Chapter 1 – A Practice for a New Reality ~Introduction

You already know how to do what is necessary to achieve the 'high-performance' state. However, you need to apply these skills in a more timely, complete, and system way so you can get on top.

The methods that will be presented are based on two key objectives:

• Capturing all the things that need to get done-now, later, someday, big, little, or in-between-into a logical and trusted system outside of your head and off your mind
• Disciplining yourself to make front-end decision about all the "inputs" you let into your life so that you will always have a plan for "next actions" that you can implement or renegotiate at any moment

The problem people have these days is that there are new demands, and insufficient resources. People say they have so much to do and not enough time.

"Anxiety is caused by lack of control, organization, preparation, and action"

- David Kekich

"I consider ‘work’ in its most universal sense, as meaning anything that you want or need to be different than it currently is. Many people make a distinction between ‘work’ and ‘personal life’, but I don't: to me, weeding the garden or updating my will is just as much ‘work’ as writing this book or coaching a client. All the methods and techniques in this book are applicable across that life/work spectrum-to be effective, they need to be."

- Dave Allen

 

Work No Longer Has Clear Boundaries

In the old days work was self evident. What was needed to be done was obvious, and it was clear when the work was finished and not finished. Now a day’s people are doing so many different things at once. As a result even if we tried we would never be able to finish it with perfection. Many of today's organizational outcomes require cross-decisional communication, cooperation, and engagement.

"Time is the quality of nature that keeps event from happening all at once. Lately it doesn't seem to be working"
- Anonymous

"Almost every project could be done better, and an infinite quantity of information is no available that could make that happen."
- Dave Allen

Our Jobs Keep Changing

"We can never really be prepared for that which is wholly new. We have to adjust ourselves, and every radical adjustment is a crisis in self-esteem we under go a test, we have to prove ourselves. It needs subordinate self-confidence to face drastic change without inner trembling."
- Eric Hoffer

"The hurrier I go, the behinder i get."
- Anonymous

The Old Models and Habits Are Insufficient

The traditional approaches to time management and personal organization were useful in the 'Old days'. Today time itself is a work factor. Personal calendar are the key work tool.

"The wubds abd waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.”
- Edward Gibbon

The "Big Picture" vs. the Nitty-Gritty

In order for people to deal with modern time has championed the "bigger view" as the solution. Clarifying major goals and values, so the thinking goes, gives order, meaning, and direction to the work. However in practice thinking about that too much often doesn't achieve its desired results. The reasons for that are:

• ·         There is to much distraction at the day to day, hour to hour level to allow for that much focus on the higher levels
• ·         Ineffective personal and organizational systems create huge subconscious resistance to undertaking even bigger projects and goals that will likely not be managed well, in turn will cause more distraction and stress.
• ·         When the levels are clarified it raises the bar of our standards, making us notice that much more that needs changing.

"Focusing on values does not simplify your life. It gives meaning and direction- and a lot more complexity"
- Dave Allen

The "Mind Like Water" Simile

You have the freedom to choose what you want to do, but then you also have the responsibility to find out how to do it. In Karate there is a concept of total and perfect readiness known as 'Mind like Water'. If a pebble is thrown into a still pond the water responds 'appropriately to the force and mass of the input'. Meaning the water doesn’t over react or under react. If you over react or under react to thing interrupting you 'to do list' then you will get less effective results. Many people give more or less attention to stuff than it deserves. You need to have a MIND LIKE WATER

"Life is denied by lack of attention, whether it be cleaning windows or trying to write a masterpiece."
- Nadia Boulanger

"Your ability to generate power is directly proportional to your ability to relax"
- Dave Allen

"If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything. It is open to everything"
- Shunryu Suziki

"Anything that causes you to overreact or under react can control you, and often does"
- Dave Allen

The Principle: Dealing Effectively with Internal Commitments

Most of the stress people experience comes from inappropriately managed commitment they make or accept. People many times have things on their mind, usually things that are 'incomplete'. These are known as 'open loops'.

In order to deal with it effectively you must first identify and collect all those things that re "ringing your bell" in someway, and then plan how to handle them.

"Any thing that does not belong where it is, the way it is, is an "open loop" pulling on you attention."
- Dave Allen

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