On a recent visit to the Jewish Museum in New York City, I saw Six Things, a collaborative installation by designers Stefan Sagmeister and Jessica Walsh. The piece included short videos, a sound-activated sculpture, and six maxims taken from Sagmeister’s journal that he says have increased his personal happiness.

While all six ideas resonated with me, I couldn’t stop thinking about one in particular, “Now Is Better.” It’s so concise and clear. It speaks of mindfulness, being present, realizing that the past happened and the future hasn’t arrived. Sagmeister’s three words remind us to embrace this moment and time.

I’m not saying that the past isn’t relevant or that the future doesn’t matter. The past holds our history, lessons, and memories (good and bad.) The future encompasses our hopes, dreams, fears, and possibilities. However, we can’t turn back time or fast forward ahead. We can be here right now.

Do you find yourself wanting to return to the past? Are you stuck? Do you find yourself wishing for this time to end so that you can move on to that next thing? Does your future focus detract from or enhance your current experience? What would happen if you focused your energy and thoughts on where you are right now? What would that look like? What would that feel like? Would it change anything?

I am grateful for the past. I look forward to the future. I am happy to be here with you now. Where are you? What are your thoughts about now? I’d love to hear your ideas. Come join the conversation.

David Allen "Ask the Expert" interview about ProductivityBased on your outpouring of positive feedback, once again I'm happy to bring you the “Ask the Expert” interview series, which connects you with industry thought leaders. We’ve spoken with Peter Walsh about clutter, Sheila Delson about letting go, Laura Berman Fortgang about next steps, Judith Kolberg about change, and Sue West about fresh starts. This month I’m excited to have with us the world’s leading personal productivity guru, David Allen, to share his insights and wisdom about time management.

David’s book, Getting Things Done – The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, is a favorite in my collection, and is well worn and highlighted. Some of his concepts that I find most valuable are the ideas of gathering all your “to dos” in one place and then moving each one along by focusing on its “next” action. It’s an understatement to say that David has many fans. He’s an international best-selling author of three books, has over one million Twitter followers and over one-hundred thousand members in his LinkedIn GTD® Enthusiasts group. My sincere thanks goes to David for taking the time to join us. A special thanks to Kathryn for making it happen. Before we begin, here’s more about David.

David Allen is widely recognized as the world’s leading expert on personal and organizational productivity. His thirty-year pioneering research and coaching to corporate managers and CEOs of some of America’s most prestigious corporations has earned him Forbes’ recognition as one of the top five executive coaches in the U.S. Time Magazine called his flagship book, Getting Things Done, “the definitive self-help book of the decade.” Fast Company called David “one of the most influential thinkers” in the arena of personal productivity. He is the engineer of GTD®, the popular Getting Things Done® methodology that has shown millions how to transform a fast-paced, overwhelming, overcommitted life into one that is balanced, integrated, relaxed, and has more successful outcomes. David is the Founder and Chairman of the David Allen Company. You can connect with David on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, blog or website.

Linda Samuels:  You are internationally known as the “personal productivity guru.” While there is no quick fix for being more productive, where is a good place to begin?

David Allen:  Stress-free productivity means being in a personal state of relaxed, focused control and engaging in meaningful activity. A prime requirement for that condition is having a total inventory of your commitments with yourself – one that is current and objectified and well defined, at all the levels they exist (from “get cat food” to “get a new job” to ”get enlightenment”.) So job one is to capture and clarify that roster. Start by collecting all the particles around your environment that don’t belong there permanently and put them in your into your IN-tray (or a note to represent them, if they won’t fit). Then use pen and paper to empty your head of any- and everything else that has your attention. From there you’ll need to move on to determining the outcomes desired and next actions required for each of them. That whole process can take 10 to 20 hours, but anything you can start doing along those lines will move you in the right direction.

Linda:  Life requires that we get things done. Anna Quindlen said, “I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.” What is your perspective?

David:  Big Secret: Getting Things Done is not about getting things done. It’s about achieving appropriate engagement with all of your involvements. In order to feel comfortable with whatever you’re doing, you need to feel OK with what you’re not doing. So, not getting things done, for the most part, is a hallmark of optimal productivity! Of course, if your purpose on the planet is actually to complete, accomplish, and express, you’ll need to be getting those things done, in order to be at peace with yourself. Once you really catch what this game is about, and the optimal rules of engagement, playing the game, itself, is the reward. Indeed.

Linda:  What is your most surprising discovery about focusing on the “next” action step?

David:  That the decision about the most mundane aspects of our life (what visible, physical activity do I need to do, to move the needle on this?) is core to the sense of fulfilling our agreements with ourselves. If you think you should be doing something about a situation with your parents or your kid, but haven’t yet decided what the very next thing to do about it is, you’ll be in stress and not fully present in your life.

