We wanted to share this amazing letter from Kevin, who recently attended a GTD Mastering Workflow class. He describes what he did after the class, including a wonderful experience of connecting with his daughter. For those of you feeling like you’re in “always on” mode in your work and personal life, Kevin’s story may be inspiring to you to see what’s possible…
It was great to see spend the day learning how to take the GTD process from 50% to 100%. I was so energized by the training that I did not go to bed Friday night and let me tell you what has happened in a short amount of time:
- Went on GTD Connect and reviewed the process once again from start to finish
- Revised my Outlook to reflect the GTD way
- Kept my inbox at zero
- Did a mindsweep
- Created an in folder for my wife for her to do a mindsweep as well and place in the folder
- Saturday went to Staples and bought everything I needed to create the “bins” which I viewed on the GTD Slice of Life (on GTDConnect.com) to see how people set up their desks as well.
- Collected everything on top, below, in drawers and around my desk and have processed to about 50% with target of getting in to zero today.
Let me tell you the impact this has made already. I went to my daughters soccer game on Sunday and actually watched her. I silenced the emails on the BlackBerry as I trusted and knew I would get to zero first thing Monday so nothing was more important. She had the best game of the season. Her coach commented that he wanted to know what I fed her for lunch.
After leaving the match I asked my daughter why she played so well. Her response brought me to tears yesterday as it is now. She said “Dad, this was the first time you were watching my game and not paying more attention to your BlackBerry.” This from a 10 year old. It shows that GTD is more than just a system, it is a program that allows us to experience life at such a deeper level than I could have imagined prior to Friday.
I can’t thank you and David Allen enough on this program. I am convinced that David should receive a Nobel Peace Prize for this. I will continue to strive for mind like water as I move forward.
-Kevin
If you have a story you’d like to share with us, please send it along to [email protected].
Now that is some cool feedback!
This is enough motivation for those with children to really practice GTD 🙂
Thanks for sharing
Whoah – powerful. Thanks for sharing this. It’s a call to action for all of us with kids.
Very inspiring and motivating story to start with gtd!
good feedback, but unfortunate that someone has to go on a course to figure out that spending time with his kids might be more beneficial than constantly checking his mail…
Great letter…
It’s not simply about going on a course, it’s about giving yourself the opportunity to step back and review what and how you do things…
Great inspiration for us all…
I agree that this is a great letter for reminding us to think about what is most important in our lives. This reminded me of one way GTD helps me via the Horizons of Focus. Every so often, during my Weekly Review, I will look through my 20K Areas of Responsibility up to my 50K Core Values/Purpose and pay attention / take heed to things like “being a loving husband” and “nurturing father”. And I will deliberately capture a next action or project to give full attention to my son or wife when they want to share with me the events of their busy day even when I am tired. Or to plan a simple family event this weekend like a trip to the park that gets us to spend quality time with each other. GTD helps me give myself gentle reminders to work on these positive habits.
David,
Let me tell you this… I almost ran into tears after meeting your methodology. I feel like I am really living now.
You are a god-send.
Thanks a lot!
Roy