In the Zone

How does one get into and consistently remain *in the zone*, where you are centered and calm, most creative and productive, where things work best for you? By first *showing up* and then creating life on the spot, all you desire to achieve becomes possible.

It is maintained by knowing that distractions to your concentration will always be there, inner and outer noise, phones and doorbells ringing, and spontaneous calls to action that arise; and knowing that these are not really a problem. The problem is only if I choose to believe the illusion that this creative zone is a product of fortunate outer circumstances alone, and that the slightest distraction has the power to remove me from this state of wellness and focus. So long as your well being and productivity is at the mercy of inner and outer conditions, you might as well drop all hopes of any real long term accomplishments or creative aspirations.

By remembering to simply show up, over and over again if necessary, I am once again back in the zone. The key is to not clutter up my own inner zone of mental and physical well being, by taking long breaks, eating or drinking to excess, watching too much television or indulging in frivolous online entertainment. The less obstacles to creative well being I create for myself, inside and out, the more easily I remain centered and energy is freed up for authenticity of insight and expression.

Becoming inwardly present for the present moment task at hand involves the initial step of *eliminating all obstacles*, all internal/external clutter, mental noise, and general excess or toxicity. At the same time you are *collecting yourself*, your personal presence (physical body, appearance) and necessary work items, so you are immediately ready to get to work! With a ready presence and the tools you need to get going, you can now set your intentions and concentrate effectively to spontaneously create an inner/outer atmosphere (a good vibe) that works best for you. Keeping this alive you take small action steps, one at a time, working without distraction and at your best... Inwardly ready at any moment to instantly drop the task at hand (momentarily, or until a later time) and pick up it again right where you left off (just as instantly) if need be.

JDZ

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Added Notes on "The Working Process" and "Workflow Management":

Along the path forward you build a structure and organize your surroundings, your papers, possessions, overall workload, in a way that is most meaningful, efficient and effective for implementation. You make a point to always review, evaluate and continuously update your structure, your daily and master task lists regularly, so that the full preparation needed for initiating future actions are complete.

Those calendar actions deferred for a later date are what make up the structure or system of organized responsible implementation. Most directly these are produced and result from actions taken here and now, while in the zone. All such actions lead either to further sequential actions (projects, creative tasks), or they indicate an end in themselves (routines, miscellaneous tasks) either to be repeated again the next day or are simply completed and not thought of again.

Creation without Competition

The Intelligent Substance which is All, and in All, and which lives in All and lives in you, is a consciously Living Substance. Being a consciously living substance, It must have the nature and inherent desire of every living intelligence for increase of life. Every living thing must continually seek for the enlargement of its life, because life, in the mere act of living, must increase itself.

Intelligent Substance will make things for you, but it will not take things away from some one else and give them to you. You must get rid of the thought of competition. You are to create, not to compete for what is already created.

You do not have to take anything away from any one. You do not have to drive sharp bargains. You do not have to cheat, or to take advantage. You do not need to let any man work for you for less than he earns. You do not have to covet the property of others, or to look at it with wishful eyes; no man has anything of which you cannot have the like, and that without taking what he has away from him. You are to become a creator, not a competitor; you are going to get what you want, but in such a way that when you get it every other man will have more than he has now. Riches secured on the competitive plane are never satisfactory and permanent; they are yours to-day, and another's tomorrow. Remember, if you are to become rich in a scientific and certain way, you must rise entirely out of the competitive thought. You must never think for a moment that the supply is limited.

KNOW that there are countless millions of dollars' worth of gold in the mountains of the earth, not yet brought to light; and know that if there were not, more would be created from Thinking Substance to supply your needs. KNOW that the money you need will come, even if it is necessary for a thousand men to be led to the discovery of new gold mines to-morrow.

First, you believe that there is one Intelligent Substance, from which all things proceed; second, you believe that this Substance gives you everything you desire; and third, you relate yourself to it by a feeling of deep and profound gratitude.

