Input on the October 3rd webinar

AnneMKE said:
Thanks for the webinar -- it was great. I wonder if you might consider creating a one-pager with the steps you took us through. I can imagine using that as a frequent reference. Thanks again so much.
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That would be great to have!
 
sstrisik said:
I'm going to talk about how to manage (and even transform) the constraints that get in the way of your productivity and flow over the course of the day.
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While the webinar was a nice relaxing time I was really hoping for a lot more concrete ideas on constraints and how to manage them. I didn't find the meditation segments particularly useful.
 
John Forrister said:
From a GTD perspective, I'd suggest restating those outcomes as within your control.
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That is probably the best GTD tip I have read in the last 10 years!!

A few days ago I asked myself - "What if I loaded all the crappy predicaments and nagging negative issues of my life into GTD, and not just the easily identifiable projects/problems?” Your tip is the magic formula for stating solid positive framing outcomes for all those negatives.

Thanks John!

David

P.S. sorry, went off topic there … also really looking forward to listening to the playback of Suzanne’s webinar! :)
 
AnneMKE said:
hanks for the webinar -- it was great. I wonder if you might consider creating a one-pager with the steps you took us through. I can imagine using that as a frequent reference. Thanks again so much.
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Great Idea. So glad you asked. I'll try to make a cue-sheet sooner rather than later--while the information is still fresh in your mind.
 
Oogiem said:
I was really hoping for a lot more concrete ideas on constraints and how to manage them
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I'm very attracted to the concrete, the explicit. It's what drew me to GTD. I want to move something, a clearly defined and reasonable next action or a clearly articulated project that I have strong, unpleasant feelings and thoughts about, and move it forward.

There was also a request for a one-page, step-wise description of the experiential work of the webinar, so the user could use it in daily life that also seems like a request to be more concrete than I was.

Oogie--and others who have requests or hopes you've verbalized, thank you. Please share with me your inspirations, ideas of what I can do to make the steps most explicit, or let me know what, in your opinion, needs to be explicit. It will help enormously in improving the webinar and making the one-page set of instructions. Many thanks.
 
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sstrisik said:
I'm very attracted to the concrete, the explicit. It's what drew me to GTD. I want to move something, a clearly defined and reasonable next action or a clearly articulated project that I have strong, unpleasant feelings and thoughts about, and move it forward.

There was also a request for a one-page, step-wise description of the experiential work of the webinar, so the user could use it in daily life that also seems like a request to be more concrete than I was.

Oogie--and others who have requests or hopes you've verbalized, thank you. Please share with me your inspirations, ideas of what I can do to make the steps most explicit, or let me know what, in your opinion, needs to be explicit. It will help enormously in improving the webinar and making the one-page set of instructions. Many thanks.
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Very good -- I too would love to have a one-page set of instructions! :)
 
Dave John said:
That is probably the best GTD tip I have read in the last 10 years!!

A few days ago I asked myself - "What if I loaded all the crappy predicaments and nagging negative issues of my life into GTD, and not just the easily identifiable projects/problems?” Your tip is the magic formula for stating solid positive framing outcomes for all those negatives.
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I'm glad to hear you found that useful. As far as I'm concerned, it's a very advanced GTD move to turn all the "crappy predicaments and nagging negative issues" into projects. David Allen calls that getting to a complete projects list. Yes, that adds to my number of projects. But those predicaments and issues don't go away just because I leave them off my projects list. In fact, they take up more mental energy (at inappropriate times) when they are not explicitly defined.
 
I think I will need the recording to go through the webinar once again. I feel like I missed a lot during the live session. But I guess that’s a common symptom if you also try to monitor the chat window (what actually makes the difference between a live session and a recording ;))
I’ll also try to implement some ideas from the 12 Week Year into my new plans. I wonder, how this will affect my goals :)

Cheers,
Tristan
 
Geeko said:
I think I will need the recording to go through the webinar once again. I feel like I missed a lot during the live session. But I guess that’s a common symptom if you also try to monitor the chat window (what actually makes the difference between a live session and a recording ;))
I’ll also try to implement some ideas from the 12 Week Year into my new plans. I wonder, how this will affect my goals :)

Cheers,
Tristan
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We should have the recording available soon. Something wasn't working as well with my audio, but fortunately Suzanne did most of the talking.
 
I'd like to second that this was a very usefull and well structured seminar. I particularly liked the interactive parts, i.e. Suzanne aking us questions and commenting on those, and that this was cleverly integrated into the concept of the seminar. Thank you for organizing this, and please do so again! :)
 
John Forrister said:
I'm glad to hear you found that useful. As far as I'm concerned, it's a very advanced GTD move to turn all the "crappy predicaments and nagging negative issues" into projects. David Allen calls that getting to a complete projects list. Yes, that adds to my number of projects. But those predicaments and issues don't go away just because I leave them off my projects list. In fact, they take up more mental energy (at inappropriate times) when they are not explicitly defined.
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Hi John,

I came across the concept of turning unpleasant situations into projects in various webinars etc., but the key twist you gave it was restating those outcomes as within your control.

