Letting Go
Another one of the psychological spin offs of GTD occurred to me to day.
It has been noted from time to time on this board that GTD does not incorporate motivation, (that’s left to Tracy, Robbins, Ziglar et al.) With all of you projects and NAs laid out in from of you, you have to decide for yourself which is the right one to go for, and then stay with it, focussed and undistracted, until you have to disengage for some reason or other.
Well, whatever about the question of motivation, I think the disengage phase is inclined to generate fuzzy edges, for me anyway. If you are immersed in an activity and become aware that you are going to have to disengage shortly, it might not be as clear cut as you think. You may have to fight against the impulse to stick with the task - you might have to de-motivate yourself.
For example, if you need to talk to Joe, and he is not instantly accessible, how far do you go in trying to make contact with him? What is the cost/benefit of say, following him to where he is at an informal meeting somewhere else in the building?
You may find quotations starting to arise in your mind extolling the virtue of win-at-all-costs: “This project must get out today!” Should you go into battle with the obstacle, or just park it?
Or, you may have a situation where the choice is either, go and ask Mary, but Mary seems to be very busy today; or work it out for yourself. Which is the best way to go? What will Mary say if you work it out for yourself? What will she say if you don't? How long should you dwell on this?
Finally, you might have a situation where you pumped yourself up on the way in to the office that morning, vowing that the project will get finished by five thirty today, what ever it takes. But you come up against an almost insurmountable problem, and you get that feeling which I can only describe as a rush of anti-adrenaline as you sense the approach of defeat. It could be very hard to climb down from trying to think of all the angles, to just leaving it be until the missing piece becomes available in three days time, and getting on instead with a different and totally unrelated NA.
A bookmark is all very well in a file, or as an NA on your Palm, but it can be a lot harder to place a bookmark in your head. Ah well, practice practice!
Dave
Another one of the psychological spin offs of GTD occurred to me to day.
It has been noted from time to time on this board that GTD does not incorporate motivation, (that’s left to Tracy, Robbins, Ziglar et al.) With all of you projects and NAs laid out in from of you, you have to decide for yourself which is the right one to go for, and then stay with it, focussed and undistracted, until you have to disengage for some reason or other.
Well, whatever about the question of motivation, I think the disengage phase is inclined to generate fuzzy edges, for me anyway. If you are immersed in an activity and become aware that you are going to have to disengage shortly, it might not be as clear cut as you think. You may have to fight against the impulse to stick with the task - you might have to de-motivate yourself.
For example, if you need to talk to Joe, and he is not instantly accessible, how far do you go in trying to make contact with him? What is the cost/benefit of say, following him to where he is at an informal meeting somewhere else in the building?
You may find quotations starting to arise in your mind extolling the virtue of win-at-all-costs: “This project must get out today!” Should you go into battle with the obstacle, or just park it?
Or, you may have a situation where the choice is either, go and ask Mary, but Mary seems to be very busy today; or work it out for yourself. Which is the best way to go? What will Mary say if you work it out for yourself? What will she say if you don't? How long should you dwell on this?
Finally, you might have a situation where you pumped yourself up on the way in to the office that morning, vowing that the project will get finished by five thirty today, what ever it takes. But you come up against an almost insurmountable problem, and you get that feeling which I can only describe as a rush of anti-adrenaline as you sense the approach of defeat. It could be very hard to climb down from trying to think of all the angles, to just leaving it be until the missing piece becomes available in three days time, and getting on instead with a different and totally unrelated NA.
A bookmark is all very well in a file, or as an NA on your Palm, but it can be a lot harder to place a bookmark in your head. Ah well, practice practice!
Dave