Wallace D. Wattles ~ from "The Science of Getting Rich"

Karmic Number Thirteen

The Tarot card for thirteen is entitled "Death" or "The Reaper". It is symbolized by the skeleton, which is the accepted figure of death, taken figuratively. You fear death mainly because you fear the unknown beyond the grave. The actual interpretation is that death does not mean the end of life, but it constitutes change, motion, or transformation. Change is what we call death. In other words, death is a rebirth, renewal, and an inspirational beginning. The thirteenth card or karmic number signifies that death is merely a change of consciousness.

Through superstition the number thirteen came into ill repute. It really is a period of regeneration. The keyword is work on the material plane. The warning given is that there is danger of backsliding into laziness, negativity, and inefficiency. Trials and tests of proficiency will be given on the material plane, and work is the solution. It warns against being indifferent, discontented, and ill-mannered.

Helyn Hitchcock

Take a jump!

"You are that which can never change.. you appear as this body, you appear as this form, you appear as your thoughts and emotions, but you are really the back of it all... That is you, my friend, the Oneness the Source." ~ Burt Harding

Six Action & Awareness Steps to Success - Dumbing it Down

0 to 1 - Cleaning and Clearing: Example: Gather/Collect all lists and notes, weed out the duplicates, old documents and stuff I don't need. Clear the decks, simplify the point of focus, then:

1 to 2 - Focusing & Vision: Having simplified and narrowed down the point of focus, one step/item at a time visualize/determine the desired outcome and next action steps for each, begin to implement, then:

2 to 3 - Structure & Organizing: Streamlined efficiency and maximum productivity. Blueprints, plans, lists, mind rooms, etc. Create a meaningful system of implementation, based on efficiency AND aesthetic/creative considerations, giving importance to every last detail, recall what needs to get done and cover every loose end, then:

3 to 4 - Review/Prepare/Choose & Take Action: Have all predefined work ready to go on cue. Be ready to take appropriate action(s) at appropriate time(s). Dive in, give thinking mind a rest and just DO THE WORK... Show Up and Complete the Job, perform a daily regimen without fail, then cross off all tasks off to-do list(s).

4 to 5 - Concentration/Insight/Re-Invention: A constant upgrading and unfolding of new brilliant, creative ideas, the result of hard work, perspiration, full attention and dedication/determination.

5 to 6 - Imagination/Dreaming/Intuition & Digestion: The internalization of experience, rest from action, reflection, rejuvenation and relaxation, prayer and meditation. The primary internal determining factor (the inner life) of all that manifests outwardly. The end that precedes new beginnings...

JDZ

*Each step comes in twos, a transition from one phase of activity to the next, showing the interrelationship of each to each other.

Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun

Cockpit ready for take off... Destination: The Heart of the Sun, E.T.A. uncertain. Take the controls and get ready for the RIDE OF YOUR LIFE...

Two GTD Keys for Creating and Completing

Years ago, a friend added to my understanding of the fundamental duality of our universe by sharing this observation: "There are only two problems in life: you know what you want and you don't know how to get it; or you don't know what you want." This proposes only two solutions: (1) focus, then (2) organize and allocate your resources. Intend and execute. Create and complete. Make it up, and make it happen.

Most of the techniques and tools about productivity have focused on the responsive side: how do I best deal with all the things I have to manage, or the tasks I need to handle that have been generated prior to this moment? This focus on organizing tools makes sense, because how we can handle the results of our inspirations encompasses many more concrete options than how we engage in the creative process to begin with. There are always better computer programs to support architectural design, better paint for a specific technique on the canvas, and better smart phones and software for tracking our appointments and tasks.

But what about producing the inspiration for a building? Or the artistic expression that seeks a medium? Or the choice of this or that profession that generates my appointments and tasks? On this "make it up" side, a plethora of leadership, creativity and life-management treatises continues to flood bookstores.

