem that just showed up, or an interesting opportunity like someone asking you to lunch (remember lunch breaks?!), you’ll be able to make that choice with complete confidence. You can act with assurance knowing what won’t be happening while you change directions is OK, at least for the time being.
The good news is that it’s not hard to get to a place of feeling good about what you’re not doing. Walk yourself through the Five Phases of GTD:
Start by collecting everything that has your attention. Go for quantity on this one. Capture whatever you consider important, unimportant, urgent, not urgent and everything in between that represents some kind of action for you.
Then process each item by asking, “What’s my desired outcome and what’s the very next action?”
Organize what you come up with in a total, life to-do system (paper, digital or hybrid of both--whatever your style.) Some key buckets to consider for your system will be a Calendar, Lists for your Outcomes/Projects, Actions and Waiting For items. You might even try a Someday/Maybe list for those things that you may want to get to at some point in the near or distant future.
Review your system on a regular basis to get perspective and control over it. You’ll want to do this review about once a week to trust that what’s in your system is current.
Walk yourself through these steps consistently and it will be easier for you to then choose what to Do. On any given day you’re probably faced with many choices for your time and attention. Give yourself the freedom to shift gears, change your focus and have a little fun when you want to without the burden of the unknown, un-captured and un-clarified.
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