Do you ever feel like no matter how well you plan your day, you never seem to finish all of your scheduled tasks, including all the blogging you wanted to do? I know I do! There is an answer! …it’s “GTD” (Getting Things Done), a time management, or more appropriately, life management methodology developed by best-selling author David Allen. This methodology is outlined in great detail in one of my favorite books, Getting Things Done.
Recently I had the distinct pleasure of sitting down for a fascinating discussion with David Allen; that discussion is available for download as an MP3, or just hit the Play button below:
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I’m a big fan of David’s, having attended one of his workshops in Chicago last year. I’ve written before about how GTD works, but this interview goes into some of the areas I struggle with the most. David gave me some excellent answers on how to…
- eliminate time-stealing distractions,
- how avoidance affects success,
- how crisis negatively impacts your ability to think intelligently,
- how sometimes waiting until the last minute is the best way to get things done,
- the importance of emptying your email inbox,
- the usefulness of virtual assistants,
- and how the biggest barrier to self-expression and self-actualization is our own selves.
“You can’t manage time,” David said. “You actually only manage what you do during time. So the management issue is not so much about time, it’s more about how you manage your focus, how you manage your actions and your activities in terms of what you do. That’s one of the problems with that whole field of time management — they mislabel the problem. Because they label the problem as time, everyone thinks that the calendar is going to be your solution, and it isn’t.”
In a deadline-driven, time-sensitive, stress-filled world, having the right strategies to deal with your blogging and all your other responsibilities is essential to avoiding burnout and remaining permanently productive. With some elements of your professional life, David’s advice is simple to apply, such as merely paying attention to what has your attention. With other things, you may find yourself facing off against tightly-held, self-destructive habits and behaviors that will prove difficult to disown.
Thanks for such a compelling post. As a fellow blogger, I always enjoy reading useful tips on improving my blog. This post provided several useful tips for my professional life and my blog. It is amazing how it takes hearing things from someone else to motivate us into doing things that we know must be done.
I enjoy reading your blog. Keep up the excellent posts and great interviews.
Juliet
Comment by Juliet Sallette — April 11, 2008 @ 6:07 am
I’m so glad you mentioned virtual assistants. I am a VA and one of the things I stress to my clients is when you are freed from administrative tasks, you can do what you do best and not be mired in daily tasks that hold you back.
One really great product for those of you thinking of hiring a VA is http://tinyurl.com/26fbn8
Comment by Christine Buffaloe — April 11, 2008 @ 8:33 am
Thanks for sharing the information.
Comment by joshua — April 11, 2008 @ 10:12 am
For me the best time to do creative writing (blogging) is early in the morning – or for me shortly after coffee!
I’ve written 11 books and nearly all of them were primarily written before anyone else in the house was awake.
Comment by Internet Marketing Consultant — April 16, 2008 @ 3:51 am
Hello Stephan – Great advice for bloggers to follow David’s GTD methodology. I’m a professional organizer who often focuses on productivity with my business clients. They love using David’s ideas. When I find myself overloaded, I use his 2 minute rule to knock out numerous small tasks without distraction. I highly recommend his book.
Comment by Scott Roewer — May 1, 2008 @ 10:11 pm
Stephan, thanks for the great advice! If you’re a fan of David Allen, you probably want to check out Nathan Bowers adaptation of Jerome Ruston’s Tiddly Wikis to create GTDTiddlyWiki Pluas at http://www.checkettsweb.com/tw/gtd_tiddlywiki.htm. Have fun Getting Things Done with tiddly wikis!
Comment by WikiBlogger — May 12, 2008 @ 9:23 pm
Great post. What I try to do is write several blog posts ahead of time. When I do write, I like to do at least 2-3 posts in one sitting.
Comment by Sharon Wilson — April 13, 2009 @ 7:12 am
Thanks for this, one of the things that I am curious about is this whole pzaz about using blogs for SEO rankink, how does that work and should I consider this, thanks, Peter
Comment by Peter Lawless — September 10, 2009 @ 2:02 pm