In truth, you cannot be maximally productive without ensuring your focus is optimal, as well as your procedures and tools for manifesting it. Being productive means you have to produce something, and that means achieving closure on some commitment. But this comes in many forms. There's your commitment to pick up bread on the way home from work, and the one that says you need to fulfill your destiny on the planet. And a whole bunch in between.

And though the investments of our focus are multitudinous and wide-ranging, being productive with our energy requires that they somehow tie together. If you stop to buy bread on the way home and that activity is not in alignment with what you're here to do as a human consciousness, then you're not being productive at the highest rate. If it is the best thing for you to be doing, given all the possibilities, then you are. But if buying bread makes absolutely no difference to how well you manifest your life purpose, you'll need to ensure you don't unproductively wrap yourself around some inappropriate concern.

All of which is to say that if you think being more productive is simply about getting more organized, or setting priorities or goals, or working harder, you've likely missed the whole picture. Each of those activities could, at any moment, be the thing that will make most difference for you in moving along the continuum from feeling a victim of life to being more in charge. So if you know clearly what you're doing, then efficiency is your only improvement opportunity. But do you really know what you're doing? Perhaps that frontier holds the key to your greatest progression. And perhaps it's both. I don't know many who have each of these two aspects of the life experience totally nailed down. Some people have a neat, organized life, but a gnawing frustration that something better awaits them beyond their tidy universe. Many others allow themselves to engage in commitments they are woefully negligent in managing day-to-day. The savviest admit to openness to a new level of both: how much clearer can I be about what I need to do, and how much better can I get at doing it?

If this informs your overall approach, a marvelous synergy appears. As you get more efficient, you'll get more inspired. And as you get more turned on by what you're doing, you'll automatically have more juice to put it in motion quickly and easily.

Any functional solution to managing yourself, time, a corporation or a country, comes down to a combination of both sides of this equation. Both aspects—outcome focus and action engagement—are essential. The reason there seems to be an unending stream of time/business management and leadership "principles" is because few account for the whole picture. Most of the proffered keys to productivity emphasize either the "know what you want" or "know how to get it" component. But if you don't give appropriate weight to each, no problem: you get to remain deeply involved in the duality of our universe.

by David Allen
from Productive Living ~ David's Food for Thought ~ "There are only two problems in life"
(This article originally appeared in Wired U.K.)

QUOTABLES

"I always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific."

-Lily Tomlin

"You're at your best, when you're focused and you're serious and passionate about what you do, but at the same time you can relax and have fun and be confident."

-Derek Fisher

Alignment After Action

Normally we think to align or balance self before taking any concrete actions. Early morning meditation/yoga, healthy consumption, music, reading/writing something inspirational, are some examples. More objectively, it is action that brings us to these self-empowering aligning activities in the first place. A combination of initiative, effort and concentration that allows us to break through the occasional difficulties and awkwardness... as with learning to read, write or ride a bike.

This requires a willingness to endure and experience whatever arises, inwardly in the realm of thought and emotion as well as outwardly in facing and figuring out the task at hand. The understanding is that benevolent and divine grace descends the higher realms onto the physical, only when full attention and concentrated intention is given to the present task at hand. First the friction, then fusion, then unlimited bountiful creation. Total absorption, leverage, alignment, and grace in action comes with simply showing up (being there), diving in and persevering to get the job done.

Gradually, overtime, the sense of alignment and flow comes more effortlessly, naturally, as certain muscles and skills are built and developed in an unending evolutionary creative process. There exists prior to action a spontaneously aligned meditative state (Being), a fresh beginners mind that is open receptive aware, accepting and surrendered to the reality of what is. It is this inner calm center that initially provides us the pure potential state necessary for facing the daunting tasks at hand and all that one must master in a single work day, including negative thoughts and difficult emotions. However, it must be remembered that all worldly activity comes naturally and easily only with a great deal of initiative, attention, hard work and practice.

Joel David Zenie

The Emperor

Seek not to rule nor to be ruled over by others. Every man is his own authority who makes his own rules, boundaries and parameters; but only after choosing to stand alone and reject all outside authorities.

