{"id":1767,"date":"2009-07-01T14:08:24","date_gmt":"2009-07-01T22:08:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gtdtimes.com\/?p=1767"},"modified":"2014-02-03T14:32:55","modified_gmt":"2014-02-03T22:32:55","slug":"is-that-a-problem-or-a-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2009\/07\/is-that-a-problem-or-a-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Is that a problem or a project?"},"content":{"rendered":"

GTD Secrets: True Confessions of a GTD Coach – Episode 4<\/strong><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

One of the things that I have seen over the years is a lot of incomplete Project Lists. And I think some of it is because we have a tendency to have a narrow view about what a project is. Years ago, David said in a seminar, \u201cHey folks, you don\u2019t have problems; you have projects.<\/strong>\u201d And one of the things that I see is people not necessarily bringing their \u201cproblems\u201d into their GTD system. It just doesn\u2019t really occur to them, and it was the same with me. When I\u2019m coaching people now, and they start sharing about their \u201cproblems\u201d, I\u2019m like, \u201cLook, it sounds like you\u2019ve got a possible project with some actions.\u201d And they\u2019re like, \u201cWow, I\u2019ve never thought about it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

I thought that I would share a personal example that really supported me in terms of making a very difficult situation into a successful outcome. Years ago, I had a situation with a family member that was very challenging and very difficult, and it got to the point where we weren\u2019t speaking. Needless to say, the family really was not happy about this, and neither were we. I was losing a lot of sleep over this. I was very stressed, and obviously it was on my mind. It never even occurred to me<\/em> to bring it into my GTD system. And so one day I realized, \u201cWow, I really think that I have a project here.\u201d And I actually decided not to make it a project at first. I actually put it on my Someday\/Maybe list because I wasn\u2019t ready to move forward on it. And every week in the weekly review, I would review it, and say, \u201cNope, not this week. I\u2019m not going to do anything about this.\u201d<\/p>\n

After doing this for about a month and a half, I decided that I was ready to turn this into a project with a successful outcome. Not a negative outcome, but a really successful outcome to resolve this relationship. I had a next action on my Home List, which was to write a letter to this person. I was procrastinating on it, and again in the weekly review, I was reviewing it and realizing that I couldn\u2019t even write the letter. I needed to talk to somebody first, and really get a clearer picture of what I wanted to say. So that got moved to my Agendas List, then I had a conversation with somebody, and it eventually got moved back to my Home List. I wrote the letter, sent the letter, and the letter went on my Waiting For List, because I was waiting to hear back from this family member. And all through this, I was no longer losing sleep over this. That was the power<\/em> of really understanding how GTD can transform the way so many of us think in terms of problems into thinking in terms of outcomes and Actions. And so eventually I heard back from this person. And about eight months later, we resolved this relationship, and I was able to check this project off as \u201cdone.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Ever since that time, the minute I start thinking, \u201cWow, I\u2019ve got a problem here,\u201d I am really quick to say, \u201cWait a minute, I don\u2019t have a problem– What\u2019s my outcome? What\u2019s my next action?\u201d And it has just transformed my life. Sometimes I look around and see people continuously thinking in terms of problems. And I just thought that I would really share this with you, because in all my coaching, when people have that concept of \u201cI\u2019m really trying to resolve this problem here.\u201d I say, \u201cOkay, let\u2019s do a paradigm shift and look at this in terms of outcomes and actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

So I hope that maybe you\u2019ll take a look at your project list and say, \u201cHave I missed identifying any open loops that are keeping me up at night or causing me stress?\u201d You can have emotional open loops, like I just shared with you. You can have physical open loops. I fell on the ice a couple of years ago, and had to go into some physical therapy for my shoulder, and that was a project. You can have mental open loops. You can have spiritual open loops. I hope this gives you some insight into creating a very robust personal and professional Project List.<\/p>\n

\n

Listen to the audio version<\/a> of Meg’s post.<\/p>\n

Learn more about Meg and her coaching work<\/a> for the David Allen Company.<\/p>\n

