Episode 111 of the Getting Things Done® podcast. Listen above, or read the full transcript below.
Transcript
Automatically transcribed and lightly edited. Timestamps omitted for readability.
Morten: Hi, and welcome to another episode of the Getting Things Done podcast from Vital Learning. I am Morten Dreveik, as always, and as always, I'm here with my good friend and colleague Lars Rothschild Henriksen. Privet, Lars.
Lars: Privet, Morten. Good to see you as always, and it's always good to be with our viewers and listeners out there. We always start off with the purpose of the podcast, which is to help you learn GTD or become even better GTDers. And as always, we hope that this episode supports you in that. If you are new to GTD, we always recommend you go back and find the audio versions of the first 6 episodes to get an introduction to the basics of GTD, the 5 steps. Today's episode number is number 111, 111, and today's episode is about being better at reflecting.
Morten: Exactly. And one of the things that I personally do think all people that I know, even seasoned GTDers, do too little, and that is to reflect. Reflect in the way that— think about life, the universe, and everything. Am I doing the right things now? And am I building my GTD habits as I want them to be? I think this is a worthy episode. So I think maybe we will start at Horizons of Focus, Lars. Does that— I think we both agree on that.
Lars: That would be a good place to start, I think. Yes.
Morten: Yeah. So in just to go back, just take a step back for people who are new to GTD. GTD is, well, basically it is comprised of what we call the 5 steps to achieve control and overview, which is the Capture, clarify, organize, reflect, and engage. And then we have the horizons of focus, which we call perspective, where there is a model where you can identify what's important for you and where you want to do. So, so for instance, what's your values, what's your purpose, what's your principles, why are you on the planet, and when That is established is of course important to reflect on your life and universe when you make it, but also after. So what would you say, you know, we both have this document called Horizons of Focus, and we teach people how to do that when we do coaching. After coaching, after people have established this, and we have an episode on that, so go Google that, or I'm sure when I talk, Lars will now find that episode number and tell you, uh, of how to create your own Horizons of Focus. But Lars, um, if you look at this from your perspective, um, what would you say is the challenges for people to reflect after they created the Horizons of Focus document?
Lars: Hmm, yeah, that's a good question. Um, I think that the starting point is really It depends on where you are with GTD, I would say. One of the— I'm working on an upcoming Level 3 seminar. I'm revisiting some of that material now. And one of the slides that I really appreciate so much is a slide with 6 different maps on it. And there's one where you see the entire world, and then there's one where you zoom in slightly and you see parts of the world, and you zoom in even more, and perhaps it's the US, and you zoom in even more and you get to New York State, and then you zoom in a bit more and you see the city, and you zoom in more and then you see the, the streets around Times Square, I think it is. Um, and which, which map do you need? And that, of course, the answer is it depends, right? It depends on where you are, what are you actually looking to, to see. So you bring out the different maps that you need to see when you need to see them. And that's, you know, the parallel to the horizons of focus. So what is more difficult for people? I think, you know, most people Again, it really, for me, it really depends on who we are talking about. Because for some people, it would be more easy to reflect on next actions and how do I move forward on things. And for some people, it'll be more easy to look into the, to the higher horizons. So I would say that it depends. What would you, what would you say?
Morten: No, I'm thinking that in general, people reflect too little. They are more caught in their hamster wheel and want to move forward ticking things off because at least I get a little dopamine. Even if I don't know if I'm going somewhere I don't like, at least I'm going somewhere. And when you create your Horizons of Focus document, I find that one of the things that I've been talking to people about is how often do you need to see that document? I know what I would recommend people to see, how often I would recommend them to see that document. What would you recommend your coaching clients, or what do you recommend them?
Lars: As often as you need to see them.
Morten: Yeah. Which means what?
Lars: Just to be really annoying.
Morten: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But it is, of course, the correct answer is that as often as you need to maintain direction, but as guiding principles, what do you give them? Because this is a little esoteric and maybe theoretical.
