David Allen
One of the world’s most influential thinkers on productivity, David’s 35 years of experience as a management consultant and executive coach have earned him the titles of “personal productivity guru” by Fast Company Magazine and one of America’s top five executive coaches by Forbes Magazine. The American Management Association has ranked him in the top 10 business leaders. His bestselling book, the groundbreaking Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, has been published in 30 languages; and the “GTD” methodology it describes has become a global phenomenon, being taught by training companies in 60 countries. David, his company, and his partners are dedicated to teaching people how to stay relaxed and productive in our fast-paced world.
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The world we live in now, as experienced by the majority of its population and reported by its multimedia, is full of problems. Seemingly, there’s a rising tide of things wrong or broken, ranging from situations that are merely suboptimal to those that are unbearably catastrophic.
The awareness of such things gone potentially haywire, and the publicity about them, is spreading worldwide.
Whether there is actually any greater amount of negative circumstances now than in the past is debatable. But there is definitely more perception by many more people of how many bad things are going on, in how many places and in how many ways. Reactions can run the gamut from resignation (mostly) to resolved action (rarely). Complaining, worrying, and criticism seem to be the de facto majority response.
I am suggesting that the world needs to change its orientation to seeing not problems, but projects. Such a shift in perspective offers a tremendous improvement opportunity at the macrolevels of national and international politics, but also at the microlevels of individual lives.
We’ve always been aware, to some degree, of our own personal issues and dilemmas. But now, in our jobs, our more transparent organizations are having their dirty laundry aired. We’re also increasingly made aware of the problems and dangers in our living environments. The always-on press competes for our attention by portraying the most dramatic situations worldwide with the bloodthirsty perspective rivaling that paid to a Roman coliseum spectacle.
What’s missing for the most part is a point of view. What’s not seen is how best to see something.
What if each and every one of these problems was instead considered a project?
What?! Are we supposed to deny the things going on in our universe that we don’t like, or consider terrible, unjust, immoral, or just plain stupid? Not at all. We simply need to recognize them as something we can or intend to do something about, or not. And those that we can or might do something about, we need to ensure that we are appropriately engaged with our commitment to doing so.
Because we don’t see it that way doesn’t mean that there’s not another way to see it.
There are things we can realize that we can’t change because they are immutable (like gravity, which is causing people serious injury, as you read this) or we simply don’t have the resources of time or money to effect the change (such as stopping global warming or changing someone’s intractable preconception about a culture). Those realities we can simply accept or ignore, perhaps just sending good thoughts that the situations turn out for the best.
What’s visible yet not seen here? It is the fact that the world is simply what it is – neither good nor bad – but how we are engaged with that world is always our free choice, and that creates either a positive or negative experience thereof. When individuals and organizations adopt the standard of outcome-and-action orientation for each and every thing that emerges as tensions in their ecosystems, hallelujah! We would start to live in a world with resolution/solution orientation instead of one with kindergartens of whining, recalcitrant children.
The activity of complaining or worrying (which is the passive form of complaining) assumes that something should be better than it is, but avoids a positive engagement in making it so. We bother others and ourselves about what we don’t like – what is going on that we wish or assume should be different. But mostly we engage in those acts of criticism when we have not personally decided or defined what, if anything, we intend to do about them. And the if anything factor is critical.
This is not something simply relegated to esoteric or philosophical discourse, nor to the seemingly shortsighted, self-interested, and constipated nature of many of our political climates and conversations. It affects how we all deal with the day-to-day realities of our worlds.
In my work with some of the best, brightest, and most sophisticated people in the world, we have invariably uncovered issues, problems, and opportunities that have taken up residence in their psyches. There are circumstances creating stress and internal spin, but no forward motion. Indeed, these are often subtle and ambiguous – a disgruntled staff person, a frustrating organizational process, an uncomfortable aging parent. Applying the simple but highly effective thought process of identifying what has these an individuals’ attention, and clarifying a desired outcome and a specific next action to take, has totally reframed their outlook and relieved tons of pressure.
The primary issue is often that they are the victims of their own creativity! Paradoxically, it is usually the most aspirational, motivated, and productive people who wind up being the most overwhelmed with the stuff of their work and lives – things they themselves have put into motion.
Say that a senior person on your team is not performing up to expectations. Or your personal financial and legal affairs are not in order in case something should happen to you. Or you’re not sure if the company’s going in the right direction, you have aging parents for whose care you feel you’re going to be responsible, or you know you should exercise and meditate more.
