Creating a Better Life

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In an interview with AccidentalCreative.com, David Allen, productivity guru best known as the author of Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress Free Productivity¹, discussed something that I’ve thought about quite a bit:

How do I know which thoughts that pop into my head come from all of the “stuff” floating around up there, and how do I know what’s coming from my intuition?

I usually attribute the “stuff floating around in my head” to my ego. And when I say ego, I’m referring to that part of me that is necessarily selfish, that is concerned with who I am and what I need to do to survive and thrive. The problem with my ego is that it’s really smart (and incredibly good looking), but it also gets scared really easily. Give it full reign and it will start thinking that everything is a threat. That’s when it becomes self-centered, worried, and even frantic, and starts spouting off stupid stuff like “I’ve gotta do this now! It’s gotta be God telling me to purchase this get-rich-quick scheme (stop smoking product, or productivity tool, or whatever).”

When it kicks into this mode, those smarts I mentioned earlier go right out of the window.

12 Steps to Getting Things Done

One of the things that I’ve always been fascinated by is the connection between the secular and the spiritual. Personally, I don’t consider them to be separate; they are like two sides to the same coin. But since they are two sides, we can look at each individually.

The question of “Is it ego or intuition” made me think of a passage from the book “Alcoholics Anonymous”:

Being still inexperienced and having just made conscious contact with God, it’s not probable that we are going to be inspired at all times. We might pay for this presumption in all sorts of absurd actions and ideas. Nevertheless, we find that our thinking will, as time passes, be more and more on the plane of inspiration. We come to rely on it. — Alcoholics Anonymous, Fourth Edition, pg. 87

One thing to keep in mind about this passage is that it comes as a part of Step Eleven: Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

Another way to write this step could be:

Sought through thought and contemplation to improve our ability to follow our intuition, looking for the best possible course of action and the strength to do it.

Not as poetic, but it works for me.

This is important to keep in mind because, in the context of the 12 Steps, Step Eleven is #11. It’s assumed that the majority of the life garbage that the person who is working these steps has been trying to clear away has been dealt with to the best of their ability at this point.

Or in GTD terms: The initial trash cans have been dumped, and everything is in it’s proper place.

Personally, I believe that the connection to God (can I please stop writing “or whatever you want to call it” now?) is always there, and it’s always on. It’s all that “stuff”, all of that trash that’s accumulated over the days and years, that block us from it.

Only after this stuff has been cleared away will we be able to distinguish what’s from God and what’s from our ego.

And when we are in that clear space, it’s amazing what we can have, do, and be. I’m not there 24/7 (not even close… and I don’t know anyone who is), but when I do hit that sweet spot of being, I wonder why I ever go back to the muck.

It doesn’t matter what system you use to clear away the junk that’s blocking you. Try a few on for size. Give them an honest evaluation - just keep what works and chuck what doesn’t.

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