Be Brave Not Safe

Do you have goals and dreams you are striving to achieve? Has it seemed like a continuous struggle?

Are you often over-whelmed, even stressed out, by the onslaught of daily tasks and activities that you must balance in your personal, family and work life?

It doesn’t have to be that way.

In the spirit of the above, I recently mentioned a recommended reading (7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey) to one of my clients. In response she shared a recommendation: (Getting Things Done, by David Allen).

Shortly after hearing this recommendation I acquired the audio version of Getting Things Done and am finding it to be an absolutely outstanding program!

I’ve been on the path of personal development for a long time. Even so, Getting Things Done offers a great refresher on tactics I’m familiar with and use, as well as many new insights that have really hit home for me.

What I’ve learned is that, at a high level, the methods for achieving high-levels of productivity and goal achievement always involve (at least) 2 major components:

1. Knowing / defining exactly what we want in all areas / aspects of life.
2. Tactics for managing all the detailed tasks and activities in life.

The purpose of this post isn’t to offer a book summary, but an encouragement to read the book or listen to the audio edition, both of which are available at Amazon.com by clicking here.

Coincidentally, a recent motivational quote that showed up in my inbox provides the method to bridge the gap between our dreams/goals and our handling of the daily onslaught of distractions.

You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage—pleasantly, smilingly, non-apologetically, to say “no” to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger “yes” burning inside. ~Stephen Covey

So, the starting point is defining what that bigger “yes” is. The goals and dreams burning inside. From there we simply need to lay out the steps it will take to get there – and then execute.

The challenge emerges when reality hits (every minute of every day)…

• The boss drops by to hand-out a new assignment
• The baby cries
• The roof leaks
• A friend or co-worker asks for an assist
• A police car pulls down the driveway (what now?)
• An upset customer calls
• The voice mail indicator is on
• 42 unread emails are sitting in the inbox
• And, so on…

While each of the above must ultimately be “dispositioned” they do NOT all require immediate attention. But, if we don’t have a fool-proof method for managing all these things we stress out and, ultimately, things end up falling through the cracks.

Getting Things Done describes, in detail, highly pragmatic approaches for managing our daily lives with reduced stress, while ensuring we remain on track to achieve our major goals and objectives.

Some might say: “Achieving high levels of productivity and success is for…someone else. Not me…”

Please don’t sell yourself short!

Think about it this way.

Society evolves based on the learnings of people who have gone before us. All we must do is apply proven tactics and strategies that are available to anyone. Programs such as Getting Things Done masterfully outline how we can more effectively operate on a day-to-day basis.

If you’d like to maximize efficiency towards the achievement of your goals and dreams simply make the investment in yourself.

The reality is that if we are still on this planet we remain a work-in-progress.

Go for it!