David Allen uses the example of gravity as something that we cannot control and therefore don’t complain about it or try to do anything about it. But I think that for me (and maybe others) some issues just blend into the general background of life and cease to register as things I can do something about, (project blindness? :)). They are “just the way things are”, or “just my character”, or the “unspoken expectations” of the place I work in. And why does this happen? Because early on I assume them to be outside my control and just let them fester and sink below the radar.

I remember in an interview Mike Williams said that he saw GTD as something like a processor – you dump in problems at one end and out the other end comes discreet do-able next actions leading to a defined outcome. For him GTD turned the stuff of life into a crank widget path to a better life.

So within days of wondering if I could dump life’s unsatisfactory background vibes into GTD you posted “restate those outcomes as within your control”. This was blessedly perfectly timed to energize my aspiration … so, once again, thanks! :)

Dave
 
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Thanks for your kind comments. And I am intrigued by the idea of taking the slippery, unmanageable, and exasperating stuff into a within-your-control projects frame. Fascinating. There are several themes we're covering, circling around here of control, suffering, meaning. My favorite topics! The one-pager is slopping over into 1.25 pages; I'm trying to eke out time to get it done, but it's not happening.

Here is a suggestion veiled as question: Shall I call it good and give you the 1.25 page draft of the webinar?
 
sstrisik said:
Thanks for your kind comments. And I am intrigued by the idea of taking the slippery, unmanageable, and exasperating stuff into a within-your-control projects frame. Fascinating. There are several themes we're covering, circling around here of control, suffering, meaning. My favorite topics! The one-pager is slopping over into 1.25 pages; I'm trying to eke out time to get it done, but it's not happening.

Here is a suggestion veiled as question: Shall I call it good and give you the 1.25 page draft of the webinar?
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I would love to see the 1.25 page document! :)
 
Oogiem said:
I was really hoping for a lot more concrete ideas on constraints and how to manage them.
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I want to double back to this relevant question about constraints.

I was on hold on the phone for almost an hour this morning with an insurance company before hanging up in frustration. In that moment, I was hard-pressed to re-frame the dreaded task (truly a constraint) of calling the insurance company; it was a telephone call I routinely have to make as part of my work as a psychologist that often ends in the frustration of not getting the information I need.

My approach with constraints--and what I suggested to you all on Thursday in the webinar--is to turn the constraint into leverage for success by finding within the dreaded next action something important or valuable.

In the 1.25 ;) sheet I'll be distributing, you are instructed to identify what you cherish in the dreaded task. The experiential, relaxing portion of the process is two parts: getting in touch in the moment with how you feel about the task and how you feel about what you believe in. Then you apply the energy, the felt experience, of what you believe in to move forward.

That act of finding the meaning in the task, ideally, opens you both intuitively and rationally. That upbeat mood increases your cognitive flexibility and the likelihood that you'll find a novel solution to or a novel experience of the task. In empirical studies, I won't cite them here, there is a suggestion that anxiety and other unpleasant emotions hinder creativity and creative problem-solving whereas openness and flexibility aid them.

In the case of calling the insurance company, I got in touch with how I wanted to give my patient the most accurate, detailed information on his benefits, which would help him to budget accurately for the psychotherapy. From there, I relaxed, opened, got in touch with my own reason for being a psychotherapist and figured out another way to communicate, or even create, that safety without calling the insurance company. This seemed to give me the well-being and the forward movement, the sense of effectiveness, I desired. --Suzanne
 
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sstrisik said:
My approach with constraints--and what I suggested to you all on Thursday in the webinar--is to turn the constraint into leverage for success by finding within the dreaded next action something important or valuable.
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I think what Ii am really asking for is examples. I want to see concrete examples of how you do that, not generalities. The one you gave works. I was hoping for a lot more real world stuff as we see in most of the other webinars. It's ok, not every webinar will resonate with every person. This one was not really my cup of tea and that's ok.
 
sstrisik said:
Here's the 1.25 page summary of the October 3rd webinar, The Next Action: Lion, Tiger, or Bear.
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HI,
I happen to go through the recording of the webinar and i thank for providing interesting and different perspective to Next Action in GTD i.e. that of thoughts, emotions and sensations. Will surely experiment with it. Till now Emotion was not much consider in GTD and was expressed and talked about. I think some more research on fusion of GTD and Emotions will be able to address some in depth issues apart from productivity.
 
Parag said:
HI,
I happen to go through the recording of the webinar and i thank for providing interesting and different perspective to Next Action in GTD i.e. that of thoughts, emotions and sensations. Will surely experiment with it. Till now Emotion was not much consider in GTD and was expressed and talked about. I think some more research on fusion of GTD and Emotions will be able to address some in depth issues apart from productivity.
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For me this is a very interesting area. I find that GTD has the potential to greatly improve our emotional lives. An unresolved emotion is a project ready to be defined.
 
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