"Control without perspective is micromanagement, and perspective without control is crazy-making." ~ David Allen
Getting organized is relatively simple. Many believe that it is only a matter of choosing a good task management application and start to put things there. But then you have to maintain that organization. Most of these people jump from one application to another every time they start to lose control, believing they will find a tool that will provide them the balance their life needs. Good luck with it.
No matter how organized you think you are, at one time or another you will have the feeling that you have lost control or have lost direction, or both. It happens to everyone from time to time. This can occur with your entire life, but also with a particular project or one of your areas of responsibility: your career, your family, your friends or your happiness.
You will feel that, somehow, you have got some distance from your personal organization system and do not have completely clear what you should be doing. You need to engage again. You need to be the one who drives your life, instead of being at the mercy of the situations that occur.
We often expect that crises get resolved by themselves. But this is not going to happen, as you should know if you are aware of the global economic and political situation in recent years. You are not going back to keep things clear and under control unless you want. You are not going back to be your own boss unless you decide and plan the set of actions that will return you to your path.
The first step is to recognize that things are not working as they should. Check if you have any of these signs of being losing control:
- You tend to repeat yourself often phrases like “I’ll do it tomorrow”, “I can finish it the next week”, etc.
- You do not feel motivated.
- You do not have the willpower to tackle many of your tasks.
- You are not able to focus on what you have to do at all times.
- You feel stressed.
- You do not feel creative.
- You know you could better manage your projects.
- You know you can do more.
And the second step is to try to reverse the situation. For this you need two things: get organized and get focused. No matter in what order you do, but you must regain control and perspective. You can gather all your things first and then decide their importance in your life, or you can define your scale of priorities first and then get organized accordingly.
Being organized is only part of the solution. Also, you have to get control over your daily activity and set clear goals on the horizon. Control and perspective are two different aspects of the same equation, the one without the other does not make any sense. GTD is the only method that is based on these two factors to make it all work.
Related article: 8 Tips to Implement GTD
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