What do 20k-50k items look like?

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paulmeyers

Guest
I've had some success with the runway/10k aspects of GTD and am starting to investigate the higher-levels. Integrating ideas from other books (7 Habits, Your Best Year Yet, etc.) is helpful here, but I'd like to stick closer to what DA has in mind.

My problem is that I haven't seen many examples of 20k-50k items. Here is a sample of my lists:

20k (roles, areas of responsibility)
Be a loving husband
Develop team leaders

30k (1-2 years)
Create new technology initiatives
Participate in 3 triathlons

40k (3-5 years)
Get an MBA
Do a half-ironman

50k (life)
Raise a family
Retire comfortably

What do yours look like?

Paul
 
C

cornell

Registered
paulmeyers said:
I've had some success with the runway/10k aspects of GTD and am starting to investigate the higher-levels. Integrating ideas from other books (7 Habits, Your Best Year Yet, etc.) is helpful here, but I'd like to stick closer to what DA has in mind.
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Hi Paul. I love GTD, and the lower levels have helped me tremendously. That said, I think the higher levels are not as strong, as currently formulated. I think the article The Essential Missing Half of Getting Things Done addresses this pretty thoroughly. (I refer to it in my post It's not about productivity..., if you're interested.)
 
mcogilvie

mcogilvie

Registered
Hi Paul-

my 20K to 50K items look a lot like yours. I generally don't put on the list things I don't need to see. For example, I don't have an entry like "be a loving husband" because I don't get much from having it, not because I don't love my wife :). I put a lot of time and effort into the Franklin and Covey approaches to values and goals back when they were separate entities, and didn't get much from most of it. I recently put a 20K entry in for my parents, because I have increasing responsibilities in that area, and I need a place to clarify what I need to do. I think you should feel free to do what works for you. I do like Ditzler's "Best Year Yet" book, personally.

cornell said:
I love GTD, and the lower levels have helped me tremendously. That said, I think the higher levels are not as strong, as currently formulated. I think the article The Essential Missing Half of Getting Things Done addresses this pretty thoroughly.
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One of the things I have come to appreciate about David Allen is that he generally sticks to things that are very broadly applicable, and doesn't try to sell you on things that may not work for you. I don't care for Steve Pavlina's approach to life at all.
 
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severance1970

Registered
There's not much operational detail to discuss above runway and 10,000 ft., other than defining what their roles and deliverables are for you. Ultimately, everything at 20-50,000 ft. is realized by projects and actions. The danger lies in the post-processing "high" of having all of your projects and actions defined for your current work for the first time.

The temptation is to avoid implementing the rest of the model: defining 20-50k. By avoiding the higher levels of focus, the lower levels may never be fully inventoried. For instance, until I explicity defined "Finance" as a focus area (20k), I never had projects or action steps (runway and 10k) for getting control of this area. The same was true for Health & Vitality.

By avoiding the lower levels, you may have what seem like higher-level, long-term goals that are really someday-maybes because they lack a least one project and one next action them.
 
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ommoran

Registered
mcogilvie said:
. I don't care for Steve Pavlina's approach to life at all.
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I tend to agree, and this is nothing against Steve. I read Steve's blog entry after the link that posted it here. The "missing half" seemed to me to be the whole of Covey's missions, values, roles and goals.
 
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paulmeyers

Guest
mcogilvie said:
my 20K to 50K items look a lot like yours. I generally don't put on the list things I don't need to see. For example, I don't have an entry like "be a loving husband" because I don't get much from having it, not because I don't love my wife :). I recently put a 20K entry in for my parents, because I have increasing responsibilities in that area, and I need a place to clarify what I need to do.
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That's an excellent point about these "areas of focus." I remember that he said something about expanding these lists after taking on a new job or a new role. I just recently got married, so "being a loving husband" is actually quite relevant for me! Eventually, it'll become habit and I won't need reminders, eh? :)

Paul
 
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BigStory

Registered
Well, I went through the stuff that Steve P. mentions, like many of us here. It helped.... a little bit. What I found was that whatever my roles and goals were, they didn't really accelerate UNTIL I met GTD. No matter how good your goals and how "aligned" your values, you still need the tools to move them forward at ground level. And, if your ground level is chaos, you've got no time to think long-term. Someone can hardly avoid living a productive life with GTD. I can tell you from experience that it is fairly easy to get so caught up in vision and mission that very little gets done to get you there!

Thanks David and Co. for keeping y/our feet on the ground when y/our head is in the clouds! It has made a world of difference.

Gordon
 
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