Episode #66: David Allen with a Two-minute Tip—The Capture Step of GTD

 

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Podcast Transcript

Two-minute Tips for Turbulent Times with David Allen
The Capture Step of GTD®

If you’re familiar with the Getting Things Done model and methodology is the primary step to start with, that is, to get your head empty of anything that has your attention. And in turbulent times, it’s very probable that you’ve got a whole lot of stuff that has emerged, that has your attention.

Interestingly there’s an inverse relationship between, on your mind, and getting done. So the things that have your attention mean they’re probably not on cruise control. There’s some decision about them you need to make and some sort of organization of the results of that, in a reminder system.

But the first step is just to get it out of your head. So if you haven’t done one lately, and especially if things are changing and you’ve got surprises and things that you’re dealing with, newly so. Then it’s a real good idea to get those out of your head.

So, pen and paper, you can’t beat it And I suggest, that you first of all have an in basket or in tray or something that serves that function, and actually get a stack of paper, it doesn’t matter what size, but each one of those things that’s on your mind, write it on a separate piece of paper, and throw it in your in basket. That could be everything from, we need pet food, we need to rethink how we’re managing the kids in their school we need to, oh just anything. It could be health stuff, it could be old business that’s surfaced now that you need to deal with. It could be things that need to be changed and rearranged on your schedule. It could be any number of things.

So I highly recommend you give yourself a few minutes maybe half an hour or so, and just unload. That’s a first step. It doesn’t handle all of those things but it does allow you to get a lot more objective about them and it makes it a lot easier to get on top of them. Once you take a look at them, step back, kind of from a higher perspective and see what all those things are, and of course, then tackling them with, what’s the next action, on any of those that you’re going to move on.