This article brings together selected writings on GTD by Francis Sopper, CEO of GTD Focus, exploring the path from learning to doing and what it takes to reach excellence.
The Gap Between Knowing and Doing
“Sometimes, I catch him on Youtube watching videos of Japanese joinery,” disclosed my son’s wife about her husband.
I wasn’t surprised. Both of them are designers and admire the process of fine crafting. At the same time, for all my son’s refined skill and aesthetic, I don’t expect him to produce any reproductions of fine furniture any time soon. One can learn a lot from the web, and, nonetheless, be a long way from the doing.
I get it. I went to the web for instruction on effective lubrication of my bicycle chain. I still won’t touch the derailleur. I leave that to Woody at the bike shop. And, if you asked my friend, Scott, about an important lesson he took away from med school, “Never touch the pancreas,” he’ll reply. It’s way beyond his line of practice.
One of my client’s does an advanced heart surgery known as TAVR. After watching him perform one, all the while wondering — how does a human being even do that? — I joked, “I’m sure I can find a how-to-it video on the web.” He laughed and said, “Yes, there are a couple of them out there.” And, again nonetheless, no one’s going to watch a few videos and open up a storefront TAVRs R Us.
What’s interesting though, is the path to excellence — whether it’s joinery, derailleurs, or invasive cardiology, has the same underlying process: instruction, guided practice, critique, independent practice, critique, refinement and critique. Refinement and critique continue until you decide you’re finished with getting better.
Once you get past the stuff you can figure out by yourself or learn from a video, excellence comes from consorting with excellence. And to get to, and stay with, excellence, requires persistence through the steps backward, as well as through the steps forward.
Support Through the Stages
Here at GTD Focus, we can’t replace a valve in your heart, or even adjust a derailleur. If you do those things, what we do is support your movement through your life with clarity, purpose, and effectiveness by engaging what David Allen calls the five phases of workflow.
We’re here for you through the stages of instruction, guided practice, critique, independent practice, critique, refinement and critique. What you get is to move through life with clarity, purpose, and effectiveness.
Courses & Programs
Courses:
- Foundation – Build the essential workflow process
- Strategy – Manage the complexity of dynamic change
Coaching / Programs:
- Integration – You already have a GTD system and are ready to move beyond consciously managing it.
- Vision and Refocus – Get the space to track and understand not only what you do, but why.
- The Five Horizons – An intensive and deeply personal engagement toward your most satisfying life. One of our best trained and most experienced coaches becomes your guide and companion up and down the five horizons of your life’s journey.
Would You Rather Be a Spectator or a Performer?
In a version of an old joke, a tourist in New York City is walking down 7th Avenue. The tourist stops a passerby and asks, “How do I get to Carnegie Hall?” The New Yorker looks at the tourist and sighs, “Practice, practice. practice.”
A client recently asked their boss if they could get reimbursed for GTD coaching. When the boss heard the price, the boss said, “Can’t you watch some Youtube videos?”
It depends. Do you want to be a spectator or a performer?
How do you get to the big stage? Instruction, guided practice, critique, independent practice, critique, refinement and critique. Refinement and critique continue until you decide you’re finished with getting better.
We’re here for you through the stages of instruction, guided practice, critique, independent practice, critique, refinement and critique. What you get is to move through life with clarity, purpose, and effectiveness. What’s that worth?
We Got You
Your success is our business. For that reason, a year ago, GTD Focus began offering our coaching programs without a time limit. We redefined our programs each to have a scope, a sequence, a cadence, and a success target. Most important, finishing was no longer defined by completing a certain number of sessions: it’s about your success.
Because our attention is on how your mind retains and retrieves information, we know that the sequence of skill development and the cadence of guided practice is more important to a successful outcome than time spent in sessions. Information has to be acquired, retained and practiced to be effective. Therefore, each program has GTD competency standards. If you stick to a cadence of at least two meetings per month and work the guided practice, we’ll stay with you until you meet the standards.
It’s been a success, which for us has meant your success, with most people achieving the standard within six to ten sessions. Start now, and in four months, you will too.
Warmly,
CEO of GTD Focus
Francis Sopper