Linda:  What has been your toughest personal time challenge?

David:  Realizing how much of a clear context, in terms of time and environment, is required to do sustained, creative thinking. I can’t write the next chapter of anything without a good four-hour block of free space and warmed up fingers with a great laptop.

Linda:  If you had an unexpected extra hour on a particular day, how would you spend that time?

David:  Beats me. When it shows up, I’ll let you know. I trust my spontaneous, intuitive hunches.

Linda:  Is there anything you’d like to share that I haven’t asked?

David:  The experience of stress-free productivity is one of a very natural flow. But it doesn’t consistently happen by itself. It requires specific practices that often seem unnatural and unnecessary at first. (“Write everything down? You’ve got to be kidding!”) Once they become habitual, however, you’d never think of doing anything else.

Thank you, David for sharing your thoughts about stress-free productivity and time management. Something you said which jumped out at me is the idea of “appropriate engagement.” Be comfortable with what you choose to do and not do. That in fact, not getting things done is the “hallmark of optimal productivity.” I love this perspective.

I invite all of you to join David and me as we continue the conversation. We’d love to hear your ideas about productivity, GTD®, and time management. Which concepts resonate with you? What are your recent productivity challenges or successes? 

Time Took Care ofOne of my favorite concepts to share is letting go of a something (most frequently paper) because time took care of it. When working with clients, this call to action often becomes the go to phrase for deciding a thing's relevance.

Particularly with old piles of paper, many pieces can quickly be released using this concept. Because time has passed, the item on the paper expired, the event happened, the opportunity to take action isn't available, or it's no longer of interest. When organizing, those papers are easily identified, and usually with great delight and a sense of humor, my clients allow them to exit as they say, “Time took care of.”

It occurred to me that while time took care of  is one of my paper management strategies, the idea is also useful in other situations. For instance, normally I write my blog posts over the weekend or on Mondays so that they're ready to share on Tuesday mornings. However, this particular week, I didn't stick to my plan. I got mad at myself for deviating, and then realized how pointless that was. Time took care of that particular deadline. There was no going back, only forward. So here I am with you, posting later than I’d planned. I've let go of being annoyed with myself over what I didn’t do on time. That no longer matters. I’ve moved ahead to be here now.

Another scenario is with clothing. Perhaps you purchased something, decided to return it, never got to that errand, and now it's too late to return or exchange. Or maybe you bought something for your kid, they never wore it, and they've outgrown that size. What do you say? “Time took care of!” Instead of holding onto something that you don't want or doesn't fit (along with the guilt,) let them go. Donate. Give to a friend. Release yourself from thoughts about what you didn't do.

I know that there are many things you did do. Stop to acknowledge those. Don't waste your time with guilt over what time took care of. Let go. Move on. Focus on now.

What are you ready to let go of? What has time taken care of? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Come join the conversation.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about preparing for our tag sale. Having a specific deadline motivated my family and me to declutter and get rid of a lot of things. The event was a success, and we felt great! While scheduling the tag sale was a terrific motivator, there are other types of events that can make us evaluate our “stuff,” declutter, and let go. What has your experience been like with event-inspired decluttering?

5 Events To Motivate Decluttering

1. Entertaining—Throwing a party of any size (from an intimate dinner to a large BBQ) can motivate us to declutter and organize. Spending time with the people we love rather than accumulating more “stuff” brings positive energy into our lives. Use happiness-producing events to keep clutter in check.

2. Life Event—Marriage, birth, job change, medical emergency, empty nest, divorce, or death are times of transition. These life events make us rethink our possessions and spaces to accommodate major changes. Things that were once relevant aren’t anymore. In our search for clarity and the new normal, letting go and decluttering become crucial.

3. Moving—Whether we are increasing or decreasing our living space in a move, there will be things that won’t be needed. Moving motivates us to evaluate the “stuff” and release the extraneous. The more decluttering you do before a move, the easier it will be to set up your new home. In a recent post, one of our readers (Rosemary) shared that as she was preparing for her move, she posted a sign in her triage area that helped her evaluate what to keep. It read, “All you need is less.”

4. Renovating—A renovation is stressful. However, it’s also a fabulous opportunity to ask lots of questions, release clutter, and create room for the things you treasure most. Rooms are emptied to prepare for construction and then reorganized when the building is done. This is a natural opportunity to be ruthless and only restore what you really want.

5. Tag Sale—Bringing us full circle to the beginning of this post, having a tag sale gives you a specific deadline to work towards, increases your motivation for letting go, is an enjoyable social event, and lets you make a few bucks. It’s also fun to meet the buyers of your “stuff” and know that your possessions will be useful and enjoyed by others.

What events have motivated you to declutter? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Come join the conversation.