John_Lewis
Registered
Dear all,
David's In Conversation interview with Frank Sopper is the best yet ... by far! However, I have only listened to it once (so am at risk of going out onto a limb here) and it seems that only part of the interview is so great, as I will try to explain. Nevertheless, whatever you do, please listen to the end!
Many of the other interviews have grown on me over several listenings and some of them are great. But, after listening only once, the insights into GTD and its applicability in this interview are more profound and more important than any of the others, I believe.
There was, however, a potential problem with this interview which could have prevented me from getting to these superb insights. The early part of the interview was not working for me; maybe when I listen to it again, the problem will diminish, but I am not hopeful. Most In Conversation interviews draw the listener in with some small, then growing, topics about the interviewee and their involvement with GTD; these start to fit together into a bigger picture. I am always excited to receive another interview CD; this one even arrived on my birthday, so it was a nice present. But, in the early stages of listening to it while driving, I was just not getting it at all. Frank Sopper was rambling and not answering the questions. It was simultaneously sending me to sleep and making me angry. I was actually shouting at the CD player! I TURNED IT OFF! This left me thinking that I would probably not listen to it again, and that one bad one now and again is probably not a bad hit rate. I was mentally planning to write on this forum that most of the interviews have been terrific, but this one was "Sopper-ific"!
Thankfully, two days later, I continued listening on the basis that it could surely not continue to be so rambling all the way through (and I do accept that listening again might well make more sense of the early parts). But it was a close thing ... I might not have made the effort.
Wow! I believe that the points that Frank Sopper makes are hugely important; although I might just happen to be in the right frame of mind to "get" this at the moment. The observations about GTD being useful to people who are predominantly associative (right-brained) as well as to those who are predominantly sequential (left-brained) are tremendous; and the analogy with handedness is really neat. To combine that with pointing out that we all have periods of being more strongly left or right brained is even more powerful, because it implies that we can use the same models for our stuff whichever mode we are in. This, in turn, is even more powerful still, because it implies that we can put things into the model while in one mode, and take them out while in another mode; which is what I have always believed that we do anyway.
This is so much to be said about this and it is not just about the contrasts between "sequential" and "associative", but also between "top-down" and "bottom-up", "analysis" and "synthesis", "push" and "pull", "command" and "demand" ... and so on and so on.
I am looking forward to listening to this again and again: experience shows that new points continue to emerge when listening multiple for the umpteenth time.
The only question is whether to skip the early part and, if so, how much! I probably won't skip any; and if I don't, then it will probably be the knowledge of what lies towards the end, that will keep me going. (And isn't *that* poignant?!)
Thanks, David.
David's In Conversation interview with Frank Sopper is the best yet ... by far! However, I have only listened to it once (so am at risk of going out onto a limb here) and it seems that only part of the interview is so great, as I will try to explain. Nevertheless, whatever you do, please listen to the end!
Many of the other interviews have grown on me over several listenings and some of them are great. But, after listening only once, the insights into GTD and its applicability in this interview are more profound and more important than any of the others, I believe.
There was, however, a potential problem with this interview which could have prevented me from getting to these superb insights. The early part of the interview was not working for me; maybe when I listen to it again, the problem will diminish, but I am not hopeful. Most In Conversation interviews draw the listener in with some small, then growing, topics about the interviewee and their involvement with GTD; these start to fit together into a bigger picture. I am always excited to receive another interview CD; this one even arrived on my birthday, so it was a nice present. But, in the early stages of listening to it while driving, I was just not getting it at all. Frank Sopper was rambling and not answering the questions. It was simultaneously sending me to sleep and making me angry. I was actually shouting at the CD player! I TURNED IT OFF! This left me thinking that I would probably not listen to it again, and that one bad one now and again is probably not a bad hit rate. I was mentally planning to write on this forum that most of the interviews have been terrific, but this one was "Sopper-ific"!
Thankfully, two days later, I continued listening on the basis that it could surely not continue to be so rambling all the way through (and I do accept that listening again might well make more sense of the early parts). But it was a close thing ... I might not have made the effort.
Wow! I believe that the points that Frank Sopper makes are hugely important; although I might just happen to be in the right frame of mind to "get" this at the moment. The observations about GTD being useful to people who are predominantly associative (right-brained) as well as to those who are predominantly sequential (left-brained) are tremendous; and the analogy with handedness is really neat. To combine that with pointing out that we all have periods of being more strongly left or right brained is even more powerful, because it implies that we can use the same models for our stuff whichever mode we are in. This, in turn, is even more powerful still, because it implies that we can put things into the model while in one mode, and take them out while in another mode; which is what I have always believed that we do anyway.
This is so much to be said about this and it is not just about the contrasts between "sequential" and "associative", but also between "top-down" and "bottom-up", "analysis" and "synthesis", "push" and "pull", "command" and "demand" ... and so on and so on.
I am looking forward to listening to this again and again: experience shows that new points continue to emerge when listening multiple for the umpteenth time.
The only question is whether to skip the early part and, if so, how much! I probably won't skip any; and if I don't, then it will probably be the knowledge of what lies towards the end, that will keep me going. (And isn't *that* poignant?!)
Thanks, David.
