Engaging: Making the Best Action

How do you decide what to do at any give point?

Simple answer is trust your heart. Or your spirit. Or if you’re allergic to those kinds of words try these: your gut, the seat of your pants, your liver, your intuition— whatever works for you.

For most part If you’ve really maintained a system, than your mind shall already be able to decide what to do next, just by looking at the calendar and actions list.

But Just to help you out, David presents you with the beautiful palette of three frameworks

• The four Criteria Model fro choosing actions in the moment
• The threefold model for evaluating daily work
• The six-level model for reviewing your own work.

The Four-Criteria Model for Choosing Actions in the Moment

You can make your action choices based on the following for criteria -

1. Context
2. Time Available
3. Energy Available
4. Priority

The threefold model for evaluating daily work

At any given point you’ll be engaged in one of these three types of activity

1. Doing Predefined Work
2. Doing work as it shows up
3. Defining your work.

Many People let themselves get sucked into the second activity — dealing with unplanned and unexpected things that show up — much too easily and let the other two slide to their detriment.

The constant sacrifices of not doing the work you have defined on you list can be tolerated only if you know what you’re not doing.

When the in-tray and the action lists get ignore for too long, random things lying in them tend to surface as emergencies later on, adding more unexpected work as-it-shows-up to fuel the fire.

The Moment-To-Moment Balancing Act

At a master level, you can shift like lightning from one foot to the other and back again. While you’re processing your in-tray for example, your assistant enters to tell you about a situation that needs immediate attention. No-sweat everything is in a clean system and they won’t vanish, so you can divert your attention for time being.

The six-level model for reviewing your own work

1. Horizon 5: Purpose and principles
2. Horizon 4: Vision
3. Horizon 3: Goals
4. Horizon 2: Ares of focus and accountabilities
5. Horizon 1: Current Projects
6. Ground : Current actions.

Each of these levels should enhance and align with the ones above it.

If the Phone call you’re supposed to make clashes with your life purposes or values, to be in sync with yourself you won’t make it.

You have to manage all the level in s a balanced fashion

Working from Top-Down

If you spend your time prioritizing your work and then later discover that it’s not the work you think you ought to be doing, you may have wasted time and energy that could have been better spend defining the next job you really want.

but trying to manage yourself from the top down creates frustration, From pracital perspective, David suggest going from the bottom up instead.

Working from Bottom-Up

It clears your inner decks to begin with, allowing your creative attention to focus on the more meaningful and elusive visions.

Usually the most important thing to deal with is whatever is mot on your mind.

Once you handle what has your attention, it frees you up to notice what really has your attention.

so for,

Groun

First thing to do is make sure your action lists are complete, which in itself can be quite a task.

Horizon 1

Finalize your Projects list. Does it truly capture all the commitment. It helps you discover next actions

Horizon 2

This is the level of “Current Job Responsibilities” and ares of my life to maintain at an appropriate standard.” David Suggest that you make and keep a list called “Areas of Focus”, it’s purpose will be to ensure that all your projects and next actions are defined.

Horizon 3-5

These are the horizons that factors about the future and your direction and intentions.

“Pick Battles big enough to matter, small enough to win” — Jonathan Kozol.

Questions to ask at these levels will be

• What are the longer-term goals and objectives in my organization.
• What are the longer-term goals and objectives have I set for myself and what projects do I need to have in place to make them happen?
• What other significant things are happening that could affect my options about what I’m doing?

That’s it You now have a clear mind and know what to do. The next step is to actually do the deed.

But we Still have some stuff to learn about our projects, we have our projects setup but how are we going to plan there advancement, so in the coming parts you’ll learn about how to get projects under control and then about the benefits of GTD.