{"id":16887,"date":"2018-06-27T08:30:17","date_gmt":"2018-06-27T15:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/?p=16887"},"modified":"2018-06-27T08:30:17","modified_gmt":"2018-06-27T15:30:17","slug":"starting-with-where-you-are-not-where-you-should-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/06\/starting-with-where-you-are-not-where-you-should-be\/","title":{"rendered":"Starting with where you are, not where you should be"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Question:<\/strong>\u00a0Why does Getting Things Done\u00ae focus on the \u201cweeds\u201d rather than the higher-level stuff? Why don\u2019t we start with goals and vision and then make our way to day-to-day work?<\/p>\n

David Allen:\u00a0<\/strong>I appreciate your question. The professional and personal self-help training programs consistently emphasize higher-horizon focus\u2014clarity of purpose, values, vision, goals, etc. I agree that such focus plays a critical role in finding alignment, balance, and perspective.<\/p>\n

So, what\u2019s the problem? If you\u2019re trying to get to the beautiful lake or beach and you\u2019re caught in the weeds, ignoring the weeds and their constraints will produce nothing but desperation and angst. You first need to know what weeds you\u2019re in, and how to get unhooked from them. If your boat has a serious leak, you don\u2019t care what direction it\u2019s pointed. Relatedly, you must get control of your current situation and increase your stability and mental and emotional bandwidth in order to elevate your focus on where you think you should be going.<\/p>\n

So if your day-to-day world is out of control in any way, trying to focus on the bigger picture will only produce frustration and guilt over not effectively doing what you feel you should<\/em> be doing.<\/p>\n

A unique aspect of GTD is that it starts with where you are, not where you should be. It\u2019s a misconception that GTD doesn\u2019t focus on the \u201cBig Stuff.\u201d GTD helps people address whatever has their attention right now so they can free up mental space to more clearly target what they want to focus on. If where you want to be five years from now is your focus, apply the GTD process: What\u2019s your desired outcome? What\u2019s your next action?<\/em> GTD is horizon independent. The methodology helps you get clear on next actions, whether you\u2019re clearing today\u2019s weeds or chasing tomorrow\u2019s dream.<\/p>\n

I find that people often think GTD focuses on \u201cthe weeds\u201d because that\u2019s where they are\u2014in the weeds. For example, when students in my courses write down what has their attention it\u2019s never \u201cFulfill my destiny as a human spirit on the planet.\u201d Yet from my point of view, that is the only project any of us really has. What people write down is, \u201cbuy cat food,\u201d \u201cfind new babysitter,\u201d \u201chire a marketing manager,\u201d \u201cplan summer vacation,\u201d \u201cfix the printer,\u201d etc.<\/p>\n

That said, someone once approached me during a seminar break and asked, \u201cDavid, what do I do about this?\u201d He had written down \u201cGod.\u201d Well, that is a high-level horizon of focus! Now, he was wearing a clerical collar, so it made a little more sense. (I thought, \u201cWhat a strange reversal of roles\u2014he\u2019s asking me!\u201d<\/em>) A bit uncomfortable with the man\u2019s question, I put my coaching hat on and asked, \u201cSo, what has your attention about that? Is it an inspirational affirmation, or is there something you need to decide or do about whatever that means to you?\u201d He thought for a moment, seemed to have an epiphany, and walked away inspired.<\/p>\n

The point is whatever has your attention becomes grist for the GTD mill. GTD is about doing what you need to do to appropriately engage with life. If that\u2019s higher horizon stuff, make sure you\u2019ve made that operational within the GTD process. If it\u2019s cutting weeds, GTD is the best weed cutter.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question:\u00a0Why does Getting Things Done\u00ae focus on the \u201cweeds\u201d rather than the higher-level stuff? Why don\u2019t we start with goals and vision and then make our way to day-to-day work? David Allen:\u00a0I appreciate your question. The professional and personal self-help training programs consistently emphasize higher-horizon focus\u2014clarity of purpose, values, vision, goals, etc. I agree that … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Starting with where you are, not where you should be”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16889,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,736,716,32],"tags":[22,745,69,46,100],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nStarting with where you are, not where you should be - Getting Things Done\u00ae<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"GTD helps people address whatever has their attention right now so they can free up mental space to more clearly target what they want to focus on.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/06\/starting-with-where-you-are-not-where-you-should-be\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Starting with where you are, not where you should be\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"GTD helps people address whatever has their attention right now so they can free up mental space to more clearly target what they want to focus on.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/06\/starting-with-where-you-are-not-where-you-should-be\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Getting Things Done\u00ae\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gettingthingsdone\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-06-27T15:30:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/smallgrass.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"406\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"269\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"GTD Times Staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@gtdtimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@gtdtimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"GTD Times Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/06\/starting-with-where-you-are-not-where-you-should-be\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/06\/starting-with-where-you-are-not-where-you-should-be\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"GTD Times Staff\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/52d8dfa5db8d4e8792586794625c12a4\"},\"headline\":\"Starting with where you are, not where you should be\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-06-27T15:30:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-06-27T15:30:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/06\/starting-with-where-you-are-not-where-you-should-be\/\"},\"wordCount\":585,\"commentCount\":4,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/06\/starting-with-where-you-are-not-where-you-should-be\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/smallgrass.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Getting Things Done\",\"David Allen\",\"Implementing GTD\",\"Implementation\",\"Tips and Tricks\"],\"articleSection\":[\"David Allen\",\"Educational Tools\",\"Free Resources\",\"Productivity Tips\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/06\/starting-with-where-you-are-not-where-you-should-be\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/06\/starting-with-where-you-are-not-where-you-should-be\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2018\/06\/starting-with-where-you-are-not-where-you-should-be\/\",\"name\":\"Starting with where you are, not where you should be - 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