Is your life at this time "up-to-the-minute"? By that I mean are you on top of what is on your plate? Are your incompletions identified and tracked with next actions written down? Have you recently touched everything in your office and home, making a conscious decision if it needs to stay or go?
I just finished reading the new updated version of the book, Getting Things Done by my dear friend, David Allen. And once again I was inspired as I was when I initially met him. Bless you David Allen and your dedication and devotion to making it possible for me and by now millions to be able to have the experience of working with relaxed focus and be continuously up-to-the-minute... staying refreshed, available to what shows up unexpectedly, calm, present, confident and effective.
David encourages an annual review that includes touching all our files and things in our environment deciding if each one is still relevant and needed. That process produces a profound level of clarity. When I do this process, my personal criteria include: Is it in active use? And, on a scale of 1-10 is it a 10? If not, out it goes. That approach has kept my environments (office, home, car, purse, briefcase etc.) clear and up-to-the-minute.
You may have heard about the new "tidying up" phenomena out of Japan from a woman named Marie Kondo. Her book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up focuses on decluttering your environment. What I appreciate about her focus is the way she treats the things in her physical environment and the criteria she uses to determine what she keeps. She asks the question: Does it bring joy?
Being up-to-the-minute (or as some say "current") in my life is all about joy. I appreciate knowing that everywhere I look in my environment things are up-to-date, in motion and pleasing for me to look at. The joy and freedom of nothing pulling on my attention, knowing everything needing completion is written down, tracked in a system I am actively participating in and reviewing, is hands down the best energizer I know.
For me up-to-the-minute is all about aliveness, enthusiasm and freedom.
Martha Invitations
1. If you have not yet read Getting Things Done by David Allen, buy the newly revised edition and, if you already have it, treat yourself to a new copy of the up-to-the-minute version. It's a gem!
2. Open a drawer in your desk (or a place of your choice) and see what you keep holding onto that you never use, and if everything in it brings you joy. If not, let it all go.
3. As you let go of things or complete them, thank them for what they gave you and thank yourself for finishing. To me, acknowledgement is the final step of being Up-to-the-Minute.
Martha
Martha Treats and Hour of Focus are free services for my clients and subscribers. I work with individuals and teams around the world in Taking Action to Completion. The result is greater confidence and perspective, both personally and professionally. Learn more about my consulting services on www.martharinger.com, or reach out to me at martha@martharinger.com.
Copyright 2015. Martha Ringer Company. All rights reserved.