Notes from the David Allen and Tony Schwartz webinar, "Creating Energy, Space & Time - designing a life that really works"

Today I virtually attended a webinar offered by David Allen and Tony Schwartz titled "Creating Energy, Space & Time - designing a life that really works." It was quite good and got to a lot of the things I am personally working on - being more honest with my commitments, optimizing my work when I'm working on it, and really feeling like I'm doing the thing I am supposed to be doing at any given moment.
As usual, I took some furious notes and I wanted to share that work with you all. Do let me know if you have questions. I highly, highly, highly recommend David's book below, and plan to read Tony's soon.

Speakers: David Allen and Tony Schwartz (The Energy Project)

Getting Things Done - David Allen

American Society of Training and Development Conference - might be worth looking into this

Three big ideas:

1. you have an operating system, too

DA
  • you don't need to work harder
  • you need to change how you are working
  • inverse relationship between the amount something is on your mind vs the amount of work you have done on it
  • To deal with something on your mind:
    • start with "What is the outcome?"
      • you need to clarify the meaning of the item
      • what is the project there?
      • what are we trying to accomplish?
      • what has to happen for you to mark the project complete?
    • Then, What is the next action?
      • what is literally the next thing you need to do to move this along
    • Then, Where do these go?
      • how are you keeping track of your next actions
  • most people are making decisions out of crisis
  • much different when making informed decisions at the right time and place
  • practiced a brain dump: what is on your mind? - take 30 seconds and list all of the things that are occupying your mind

2. maximizing is not optimizing

TS
  • more and more isn't sustainable
  • we need to optimize our experience
  • How well are you managing your energy (capacity to do work)?
    • how much fuel do you have in your tank?
    • we don't focus on how you are taking care of yourself
    • Tony has developed an energy audit (see attached photo)
    • determine what score relates to what level of energy quantity
    • we're not designed to run like computers, on high all of the time, multitasking, assuming more value that you are creating/contributing - that is nonsense
    • renewal and recovery are critical components of high performance
    • optimizing means getting the most out of what you do
    • you need to renew energy so you can bring everything you have to the table
    • GTD says people using their psyche rather than their system is what drains energy from your tank

3. willpower is highly overrated

  • we vastly overestimate abilities of our conscious mind
  • will and discipline burn down quickly, and we only have one reservoir
  • we can't just waive our fists and say we are going to do it!
  • you actually have to land the change process in the reptilian mind, into the habitual part of the brain
  • you should not have to think about it
  • a habit (something you fall into it) vs a ritual (work over and over until you don't have to think about it)
  • you can create rituals if you understand the simple technology of building a ritual
  • you only have a certain equity of will - you will draw that down each time you resist or avoid something
  • why you are so wasted at the end of the day when you avoid making decisions about next actions
So what?
  • TS: You can't change what you don't notice
    • we have to start noticing the way our operating system works if we want to being to optimize it
  • DA: there is a systematic way to clear your mind
    • most people think their life is all the stuff in your head
    • there is a way to get to a clear mind - mind like water
    • it is the best mindstate to use when dealing with anything
    • there is a way to work your way there
  • TS: You are designed to make waves
    • false: the optimal behavior is the continual behavior
    • we are designed to spend energy and renew energy, not just spend all of the time
    • you will not be more productive that way
  • DA: the power of reflection
    • managing the forest instead of hugging the trees
    • we have to unhook from the weeds and step back
    • a weekly review is key
    • psychic space is essential
    • you have to get rid of distractions to the space
    • you have to build in the triggers and tricks to make sure you think about the right things when you need to think about
  • TS: what sticks is what you make automatic
    • we can't always be trying to change
    • the more you don't have to think about things the better it can be for you
  • DA: small things done consistently produce big results
    • it does not happen all of a sudden
    • investment over time can be very rewarding
    • works in a negative sense, too, so be careful
Now what?

  • people won't go through a miraculous transformation from listening to this
  • how do we go about starting at being better
  • we believe in our heart of hearts that we have something profound yet simple to offer folks
  • they are offering a conference to crowdsource these skills/principles
  • when two or more gather, many tend to show up
  • hold the world back, press the reset button
  • this is hard to happen during the day to day
  • even if you don't come, just use our books - you need to give yourself the space to apply new techniques
Miraval Conference
January 19-22

a combination of conference, spa experience, time to work and time to renew
first 20 registrations receive a 1/2 hour follow up coaching call with either Tony or David after the event
tuition: $5,995
early registration tuition: $4,995 (until Dec 20)
2-4 tuition per person $4,795
5+ tuition $4,595
800-232-3969

It Gets Better - a video message from Tim Gunn to LGBTQQ youth

via youtube.com

Tim Gunn joins the celebrity efforts to reach out to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning youth by telling a heart-wrenching story of his attempt to take his own life and how it can/will get better.

I am not sure that I would share this with students, but can only imagine that young people are stumbling across it via one of their favorite online venues, YouTube.

My letter to our leadership + counseling teams about "cyberbullying"

Leadership and counseling teams, I wanted to pass on two editorials on “cyberbullying,” as it is such a hot topic these days with the recent suicide cases. It would be good for all of us to raise our own awareness on the issue. I put “cyberbullying” in quotes intentionally to demonstrate the crafted nature of the word – more on that below.

The first piece is by danah boyd – she is regarded as one of the leading researchers on young people’s use of the Internet. Her piece is 3 years old, but an important one nonetheless. She combats the idea of cyberbullying and encourages the reader to think of the real issue as bullying in general. Her piece is here:
http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2007/04/07/cyberbullying.html

Anil Dash, one of the web’s most prolific and oldest bloggers, takes a similar position and cites danah’s piece in his editorial (which has some profanity, be warned). His piece is new and makes some observations about the battle between new (Facebook, Twitter, etc) and old (TV, radio, print, etc) media. This is a topic we cover often with our students as each group tries to demonize the other. His piece is here:
http://dashes.com/anil/2010/10/theres-no-such-thing-as-cyberbullying.html

I think both of these get to the heart of the matter. While it is clear that technology affords certain nuances of bullying, it is also clear that bullying is an ancient interaction. Our work must be to show students why this must never be the route they take and what to do if they are being bullied.

These articles were shared by a colleague at Dwight, @bkolani.

If you have any thoughts on the article, please feel free to stop by and talk about it.

arvind