Lars: It's a really annoying answer. It's the right one, but it's really annoying. It'd be nice if there was a template. No, I think the starting point that I would say is that you will, on a daily basis, typically work with your next actions list. So, you will go and see them there. On a weekly basis, the projects list is, you know, a core part of the weekly review. I just had a coaching client this morning where we started to draft the areas of focus and accountability. On a monthly basis, revisiting that to making sure that everything is in alignment. When we go to higher horizons, every quarter, every 6 months, perhaps purpose on a yearly basis. I think that's sort of the starting point. My own twist would be that I would revisit these slightly more often, not as often as I think you might say. But every 3, 6 months, I would definitely go through the whole thing. Perhaps even every month in some cases for me, depending on how things have shifted and what do I actually feel the need for. What would you say?
Morten: No, when I go through this process of creating the documents with the client and the client then have, you know, a version 0.5 of their Resonance of Focus document and they're ready to start moving, I would say that, you know, I would recommend them to, or I will give them as homework because of course we give homework between the sessions. For practice things, and I tell them, look at it every day for 5 minutes, and you don't have to do anything. You just have to read through it, and when you're finished, you can close it if nothing talks to you that you want to change. But if you have some cognitive dissonance, that there's something on this document that is not what you would like it to be, then you have to change it. And when I've done that for, you know, quite a few weeks, I would tell them, well, when you get sick of looking at this, you're kind of like, it's enough, then I suggest you just look at it on your weekly review. And then after you've done that for some time, maybe you want to do it once a month. And then I would say every quarter, so every 3 months. But as you say, I think what David Allen would, to paraphrase him, as you have to look at it as often as you need to maintain direction. So that if something happens in your life, the more changes you have in your life, the more often you have to see this document. And yeah, so if you have change in your life, use this document. A lot of people, this is, This is where I'm getting both sad and a little irritated, maybe sometimes a little angry with my clients. I'm just like, no, but we talk about Horizons of Focus, you have to look at it. And I don't get angry with them, but it's like, if you treat your Horizons of Focus document as a place, if you don't look at it, it will be the place where your personal purpose of life, your values and principles, and your vision for life goes to die. Don't forget this.
Lars: Perhaps it would be good to clarify what you, which Horizons you put in that document, because it sounds like it's not the whole system, but it's the higher Horizons. Do you mean from Horizon 2 and up, or what would you put in there just to be clear for the people out there watching and listening?
Morten: Well, you, you, you on your, you know, I'm talking about, well, the, the, you know, the top level purpose Values and principles, then the one below, vision, and then goals, long-term goals, and then areas of responsibility. These are the ones that you don't touch in your everyday life, but you have to look at them to make sure that you are doing the right work, to make sure that you are moving in the right direction, especially if you don't have— and it is We talked about this, I'm sure, in the episode of the Horizons of Focus, how to create that document. Is that your vision for your life will be, at least the way I teach this, is statements, or in English you would call them affirmations, in the present tense about how I can see you live your purpose, principles, and values. For instance, I take care of me. That is, for instance, if that's on your purpose, values, principles, then how do I see that? Well, I take pauses every 2 hours to go outside and feel, you know, the outside. I exercise every this often, and I track my sleep to make sure I sleep well. Yeah. And this is what I wanted to tell us, because if you don't look at this, what you've decided to do is not going to happen. So if you decide a change or you identify something you would like to be different in the future, maybe not happened. So, so, so to look at the horizons, to focus, reflect on that as often as you need to maintain direction. You decided something here. Don't let this just rot and, you know, die at some point because you don't look at it or don't reflect on it. Anything to add or some other?
Lars: No, I think just, you know, things might happen if you don't look, but if you, you know, if you've defined some kind of vision or somewhere you want to go or things that are most important to you, then certainly you need to revisit that to be more confident that you're actually working towards whatever you decided that was worth working towards.
Morten: I use, when I talk about this for people, is that the Horizon to Focus document is a, it's like a map where you place a future, what I call a future anchor. That is, this is the future I want. And I, so I place the anchor in the future and I, you know, I throw it into the future and I take one chain at a time and I move towards that future. If you don't remember that you even have an anchor or don't know which chain would, you know, what piece of the chain will move in that direction, then that document is just waste of time and energy. So I don't know, does that make sense, Lars?
Lars: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And again, I think, you know, for some people, the, the value is also when you, when you define that, aligning that with whatever's going on right now, that's, that's the whole purpose of it. And I was just reflecting on this with a, with a coaching client. I don't know that it was explicit in my journey with GTD, but if I were to think back, it's very likely that there was some, vision of where I wanted to go. And there were some things happening in my current life and the steps that I was taking was not moving me towards the vision that I really wanted. Right. So that is where the big changes can happen. And that's why there's so much value in being more deliberate about establishing these and then certainly also reflecting on them as we, as we dub this episode.
