Most productivity advice encourages us to eliminate spare capacity.
We fill gaps in the diary, batch similar tasks and streamline recurring work. We try to make every part of the system earn its place.
This can certainly make us more efficient. But it can also make us less able to respond when circumstances change.
Continue reading Why a little apparent inefficiency can make you more adaptableThe Getting Things Done (GTD) weekly review is often described as essential maintenance for your productivity system. You gather loose papers, process your inboxes, download your head, update your projects and review your calendar. This keeps your system current and trustworthy.
But the weekly review can do something deeper. It can help you notice when your understanding of a situation is no longer accurate.
Seen through Cynefin, the weekly review becomes a regular opportunity to notice what has changed and adapt our response.
Continue reading Cynefin and GTD: the weekly review as a sense-making practiceIn yesterday’s post, I suggested that the deeper outcome of productivity is not optimisation but self-trust.
Self-trust does not appear because we find the perfect system. It develops through experience.
Each time we make a realistic commitment and follow through, we give ourselves a little more evidence that we can rely on ourselves.
Large commitments can feel important, but they are not always the best place to begin.
Choose one small action that would make life slightly easier for your future self.
Continue reading One act of self trustProductivity advice often focuses on optimisation.
We are encouraged to find the fastest tool, the most efficient workflow, or the perfect morning routine. There is always another app to install, another system to refine, another technique to master.
But the deeper purpose of productivity is not efficiency.
It is self-trust.
Continue reading Why trust matters more than optimisationIn Getting Things Done, a next action is the next visible, physical activity needed to move something forward.
That might mean:
These actions move us towards completion. But in an uncertain situation, we may not yet know which route will produce the outcome we want.
Sometimes the next action needs to help us learn.
Continue reading Cynefin and GTD: when your next action is an experiment