Check out all of the episodes in Meg’s GTD Coaching Secrets series<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GTD Secrets: True Confessions of a GTD Coach – Episode 4 One of the things that I have seen over the years is a lot of incomplete Project Lists. And I think some of it is because we have a tendency to have a narrow view about what a project is. Years ago, David said … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Is that a problem or a project?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","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":[32],"tags":[94,123,580],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIs that a problem or a project? - Getting Things Done\u00ae<\/title>\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\/2009\/07\/is-that-a-problem-or-a-project\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is that a problem or a project?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"GTD Secrets: True Confessions of a GTD Coach – Episode 4 One of the things that I have seen over the years is a lot of incomplete Project Lists. And I think some of it is because we have a tendency to have a narrow view about what a project is. Years ago, David said … Continue reading "Is that a problem or a project?"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2009\/07\/is-that-a-problem-or-a-project\/\" \/>\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=\"2009-07-01T22:08:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-02-03T22:32:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/gtdtimes\/2009\/07\/meg2.jpg\" \/>\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=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2009\/07\/is-that-a-problem-or-a-project\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2009\/07\/is-that-a-problem-or-a-project\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"GTD Times Staff\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/52d8dfa5db8d4e8792586794625c12a4\"},\"headline\":\"Is that a problem or a project?\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-07-01T22:08:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-02-03T22:32:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2009\/07\/is-that-a-problem-or-a-project\/\"},\"wordCount\":799,\"commentCount\":8,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2009\/07\/is-that-a-problem-or-a-project\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/gtdtimes\/2009\/07\/meg2.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"project planning\",\"projects\",\"podcasts\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Productivity Tips\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2009\/07\/is-that-a-problem-or-a-project\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2009\/07\/is-that-a-problem-or-a-project\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2009\/07\/is-that-a-problem-or-a-project\/\",\"name\":\"Is that a problem or a project? - Getting Things Done\u00ae\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2009\/07\/is-that-a-problem-or-a-project\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2009\/07\/is-that-a-problem-or-a-project\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/gtdtimes\/2009\/07\/meg2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-07-01T22:08:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-02-03T22:32:55+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2009\/07\/is-that-a-problem-or-a-project\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2009\/07\/is-that-a-problem-or-a-project\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2009\/07\/is-that-a-problem-or-a-project\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/gtdtimes\/2009\/07\/meg2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/gtdtimes\/2009\/07\/meg2.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2009\/07\/is-that-a-problem-or-a-project\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Is that a problem or a project?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/\",\"name\":\"Getting Things Done\u00ae\",\"description\":\"David Allen's GTD\u00ae Methodology\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Getting Things Done\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/gtd-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/gtd-logo.png\",\"width\":370,\"height\":338,\"caption\":\"Getting Things Done\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gettingthingsdone\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/gtdtimes\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/gtdtimes\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/2328651\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/52d8dfa5db8d4e8792586794625c12a4\",\"name\":\"GTD Times Staff\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7e6cca53b54e1192e3459333751eb5c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7e6cca53b54e1192e3459333751eb5c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"GTD Times Staff\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/author\/webadmin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is that a problem or a project? - Getting Things Done\u00ae","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2009\/07\/is-that-a-problem-or-a-project\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Is that a problem or a project?","og_description":"GTD Secrets: True Confessions of a GTD Coach – Episode 4 One of the things that I have seen over the years is a lot of incomplete Project Lists. And I think some of it is because we have a tendency to have a narrow view about what a project is. Years ago, David said … Continue reading \"Is that a problem or a project?\"","og_url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2009\/07\/is-that-a-problem-or-a-project\/","og_site_name":"Getting Things Done\u00ae","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gettingthingsdone\/","article_published_time":"2009-07-01T22:08:24+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-02-03T22:32:55+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/gtdtimes\/2009\/07\/meg2.jpg"}],"author":"GTD Times Staff","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@gtdtimes","twitter_site":"@gtdtimes","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"GTD Times Staff","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2009\/07\/is-that-a-problem-or-a-project\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2009\/07\/is-that-a-problem-or-a-project\/"},"author":{"name":"GTD Times Staff","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/52d8dfa5db8d4e8792586794625c12a4"},"headline":"Is that a problem or a project?","datePublished":"2009-07-01T22:08:24+00:00","dateModified":"2014-02-03T22:32:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2009\/07\/is-that-a-problem-or-a-project\/"},"wordCount":799,"commentCount":8,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2009\/07\/is-that-a-problem-or-a-project\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/gtdtimes\/2009\/07\/meg2.jpg","keywords":["project planning","projects","podcasts"],"articleSection":["Productivity Tips"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2009\/07\/is-that-a-problem-or-a-project\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2009\/07\/is-that-a-problem-or-a-project\/","url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2009\/07\/is-that-a-problem-or-a-project\/","name":"Is that a problem or a project? - Getting Things Done\u00ae","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2009\/07\/is-that-a-problem-or-a-project\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2009\/07\/is-that-a-problem-or-a-project\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/gtdtimes\/2009\/07\/meg2.jpg","datePublished":"2009-07-01T22:08:24+00:00","dateModified":"2014-02-03T22:32:55+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2009\/07\/is-that-a-problem-or-a-project\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2009\/07\/is-that-a-problem-or-a-project\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2009\/07\/is-that-a-problem-or-a-project\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/gtdtimes\/2009\/07\/meg2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/gtdtimes\/2009\/07\/meg2.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2009\/07\/is-that-a-problem-or-a-project\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Is that a problem or a project?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/","name":"Getting Things Done\u00ae","description":"David Allen's GTD\u00ae Methodology","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#organization","name":"Getting Things Done","url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/gtd-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/gtd-logo.png","width":370,"height":338,"caption":"Getting Things Done"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gettingthingsdone\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/gtdtimes","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/gtdtimes\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/2328651\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/52d8dfa5db8d4e8792586794625c12a4","name":"GTD Times Staff","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7e6cca53b54e1192e3459333751eb5c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7e6cca53b54e1192e3459333751eb5c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"GTD Times Staff"},"url":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/author\/webadmin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1767"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1767\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}