Morten: Yes. Yes. And I'm just thinking that if you decide where you want your life to go, and have made that, make sure that that energy and time put into that is not put into that for waste. That's mine. And if you don't reflect, it's waste. It's like, because this is not set and forget. This is set and remind yourself, reflect on it, calibrate, change if your life changes.
Lars: And I also like that you, you know, focused on the aspect of writing it as affirmations or writing it in present tense and really trying to describe the future version that you are striving to work towards. I reflected on my own horizons of focus just as you said that, and I have been working that way as well. So it is certainly familiar to me, and I, you know, just mentally running through the ones that I've established for myself, they certainly are described as affirmations, both for myself, I know for my wife as well.. We actually have a shared one as well, how we, in quotes, work together. So that certainly goes for the personal one. Perhaps there are people out there also thinking about the, well, what about the business side of things? I don't know if you have any recommendations on that.
Morten: Exactly the same. So if, for instance, if you changed the way that you work, like, We made, as you know, a long time ago, some very simple Horizons of Focus document for the company in Norway before the rest of the Nordic companies were established. And that document has changed throughout the years a little. It's been updated. It's been— and specifically when the big change with Crucial Learning happened, where we are not only Teaching People Getting Things Done, but we have the 4 other courses as well. And when you have that kind of life, potentially life or at least business changes, you have to update the document and you have to update the way that you think about things and to make sure that you tell the people that are your stakeholders or your employees or in the company that they actually understand why are we on the planet. What's our values? Values will probably not change if you've put them, but maybe purpose will change a little. And the vision, at least the affirmations, will change if you do it for a company when the reality changes. For instance, we had nothing about online courses before COVID hit, but just after COVID hit, we had that. We had to, we had created online versions of our, you know, GTD courses. So, and a very short time after, thanks to the David Allen Company, it happened. I wouldn't say that it wouldn't happen if we didn't write it down, but we wrote it down, so that's good.
Lars: Do you have any— Yeah, just reflecting on back on the, the changes that happened with the shift in franchise, um, looking at the purpose before and after, uh, at least with the Danish company, it, it sort of stayed the same. Um, you know, it's, it's, it was always to help people live better, better lives. And, and previously it was focused on teaching them getting things done to help them live better lives. Um, and, and now there are more more tools in the toolbox to, to share with people. So it, it did change and there was certainly a vision change. But overall, I think the purpose was very, was maintained very close to the original state it was in.
Morten: I do agree with you and I don't think that it's, it never, it didn't change a lot, but it's got updated with new, new skills that we will teach people in addition to getting things.
Lars: Done.
Morten: Right. Exactly. I don't know, do you have anything else you would like to say on Horizons of Focus before we leave for the next big thing?
Lars: No, I think overall it's just, I've said this so many times, it's just so fun to play with. Please do prioritize. I think that's sort of the subtext of this episode. Take the time to work with it like you've already mentioned. And I look forward to this. I really do. Especially this summer, I have my summer review, really looking forward to that. Well, I would say one horizon that I've, you know, we've focused a bit now on purpose, principle, vision. I still have a lot of fun working with the areas of focus and accountability, horizon 2, really going through that. I see this with multiple coaching clients right now. It's such an interesting overview to get. And I always recommend you go back and find that episode on YouTube if you haven't already seen it, where we walk through the areas of focus and accountability. It's, you know, looking through that document, of course, the value in understanding what am I actually responsible for, what do I focus on, that is certainly the immediate value of it. But just, you know, looking through it with different perspectives other than just seeing, well, this is where my work comes from. So where do you spend your time? Where is the big, you know, if we were to change the size. So let's say you drew this out as a mind map and let's say we were to adjust the font size on each of those corresponding to how much time you spend in each of them. That's fun because that really gives you a different perspective, right? There's, oh, that's where all my time goes because most of us would like to get even more done or at least have, you know, things more in control, right? So where does all my time go? Or, you know, what takes up too much time? What takes up too little? What would I focus on more if I had the opportunity to do