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A key aspect of making David Allen's
Getting Things Done methodology work is remembering to look at the deferred actions - Calendar entries and Next Actions - as often as necessary. (See the
Defer It box at the bottom of Allen's
workflow diagram.) Forming this habit is crucial - in order for my mind to trust the system I must keep my deferred actions up-to-date
and check them when I'm ready to do something.
Until recently I didn't have a good idea of how to trigger looking at these actions, other than trying to apply traditional habit-forming ideas
[1]. However, while reading Marilyn Paul's book
It's Hard to Make a Difference When You Can't Find Your Keys I had an insight - In the Time Management section she says to be aware of
transition time, and ask:
- Where am I?
- What did I just experience?
- What's next?
- What do I need right now to be present with this situation?
With respect to my GTD practice, I've adapted this to mean be aware of environmental changes
[2] (either mental or physical), because they often indicate changes in
context. Here are some example transitions:
- Leaving the house - Is there anything I need to take, based on where I'm going?
- Leaving the driveway - Is there anything on @Errands I can pick up?
- Entering the office - What contexts are available? @Phone? @Computer?
- Finishing an action - What's my context/time/energy/priority like? Should I activate another action from an associated project?
- Finishing a phone call - do I have time to make other calls from @Phone? (a )
And so on.
Of course the ticking of the clock is another transition (time is passing), albeit a continuous one, and requires us to be constantly vigilant of time and appointments. This is where a digital calendar can be so useful, with its ability to set alarms for meetings. (I'm a paper planner type
[3], and this feature makes me envious!)
I've found that training myself to be aware of my physical and mental transitions has allowed me to more reliably check my deferred actions, and has made GTD work more smoothly. What transitions keep
your GTD system flowing?
References[1] For advice on forming habits I like
Installing a new habit and breaking an old one.
[2] A tip of the hat to
Josh Hornick for discussing his ideas on environmental design with me.
[3] I describe my paper-based GTD implementation in
Fare thee well Hipster PDA - I barely knew ye. Also, you can find some planner tips in
Four Planner Hacks for Paper-Based Productivity.
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