Tag: “Focus”

One of the most common mistakes when implementing GTD, not only at the beginning but also after having practiced the method for a long time, is the tendency to mix the stages of collecting and processing (or capturing and clarifying, as David Allen call them in his recent review and update of the GTD book.)

Throughout the day a multitude of thoughts arrive in your head: ideas, things you’d like to do, people with whom you’d like to be, something you’d like to tell someone, something you should buy, something or someone that you would like to know…

All of us procrastinate occasionally. Most times it is simply to delay a few minutes or a few hours on something we must do (“come on, 10 minutes more on Twitter and then I’ll get with it”, “This afternoon I’ll call him, now I do not feel like it”.) Other times it is more serious, because our unwillingness to undertake that task affects other people and generates problems.

Capturing is the first phase you need to carry out to take control of your world. In the GTD terminology (Getting Things Done) it is called also collecting and basically involves identifying what already has your attention—what is potentially relevant in your current reality.

There are two reasons why you have all those things in your head. Some worrying and bothering you, and others getting you excited or amused, but all taking up space in your life. Or you have decided to consciously think about them, or things are just stealing your attention, without asking. In any case, the first step to good self-management, is to try to put all those things in place.