so? For some people, what generates the revenue and what actually is, and then taking time away from, from other activities that could generate revenue, or what gives you energy? Where, where, where do you actually get energy when you, when you work from work that, that resides within this area of focus? Um, there's so much fun stuff there, uh, to, to play with. So, so that's one place to go. Um, the other one that I would highlight just, just recently, um, as we, you know, we had the I Have Too Much to Do episode a few episodes back now, and, um, uh, things are more stabilized now on, on on my end, and much of that work came from reflecting, right? That's again the purpose of this episode. One was to revisit my next actions list. So really to take it all the way down to the bottom of the horizons of focus and running through that and creating some new lists and organizing them in a way that felt more accurate to me. And just one reflection on that that occurred to me when we were planning this episode was that, you know, the right lists, they help me of course work on the right things and be okay with the things that I'm not working on. But the perspective that I hadn't maybe noticed before was that this, the ability to group next actions in that way and then discard a whole group of next actions and saying no, not working on those right now. That's, you know, when, when you have one long list with 20, 50 next actions. Um, of course that's, that's a lot of work to go through and actually consider, but being able to group them in a way that feels comfortable to you and then say, right now I'm gonna work on this list, I'm not gonna work on that list. Mm-hmm. It's so much more easy for your brain to, to work with. At least that was a reflection on my end working on with this, um, readjusted system that I, that I've come up with recently. I don't know.
Morten: Does that make sense? A lot. Just to, just, it's a healing effect to clean up your lists. It feels when you make, because as David Allen says, you can only feel good about what you're not doing when you know what you're not doing. So that if you are, your things, if you have too much to do and you look at your lists and they kind of like make you nauseous, then it's a good idea to have a look through the lists and reflect on each item and ask yourself, what, I got this seriously? And apply a bullshit filter. Am I ever going to do this? Is this so important that it should worry me now? Because I'm looking at this list and the reason I'm feeling nauseous is because I've not made decisions on what those things mean to me really, or they are not in accordance with my reasons to focus. At the moment. And so if you have decided, I need to take care of me, and you're not taking care of you, then because you are overloading yourself, clean up. You know, the horizons of focus, I'm not saying that you need to do this, but at least have your areas of responsibility, as you know, in order. That makes it so much easier to see, is this inside or outside of the box that I created? Called My Horizons of Focus, where I am responsible for what. If you don't have created, if you haven't created that document yet, go do so. And share it with your boss or your spouse and say, are we in agreement with this? Is this what I really— Reflect on that, make sure that you, are in accordance to what you have, or you're working in accordance with what your areas of responsibility is, and not what you think they are, but you know what they really are. Because it is way different. I don't know if you agree with me, Lars, but I found it's when you know what you're really, what's your job, it's so much easier to relax because I know that there is not my job. This is my job. And I, as long as I feel comfortable with that and I have, you know, manageable expectations from me and others on how I will deliver on that, I can relax. I can.
Lars: Be free. It really did add another level for me. And that's also why I really wish we could, you know, give people all of that when they first start off with GTD. We start off with projects, we start off with next actions and calendar. I really wish that we could also— and then I still think it's the right way to go, but I really wish that we could also give people the areas of focus and accountability because it just added another layer of calm for me, let's put it that way. There was sort of, uh, now I see all the moving parts. I know that's where I need to do something. I have a project on that. I need to do something there. I have a next action. The other ones are good.
Morten: I'm feeling better now. Imagine that you can inoculate someone, you can give them a shot, and then they have everything they need. Well, that doesn't exist, but in coaching we can do that with our clients. You can do that on your own as well. It will take a little longer time, and maybe you will stumble into the ditches.
Lars: Of GTD.
Morten: Over time, it is possible to establish a good Horizon of Focus document that helps you navigate the direction that you would like your life to have. Yes. Are you ready to take us a little step down to the more weekly part of reflection? Because now we've done the bigger picture reflection. So we talk weekly review, I think now. So what is your take on the reflection on your weekly review, Lars?
Lars: You know, I think a weekly review sounds like a good idea.
Morten: Yeah.