How do we create positive relationships to those things yanking our psychological chains, potentially waking us up in the middle of the night? Trying to ignore them doesn’t do it. Practicing mindfulness doesn’t do it. Drinking doesn’t do it (though in random moments that may give you a little false courage to engage!). What’s required is the cognitive practice of making some decisions about what those things are that are grabbing our attention and what we’re going to do about them, exactly, if anything.
In my experience, what we’re here to do and learn on this planet is simple, but sublime. We’re here to become aware of and accountable for where we have placed our attention and our attachments; and to recognize who we are as creative beings, optimally directing our energies going forward.
I don’t share that often with my clients. Frankly, I haven’t found it necessary. If it’s the truth, they’ll find that out for themselves, in their own perfect timing. If it’s not, then I don’t have to be perceived by anyone as wrong!
What I have uncovered is a personal productivity methodology, which embodies that dynamic and gets people involved in it, but in the easiest, most mundane and practical way.
The first step is having someone identify everything that has his or her attention. The reason something would be on someone’s mind is because he or she has some interest in it being dealt with, but has not yet decided exactly how to approach it.
Why is that e-mail still sitting there? What’s that document on your desk asking you to do about it? Why is that receipt still in your briefcase? What are you going to do with those meeting notes?
The things we have allowed ourselves to get involved with will continually demand our attention until or unless we unhook from them completely (resign from the committee) or we appropriately engage with and commit to them (identify the desired outcome and the next action, parking reminders about those in the right places).
The simple act of deciding what you really need to do about a piece of paper on your desk or an e-mail lurking on your computer is the microcosmic embodiment of moving from being a victim of your world to being in the driver’s seat.
Interestingly, I’ve watched how challenging it is for some of the best and brightest people to avoid that kind of thinking and decision making, about even some of the most mundane stuff.
You have four free tickets to the game; who do you invite? Even the more subtle and serious stuff remains nagging; is divorce an option for us?
And yet, how simple could this be if we reframed our dilemma as a project rather than a problem? What’s the outcome we’d like to have happen? What’s the next action required to move toward that appropriately? It’s very simple, but often very challenging.
How many of our politicians are focused on an outcome of looking good to their constituents instead of achieving some desired result that would benefit their base? How much political activity is invested in criticizing instead of defining, clarifying, and taking real action toward some positive outcome?
What if every news story went like this: Here’s the current reality. Here’s who’s invested in making a difference there. Here are their desired outcomes in the situation. Here’s how they’re approaching this.
This actually is how many stories are framed, to some degree, as in the case of a wildfire raging in the national forest. Here’s what’s going on, as best we see it. Here are the people and resources being allocated to deal with it. Here’s their game plan.
It’s not, however, how we see much of the rest of world’s news positioned and delivered (and likely ingested by us). We often see terrible situations and seldom the stories of who and how people are engaged in correcting them.
There is an equal responsibility to engage appropriately with what you have accepted into your universe as you have with allowing it in in the first place.
This clarity of definition for ourselves – What’s mine or theirs? Is this something I can be involved with? What’s my interest or investment in doing something about this? – is key to staying optimally clear and productive.
What would it be like if this were the behavior of all of us?
What if your son or daughter wants to take karate classes or have a birthday party? Would they have come to you with a desired outcome predetermined – learn karate? Would they be taking a decided next action – talk to mom about taking a karate class? They could. Few do, though, at least not in a consistent, emotionally neutral way.
What if your parliament decides to take a different tack on handling the budget? What are we really trying to produce, as a positive outcome here? If we agree on that, who owns making that happen?
The best of the consultative and rigorous decision-making processes would buy into this approach – outcomes desired, actions required – though they often lose sight of those key foci when they get mired down in the weeds of discussions and negotiations.
But, the whole world? Why are we not trained yet to approach our experiences and our environment from an outcome and action focus? Of course, there are many things going on in the world produced by people who do have that focus, but toward results that we might consider bad. Granted. But in my experience, in the long haul most of the negative behaviors engaged in stem from insecurity – a lack of awareness of our own worth and power. There’s a direct correlation between feeling the victim and being a victimizer. If, from the beginning, we were trained to see every problem as a project, that empowerment would allow us to more readily step into and express the greater goodness of who we really are.
Worrying and complaining can serve a valuable purpose. They can identify those things that present an opportunity for change and improvement. The problem may be visible, but we must also stay focused on a desired positive outcome and a path forward. In other words, we must look out the window to see what is not yet seen.