JDZ

The Art of War History Channel Part 1

"Know your enemy and know yourself and in 100 battles you will never be in peril"

"To win 100 battles is not the height of skill, to subdue the enemy without fighting is"

"Avoid what is strong.. Attack what is weak"

SUN TZU

Peaceful Warrior Edit (Part 2 of 3)

"A warrior is not about perfection or victory or invulnerability... he's about absolute vulnerability, and that's the only true courage"

"A warrior acts, only a fool reacts"

"There is no stopping nor starting, only doing"

Finding your own North Star

Just Because You're Paranoid Doesn't Mean Everybody Isn't Out To Get You

Don't look now, but a lot of very powerful people are trying to stop you from reaching your North Star. Unless we deal with them, you might as well call off the whole trip. The conspirators who marshaled against you are the very people who exiled your essential self in the first place, the ones who put your overgrown social self in complete command of your life. Right this minute, they are rallying to keep you from making positive changes. Who are they? Everybody, that's who. People in general. Society at large. The whole six-billion-member kit and kaboodle we call the human race.

You think I sound a teensy bit paranoid? Hey, I didn't come up with this on my own. I have many, many informed sources. My clients have a very firm grasp of what Everybody thinks, and they share the information with me almost every day..

Ah, yes. Everybody seems to know what Everybody thinks. It's fascinating to get a bunch of people together to ask about Everybody, because, though each individual is convinced that he or she has a finger on the pulse of some universal Zeitgiest each of their Everybodies turns out to be a very small slice of the human pie. Your view of Everybody is completely different from my view of Everybody, which completely from, say, Saddam Hussein's view of Everybody.

In fact, everybody's Everybody is composed of just a few key people. Our social nature makes us long to fit in with a larger group, but it's difficult to hold the tastes and opinions of more than five or six individuals in your mind. So the resourceful social self creates a kind of shorthand: it picks up on a few people's attitudes, emblazons them on your brain, and extrapolates this image until it covers the entire known universe. The vague compilation of folks you call Everybody is what psychologists call "the generalized other".

No matter how deeply your essential self longs to find the real love, the real mission, the real meaning of your life, your social self will not let you embrace these things as long as Everybody disapproves. The social self isn't opposed to your reaching your North Star, per se: it just won't allow you to proceed toward it until you get Everybody's permission. Actually, the social self would prefer that you don't do anything, anything at all, until Everybody kneels down and begs you to do it.

The social self wigs out when you begin to listen to the essential self, because the latter immediately begins to suggest that you do things your Everybody might not like...

Essential Self: I hate this job.

Social Self: Don't you dare quit! Do you know how that will look on your resume? Everybody will think you're a complete failure.


Remember, your social self is just trying to keep you from getting hurt. Everything it says may be partially true. What your social self doesn't know is that 1) very few people actually feel this way; 2) these people are not like to be the best source of information about your ideal life; and 3) there may be a whole bunch of other people who would actually praise and accept you for doing exactly what feels best to your essential self. By installing a hypercritical social group as your definition of Everybody, your social self may well be keeping you from the Everybody who will applaud and support your quest for your North Star.

The way to solve this problem isn't to reject or condemn your social self; it's just doing its well-meaning best. No, we're going to give the social self exactly what it wants - Everybody's approval - while also allowing you to take directions from your essential self. This is the only way to find your North Star, but you may not like how we have to go about it. See, you want the Everybody you have now, the people whose influence landed you in your present life, to approve of your essential self. This will happen right after Hell becomes the official Olympic ice-dancing venue, and you may have that kind of time, but I don't. I'd rather take the quick approach by exchanging your present generalized other for a whole new Everybody.