Lars: No kidding. No, it's great. It's, you know, it's, it's such a necessary step and it's, we've spoken about this so many times. It's one of the habits that can be challenging to hang on to. There'll be stuff showing up that takes Maybe it needs to take priority or accidentally takes priority for you to not getting your weekly review done. Um, such a core part of, of, of making GTD work for you and that, that calm, peaceful, peaceful mind. Um, such a critical, critical part on a weekly basis and, and coming back to the talks on the higher horizon also, then, you know, bringing those into play whenever you feel the time is right for it. So, so for me on a, a monthly basis, I haven't adjusted. Version. And in that checklist, I will go through and be reminded of that. Now is also the time to check in on my goals, my vision, my purpose, and making sure that.
Morten: Everything'S aligned. I do believe that you are exactly correct. And I just want to add that— no, I just want to add that the weekly review is a It's probably what David Allen called the glue that keeps everything together of your GTD system. If you're not doing your weekly review, that is look through your calendar and your lists to make sure that you're doing the right things now and you've done the right things from the last week or two and then are doing the right things in the weeks to come to make sure that everything that needs to get ticked off gets ticked off, making sure that you plan your week so that you can achieve the goals that you have, make sure that your areas of responsibility are fulfilled, you feel comfortable with them. And the weekly review is, you know, everyone I talk to who gets this established, I could say myself included, because I didn't get it in the beginning, but I'm definitely getting it now, is that it feels good. It's just the feeling of overview and control, making sure that nothing slips for you. Everything— you haven't forgotten anything important or anything at all that you don't want to forget. And you're doing meaningful progress. In the weeks to come on the most important things makes you feel like, hmm, yeah, if you can imagine what I'm saying now is applicable to your life, would that make a change for you? If you're not doing it yet, start reflecting, start your weekly review. So, yeah, I don't know, the weekly review is once a week, but if you look at your daily review, how do you reflect on a daily basis, Lars?
Lars: Well, for me, I think that would point us back to the episode that we did a while back, which we actually got a lot of positive feedback on, which was the daily checklist. That would be my immediate starting point.
Morten: Yeah, we got a lot of good feedback in. We normally don't get that.
Lars: You alluded to it. Okay, that came out wrong then. Yeah.
Morten: No, we actually got good feedback.
Lars: But looking back at that, it, it's just been a helpful thing for me to have that checklist established, you know, orienting yourself, reflecting on the calendar, what is on there, daily things, time-specific actions. And then the questions for myself is, what do I then want to work on? Helping me reflect on whether I should attack one of my 5 inboxes or whether it's some day-specific reminders, sales system, anything on my next actions list, what would be the right thing for me to do there? That would be my starting.
Morten: Point. Yeah. I have nothing to add there, but you must create your own system and the checklists that we suggested or the daily checklist is a good one to establish and not, you know, establish good routines when you're getting things done and not to forget things. And it is, getting things done doesn't come out just like you can't be inoculated. You can't receive a shot or you don't have a way to fast transfer getting things done to you. That doesn't exist. It's just slowly, slowly, a little better every day. Talking about that, when I talk to my coaching clients, I talk about getting things done is not about perfection, but more direction. So, so, um, a little better every day. And instead of trying, because a lot of people start, you know, getting stressed with getting things done because I'm not getting it done. I struggle, I have problems. And just give yourself time. David Allen and David Allen Company says that it could take up to 2 years as some, you know, My personal take on this is that it can take a lot longer than 2 years to get where you want. It took me longer, but it is well worth the little better every day. The direction is the important thing, and take it in your own time. Just don't forget that Getting Things Done is a holistic approach to how you can handle all the expectations life throws at you, or that you throw at you, yourself, expectation of what you want to get done. And it is a way to, it's a way of life, somewhat, at least it's part of your, it should be part of what is called MO, the way that you handle things. And that takes time. Just give yourself time. That's something. That's something I've reflected on. And I don't know if you think we can then shift gear a little. Are we ready for the way I handle it with my coaching clients?
Lars: I have some— Yeah, I was just going to say, we want to throw that in there as a good tip.
