Month: August 2021

Reflections on GTD

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Preparing for the Live session I hosted recently about GTD, it was fascinating for me to remember the first time I got in touch with Getting Things Done methodology, when I downloaded the audiobook online and listened to it on the mp3 USB player in my car.

It made so much sense to me that our brains are not meant for storage or to be offices. Our brains are meant for solving problems and for coming up with new ideas. In this interview, David Allen said that GTD does not help you create more time. It simply allows for more space in your brain to come up with creative solutions. We can’t do that when all the to-do lists are rattling in our head.

GTD also helps us be more present, because whenever we remember something we need to do, we simply write it down instantly, or feel assured that we already had captured it in the appropriate tool. It allows us to focus for longer periods of time, knowing that we are working on the right projects. It’s about building an external brain that we can trust to carry us forward towards our goals.

David Allen says, “You are not doing GTD if you are not doing your weekly reviews“. Which, I am happy to report, I have been religiously committed to since 2018.

There is still a room for a lot of improvement in the way I work and stay engaged with my notes and to-do lists. Doing this Live, however, got me more excited to work on my systems and making them work for me.

Reflections on GTD

Keep the spotlight shining on them

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I notice myself flourishing in the presence of some people. I make my best jokes, I feel light, I feel at ease, I feel understood, I feel at my best. I can count the number of those people on my hands. They are rare.

The question is, how can I be like this for others?

I remember an exercise we did a few years a go with a mentor where we were requested to practice listening more to the people in our lives. Whenever they struck up a conversation. We needed to listen attentively, hold back from switching the subject, and notice our urge to interrupt and talk about ourselves. If it’s the right time and place, we also needed to offer the space for them to continue their thought process, with as little probing as possible, until they figure out what they needed to do next all by themselves.

Being very similar to the exercise I mentioned in this post, it was such a hard experience to implement.

Try it and see firsthand the insights that will reveal themselves to you. Simply witnessing the urge to take the microphone and be under the spotlight is something totally worth catching.

If you get asked, answer shortly and then kick the ball back into their court. Make them the guru not you. Wonder what they could teach you. Listen with the purpose of learning something new about them and their worldview and maybe a useful fact or two. Be open and curious. Trust me, they will feel it and open up to you. They will feel you not rushing them so you’d take your turn to speak. For example, If my conversation partner tells me they are starting to wake up early and share their routine, I need to resist the urge to tell them I’ve been doing that since 2016 and have a whole thing around this habit.

It’s been a while since I practiced this, so it’s time I activated my listening muscle again. I think it grew weaker lately. Join me and let me know how it goes with you.

Keep the spotlight shining on them.

Keep the spotlight shining on them

The more you create the more ideas you get

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Although I expected it, taking a break from writing daily here last month did not leave me with so much to say that I couldn’t wait to get back to tell you about it.

Sure, I jotted some ideas here and there, but not the volume you’d think someone on a break would have. Once I ended my break by creating my first Instagram post last week, I started getting ideas on what’s next and how to build on what I shared. It was amazing to feel the creative juice flowing in my veins again. You know the one?

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The more you create the more ideas you get

This happens once this year.

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If you are on my social media, you would already know how excited I am about today. I got so excited that I sent a voice note to my favorite local Arabic radio station. Listen here.

It is the only Sunday in 2021 that also happens to be the beginning of a new month. This is very thrilling news for us humans according to studies. We love to start something on special days. It feels good to commit at the beginning of a new week, also the start of a new month, but when they coincide? The mix is magical, or it just me?

Continue reading “This happens once this year.” →
This happens once this year.