Finding your own North Star (pp.59-61) by Martha Beck

Bruce Lipton - 2011 Tapping World Summit

Workflow Management -- Five Steps of Success

Because the work at hand is a process not an outcome, a journey not a destination, I call David Allen's work flow model 5 steps of (not to) success. As important as having certain outcomes or ends in mind, the process and journey is even more so. This is why "stress free productivity" is the central message of interest here. Having already comprehended GTD in the literal sense, now a more meaningful understanding of all this is dawning. Here I will sum up these 5 steps in as illuminating yet concise manner as possible:

1-CLEAN, CLEAR, COLLECT or TOSS OUT all loose ends. Use in-baskets, notepads, email and voice mail, etc:   In essence, ELIMINATE all stuff that is taking up valuable space (including body toxins, via exercise/sauna). Clear the decks and neaten up the area so I am ready and able to work.

2-PROCESS & FOCUS Intentions - What is this thing in my in-basket? What is the desired/intended outcome for it and the next action steps necessary toward completion. Get an increasingly more in-focus sense or vision of what it is I am doing, step by step accomplishment that begins with bringing immediate tasks and goals to conscious aware.

3-ORGANIZE & STRUCTURE - Details of Implementation: Having a Plan and acknowledging the practical physical details necessary for creative implementing and manifesting into meaningful desirable outcomes. Daily Task Lists (Next Actions, Phone Calls, Errands, Appointments, etc), Master Task List, Schedule of Appointments and Work Obligations. Projects List, Areas of Focus (Mind Rooms), Long Term Goals and Visions, Someday/Maybe Wish Lists.

4-REVIEW & RESPOND - The trickiest part because it is about REMEMBERING, not just updating and refining the lists but knowing the right CUE to ACT (the next step). Proper review not only establishes everything neatly and to perfection on paper or digital calendars, via daily, weekly and monthly reviews of all lists, but more importantly PREPARES YOU TO ACT at the appropriate time and place, as if one was going on stage in theatrical performance (and sometimes before a large audience!).

5-ACTION & WILLINGNESS - If it means starting exactly where you are here/now and noticing directly in front of you what needs clearing, cleaning, collecting, processing, etc, then DO IT. Although the most streamlined and well prepared actions arise out of proper organization and review, there are immediate responses to the environment that are also within the individual's responsibility to take action, spur of the moment situations that crop up during the day. There is also the action of DEFINING WORK, which is essentially what David Allen's system for "Getting Things Done" is for. The final follow through is in the ACTION, the forward moving progression by which the idea becomes an actuality.

*If there is a Sixth Step I would equate with the Sixth Sense... this is Intuition and Inner Guidance system, beyond the purely concrete and practical aspects, which is really no other than your own core VALUES.

JDZ

Freewill versus Environment

"Life is a complexity of hurdles" says a co-worker in a current conversation I'm having. How appropriate to the blog I am about to write! There are many who take the new age perspective that say environment plays no role at all, which is also to say that personal experience and karma plays no role. However untrue in the ultimate sense, both ego and environment (subject & object) may be, they are so very true in light of *the present moment* and what IS. In light of what actually is, there is good karma and graceful expression, where our thoughts, feelings and actions are intuitive, in harmony; and more commonly there are experiences that reveal how imperfect and often out of alignment this 'intuition' actually is.

It is from this base of existence, from the Earth (not from the Sky) that one must proceed, through trials and tribulations on this plane, and only in this way is freewill a possibility in this life. A specific context, a matrix of human earthly experience must exist in order for our Essence or Spirit to have life, meaning and creative substance. With all the joy that comes with being on Earth, there are also certain realities... like living in a world gone mad, where it is only the wealthy and well to do who cannot understand why everyone around them is not all love and light all the time. Maybe good karma got these folks to where they are now, and it is most deserving, but then many seem awfully judgmental toward any/all who struggle and whose present karma is in taking the uphill road of obstacles, challenges, sacrifice and ultimately selflessness.

This morning I got called into work suddenly on a day that I wanted more than anything to have off. Because of this and because my partner also had to work, the cat was not allowed out, was crying and miserable. At least two us would've been happier, supposedly, if I had stayed home today as originally planned... but that did not happen. I was called and I came, and am not in a position to turn down extra hours. That is the reality... to a large extent living within the limits AND being flexible, ready for anything and everything. "Living life on life's terms" as they say in 12 Step Programs.