Morten: So absolutely. Yeah. The way that I handle this with with my coaching clients is that when we do virtual coaching, which we do, I do a lot, I ask them to, at the end of the, we have 8 1-hour sessions virtually, and then we have 2 follow-up sessions. That's part of the package. And after we finish with the 8, I'm asking them at the end, okay, to make sure that you are not losing momentum, I would suggest to you that we have an accountability partner relationship from now on until we finished, finished. One year from now, I will follow you up if you want as an accountability partner for your learning. And on this journey of becoming an accountability partner, I ask them, what is your Achilles heel in your Getting Things Done system? Where do you feel that I have the best growth potential? And we identify that. I sometimes have some suggestions because I know what they are struggling with. Like, let's say that you are not good at clarifying and organizing your next action. You need to practice that more. That could be part of your follow-up accountability system. Maybe you want to do a weekly review on a more consistent basis and not let everybody steal that time. Maybe you want to delegate better. Maybe you want to say no more. And then we create questions to you. Or together we will create them, and you will have a weekly email from me automatically where it contains the KPIs we've been agreeing on. And the idea there is that you should not be, you know, don't go short form, go reflection form. So for instance, I didn't do my weekly review, Or one of the questions could be, did I do my weekly review this week? What is the score I will give myself from 1 to 10? And how do I feel about that? So if you feel I didn't do it, I did a crisis intervention weekly review in 20 minutes, and it's a 3 on a scale to 10, and I feel not good, and that feeling not good is if you reflect on that and then ask yourself, how can I do it better the next week? That reflection helps a lot for people. I don't know if that makes sense to you.
Lars: Absolutely. Yeah. No, and it's good to have these reflecting questions to stay focused on what you really want.
Morten: Reflecting again. Yeah. And the way that we do this, that we establish, you will receive the email on Mondays or whichever day you want, and you will report back to me within this hour. And if I don't get your email, I will send what I call an ahem. I think it's ahem…, which means like, okay, are we doing this now? What's happening? And that is my part as their accountability partner. Is that I promised them that I will send that "ahem" message if I don't receive the report on time, just to, you know, kind of like the teacher is still with me, I have to deliver on my homework. And if you then write back and you give good reflections, I will tell you, I will give my comments on that just shortly. It will take me 3 2-3 minutes to write. It's within the 2-minute rule, at least in my brain. And I will reflect on what you wrote and I will give you some thumbs up if you're doing the right things. And if you're not, I'm going to point that out. Maybe you need to get better at this because it helps. It helps you reflect faster and better. And I think that is one of the things that helps my coaching clients to do a better job. Learning, getting things done, is helping themselves, not for me, but for them.
Lars: Of course.
Morten: This is, um, I'm just trying to give them the skills so that they can change their life, and my job is to, you know, point them in the right direction and help them get there. As a coach, your job is to play them, help them play better, play faster, play whatever they want. Um, yeah. Any reflections on my.
Lars: Reflections, Lawrence? No, I, I recognize, and I think as we also spoke about in the pre-show, that, you know, so one way that how, how people could apply this for themselves, and I'm just reflecting on my own weekly review checklist where I have questions like this. Um, I could, reflecting on your reflections, uh, perhaps do a better job even and, and elaborate a bit more on those questions for myself that I then go through because Currently, I do have questions like that. I have them more, let's say, habit-focused, as these are habits that I'm trying to establish. So these are things that I'm reminded about on a weekly basis. How did it go with X, Y, and Z? And that's perhaps where I could put something like, something like that. Would that, would that work on a personal level as well, you think?
Morten: Yeah, I think, I think what it is, it, it demands a little more of you, but yes, of course. But if you are— the reason I'm saying with a little hesitance, yes, is because if you are learning Getting Things Done and you have a lot of wind, and with wind I mean that there's a lot of things happening in your world that pulls you away from your GTD habits, and you acknowledge that, maybe you should have an external accountability partner. But if you are, you don't feel that that is necessary or you don't have one, then maybe you can be your own accountability partner and just say that as part of your checklist, for instance, in your weekly review, write down where you understand your, what, you know, Achilles heel with getting things done is, you know, I don't clarify good enough or I don't do a good enough weekly review. And then, and then just what can I do next week to make that a better week than this one? How can I get a little better, both at reflecting and doing GTD better?
Lars: So, no, and I completely agree. And with having that accountability partner or GTD buddy or whatever we want to call it, we know that especially also from the Danish GTD community that this has provided so much value for for some people there. We just spoke about it also with regards to the GTD Summer Camp, where we also always try to match people up and help people find a good GTD buddy that they can reflect with, because that's certainly another level of accountability and really helps.
