Upcoming live webinars

John Forrister

GTD Connect
Staff member
We're looking into a David Allen webinar for December or January. If you have topics you'd like explored, please reply here or email connect@davidco.com.

In the meantime, here is the schedule of other live webinars.

Guided Mind Sweep
Nov 10, 2017 11:00 AM Pacific Time

Guided GTD Weekly Review
Nov 29, 2017 11:00 AM Pacific Time
Dec 20, 2017 10:00 AM Pacific Time

For those of you who have not yet done a thorough sweep, or those who have not yet made regular review a habit, these live webinars are a great way to support yourself. And of course there are many veteran GTD practitioners who show up to hone their skills and learn new angles.

Registration links for these are in the webinars panel on the right side of most GTD Connect pages.
 

AnneMKE

Registered
So glad to see these guided reviews continuing; they're so valuable. A couple things that come to mind:

--Like @Oogiem , I'd love to see a guided review at higher levels of focus.
--In the guided weekly reviews I've listened to, we power through and keep it to an hour(ish) by not taking time for questions. It's really valuable to do them in real time like this, but I'd love to see a second format where we really took time to work through people's questions and challenges.
 

TesTeq

Registered
"GTD Controversies Debunked"
- time blocking;
- @today list, MITs for today;
- personal work projects as mirrors of company projects (own commitments based on company requirements);
- handling of Projects and Next Actions with start dates and/or end dates (deadlines);
- changing contexts - when? Schedule requirements? External events? Top priority project requirements?
 

AnneMKE

Registered
@TesTeq 's suggestion is great. Mine obviously wouldn't be a fit for David to present himself, but that would.

Another possibility: GTD in tough times -- how it can work as an support system rather than an additional stressor, paring down to bare essentials, etc.
 

Longstreet

Professor of microbiology and infectious diseases
"GTD Controversies Debunked"
- time blocking;
- @today list, MITs for today;
- personal work projects as mirrors of company projects (own commitments based on company requirements);
- handling of Projects and Next Actions with start dates and/or end dates (deadlines);
- changing contexts - when? Schedule requirements? External events? Top priority project requirements?
I really would like to hear from David Allen on this! I also would like to hear in the future more on the middle areas within the levels of focus - the goals/objectives, and longer objectives and how to integrate these well into the lower levels.
 

AndrewJMason

Registered
Something on "Surfing Bigger Waves" might be cool.

Sometimes when life's terrain changes so quickly, it's difficult to keep your mind on the higher horizons. When you've been knocked down by a wave (major life change, responsibility, etc.), how can someone grab their board, look ahead, and challenge themselves to keep aiming for the larger games that we all want to play?
 

Longstreet

Professor of microbiology and infectious diseases
"GTD Controversies Debunked"
- time blocking;
- @today list, MITs for today;
I particularly would like David to focus on this. As you all know, I am a strong advocate for time blocking. I am convinced that the best way to ensure that your most important work gets done is to block time for it on your calendar. The problem is....this goes against the standard GTD philosophy of deciding moment to moment on what to do next based on context, time available, energy, and priority. I am most productive when I set aside time for specific projects, areas of focus, objectives, etc.

So....what does an avid follower of GTD do? Not to time block? Not to have MITs for the day?
 

Longstreet

Professor of microbiology and infectious diseases
I particularly would like David to focus on this. As you all know, I am a strong advocate for time blocking. I am convinced that the best way to ensure that your most important work gets done is to block time for it on your calendar. The problem is....this goes against the standard GTD philosophy of deciding moment to moment on what to do next based on context, time available, energy, and priority. I am most productive when I set aside time for specific projects, areas of focus, objectives, etc.

So....what does an avid follower of GTD do? Not to time block? Not to have MITs for the day?
Just a note -- I do not time block every minute of the day -- just usually morning blocks. The rest of the time I DO follow the standard GTD approach in deciding what to do next.
 

Longstreet

Professor of microbiology and infectious diseases
Check this out from David Allen:

Question:What are the best practices that can help a GTD practitioner maintain a sense of focus throughout a busy day, so that at the end one or two projects have made tangible progress?

David Allen:Block a space of time to work on those projects. And doing regular Weekly Reviews will tune up your prioritizing of those things and more motivation to stay focused on them without allowing distractions.

Hmmm....time blocking can be an integral part of following GTD!
 

RS356

Registered
@Longstreet, I also benefit from time blocking, especially for maintaining focus. I've always seen this as perfectly compatible with GTD. I agree this would make a great webinar topic.

I'd also like to see a guided Weekly Review where 1-2 presenters conduct their own weekly review in real time, sharing their process with us. It would be beneficial to see this as an observing party, rather than an active participant.
 

TesTeq

Registered
@Longstreet, I also benefit from time blocking, especially for maintaining focus. I've always seen this as perfectly compatible with GTD. I agree this would make a great webinar topic.
So maybe the topic should be:
"Time-blocking and @today list. How do GTD Coaches use them? Practical examples, tips & tricks." ;-)
 

Longstreet

Professor of microbiology and infectious diseases
I think we've covered time blocking quite a bit already, no?
Yes and No. You wrote a great article on time blocking for projects. But in terms of time blocking for goals, areas of focus, and how much one can do or should do and still be within a good GTD practice is always discussed amongst members, with some disagreement. What do you all recommend as best practices?
 

Longstreet

Professor of microbiology and infectious diseases
I do remember a GTD Connect webinar some time ago with you and Meg entitled "The Daily Grind". I remember Meg making statements about putting large actions on the calendar as well as blocking time for projects, etc. Am I remembering this correctly? Maybe the next generation webinar feeding off of this one.
 

Longstreet

Professor of microbiology and infectious diseases
So how do we balance following our intuition on what to do next based on the great GTD approach and blocking time on our calendars for specific projects? What are your thoughts, colleagues?
 

TesTeq

Registered
So how do we balance following our intuition on what to do next based on the great GTD approach and blocking time on our calendars for specific projects? What are your thoughts, colleagues?
I tend to block time for focused work ~4 hours/day. I can do it because I know that my GTD system will remind me about the critical stuff and won't forget about the rest.
 

Longstreet

Professor of microbiology and infectious diseases
I tend to block time for focused work ~4 hours/day. I can do it because I know that my GTD system will remind me about the critical stuff and won't forget about the rest.
Great approach! Thanks --that makes me feel much more comfortable with my time blocking regimen.
 

AnneMKE

Registered
So how do we balance following our intuition on what to do next based on the great GTD approach and blocking time on our calendars for specific projects? What are your thoughts, colleagues?
I was doing some pretty specific time blocking in September and early October but now I'm finding, as I seem to be finding with everything, that the weekly review reduces the need for it. Instead of blocking time for specific tasks, I'm trying to block time for specific contexts -- outputs needing focused attention in this block, small things I can bang out quickly in this block. When I get to that time block I try to crank through the list. It's amazing how GTD evolves faster the more you actually use it.
 
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