So in my humble opinion it is not the individual who denies and shuts out the world that finds freedom and discovers the Divine Grace and Benevolence, but he/she who immerses oneself in the process, is willing (on occasion) to sink deep into the depths of pain, sorrow, compassion and learn to live comfortably with the discomforts of existence.

Joel David Zenie

The Productivity Investments

We can all be more productive, as individuals and organizations. There is always value that can be added with only the resources at hand. But what increases productivity? Not more resources, as a rule. More money that produces the same result per dollar spent is no improvement. What generates more for the energy invested is the conscious insertion of at least one of four things that don’t happen by themselves: clearing, focusing, structuring, and action.

(1) Cleaning and clearing. Any activity that does not handle its own waste appropriately is going to increase drag on the system and cause unnecessary effort to endure and deal with accumulated residue. What’s not needed any more? Old projects, outworn policies and procedures, old un-renegotiated commitments, hung up body toxins - anything taking up space and attention and not creating value, when removed, will increase flow and output automatically. But it takes intention and action to eliminate stuff - it becomes more and more inert if it isn’t consistently infused with conscious interest.

(2) Focusing. Psychic and physical forces are automatically mobilized with a focus and rapidly dispersed and exhausted without one. What’s the purpose...for this meeting, this proposal, this vacation, this department, this desk, this job? What are we trying to do? Where are we going? Clear answers to these questions create energy which produces results with less effort. But it takes focus to direct a focus. Unattended, distraction creeps in like a thief in the night.

(3) Structuring. Look around at the physical structures you see right now. They exist not as value in themselves but for what they create – comfort, protection, support, communication, focus, visibility – with minimal energy expended. With no structures we would have a heck of a time maintaining those experiences with just our own bodies. With no list of all our errands at hand when we’re out and about, we’re likely not as productive as we could be. If no one is designated to answer the phone, everyone has to waste attention on it when it rings. If my paint brushes are not in order, I’m limiting my creative expression. Structures don’t show up by themselves. Productive people are always asking: How can I better organize and streamline what I’m doing?

(4) Action. It’s easier to move when you are already in motion. It takes less effort to redirect something going in the wrong direction than to get something going from a standing start. Fear of the unknown and of potential negative consequences of imperfection can easily create the analysis paralysis. If something needs to be different than it is and there is no “next action” decided yet, there will tend to be debilitating angst as well as zero motion. Initiating a simple next physical step is often the key to releasing stored energy and generating productive momentum. But it requires a concentration of intention to hold the mind steady toward a pinpoint of action.

Any one of these four dynamics can improve the quality and quantity of your outputs, but each requires a conscious effort to employ. And any one of them, underemployed, can undermine it. You could have a clean, focused, active department that lacked good job descriptions, and it won’t be as effective as it could be. A team could be well structured, working, with clean in-baskets, and still not be focused on what they needed to do appropriately. And you could have a hard-charging goal-oriented, organized executive with tons of incomplete communications and commitments weighing him down like an albatross.

A person in sustainable high performance keeps a focus on what’s important, captures and organizes all the open loops still relevant to their life and work, and consistently takes action on expressing and completing that which is theirs to do. If you’re not operating from that place as much as you’d like, which of these productivity-relevant areas is your weak suit right now? Which might be the improvement opportunity for your organization, or for your family? Are things as clean, focused, structured, and active as they could or need to be in all meaningful areas? What would be a good investment strategy?

"A useful definition of liberty is obtained only by seeking the principle of liberty in the main business of human life, that is to say, in the process by which men educate their responses and learn to control their environment." - Walter Lippman

For more David Allen Company tools and educational content, check out our GTD Products section at davidco.com. For our online learning center, visit GTD Connect at gtdconnect.com. ©David Allen Company 2008. All rights reserved.