Morten: Absolutely. It does. And yeah, and if you don't have— come to the GTD Summer Camp if you want to have a GTD buddy, an accountability partner, maybe you will find yours there. And I do hear about this from people. I'm not saying that, you know, we've been mentioning in the bonus episode about the GTD, and now it's the GTD Connect. That's the word, the GTDConnect.com, where you can sign up and be part of that forum. I'm sure if you post something there, just become the freebie, 2 weeks free. I think they have a trial for this and just post, I need a GTD accountability partner. If you don't want to pay the price for the GTD Connect, I understand that people, if you don't want to do that investment, but you can do that just to find yourself a GTD buddy or a partner that you can be accountable for learning, getting things done together. You keep each other accountable. So if you feel you want and need that, but reflecting better and more and more often is probably what I would suggest because We run around in our busy lives, and many of the people I meet, they don't know what they're doing. They're just doing. And they understand that maybe life is more than just doing, and we suggest that it is. And if you reflect more and better, you will get more direction, and direction is good.
Lars: Okay.
Morten: I think we are at the end, Lars. It sounds like this.
Lars: Again, I just wanted to leave people with a few reflecting statements that we, I think, shared in the DTD competency assessment. We shared that some episodes back, PDF with some different statements there. I think those could be helpful for people to also reflect more. A few of those, just wanted to list them now, just as we wrap up, perhaps. Perhaps they can be helpful in, in their own reflections.
Morten: Okay. So grab the pen and paper and.
Lars: Get ready for the list. Exactly. The first one is I review my areas of focus as needed to stay current with projects and next actions. And of course you could rewrite all of these with question marks in mind. Another one could be I review my higher horizons of focus as appropriate to stay aligned with my priorities. I think that one is very much in line with what we have spoken about already in this episode. The next one is, I quickly turn problems and opportunities into projects and next actions. That one was really key for me, at least when I first came across it, and really helps you feel more comfortable, I think, facing the, navigating the changes that always show up in life. Fourth one is, I am comfortable and confident in my ability to execute on any outcome I undertake. Also a good one to reflect on. I am comfortable and confident in my ability to navigate change. Also reflecting back to what I just mentioned. And, uh, the last two, I have the room and clarity to focus on what is most meaningful to me. And last one, my day-to-day work is.
Morten: Aligned with my higher horizons. Indeed. Indeed. And reflecting on these questions. Yeah, it is. Exactly. And the idea with getting things done is also, as I think it was Todd Brown in UK, who at least I heard it from him. How can I make my future better than today? How can I create good next actions so that my life is better? How can I plan better so that the future me will be more a happy person? If you don't take yourself the time to think about this, you will not. If you don't find yourself to be happy, you will not be happy. Because you need to change the things around you and change you. Reflecting helps. Okay, Lars, take us.
Lars: Out, please. And that is code word for me saying gtdsummercamp.com. So Getting Things Done Summer Camp 2024, June 15th to 16th in Denmark again. We have just a few seats left, less than 10 now, I think seats are available. So if you thought about coming, be sure to go in and book your seat now. We have people coming from all over the world. Starting now to, to reach out and people will start to now coordinate how we all get there together. So it's very much a community around that and we're all helping each other get there and really looking forward to a fun and interesting weekend with the nicest people in the world. So Morten will be there. I will be there. Really looking forward to it and hope to see you there. Looking forward to seeing those of you who have already signed up. Yeah, indeed. And the other place to go, vitallearning.eu. That is where you'll find information about all of the different offerings that we have, all the stuff we're working on, getting things done, Crucial Conversations, the different courses we teach, the speeches we give, coaching we do, uh, all of that you'll find on vitallearning.eu. You'll find links to each of the country websites and how to reach representatives of each of the Nordics+ countries that the Vital Learning Group cover. So be sure to head on over there as well if you're in the Nordics Plus. And if you are outside the Nordics, cruciallearning.com is the place to go to.
Morten: Find your local partner. And gtdefocus.com if you want, uh, in the Americas and Canada, uh, wanting to have a coach. gtdefocus.com for coaches. Does that make sense? I think so. I think so too. Okay. It is now time for me to say, as I always do at the end of every episode, until next time, stay safe and stay productive.
Lars: Bye-bye. Bye everyone.
