The Cotton Gin

Last night at Kickstand, one of the panelists (Steve Nipper, I think) mentioned David Allen’s GTD. Sometimes I struggle with the description of why GTD is important, and I thought the panelist struggled much the same way I do (my impression, disclaimers apply). Upon reflection, I think the concept that doesn’t get mentioned in a recommendation of GTD is Relaxed Control.

I think the thing that made Relaxed Control hard for me to find was that I thought I already knew what it was. In other words, I read the book, I read about Relaxed Control, I decided that Relaxed Control is what I wanted, and off I went to do do do.

But as I have struggled over the years to implement GTD, and achieve RC, I’ve been forced to look at the concept more carefully. What does it mean? When working on the How of GTD, we need to have the clearest possible conception of the What, the Relaxed Control we seek, as our guide.

One of the best ways to explain Relaxed Control (abbreviated RC, and pronounced ‘Rock’), is to define what it isn’t. After all, one can be very busy, and yet relaxed, focused and in the flow of things.  We can also be very busy and Out Of Control (OOC, pronounced ‘Awk!’). My definition of Relaxed Control is not-OOC (pronounced ‘Nawk’).

Being a nerd myself, a problem I’ve had implementing GTD is holding onto it too tightly. The tighter I squeeze, the more painful details slip out of my hands, and paradoxically the closer to OOC I go (think, Admiral Boom). A Chinese general once remarked that “perfection is the enemy of good enough”, which seems apropos to my situation.

So now I focus on Good Enough in my GTD (GEGTD, unpronounceable at this point, acronyms apparently not my strong suit). These days Mary Poppins is as much an inspiration as David Allen. That said, spit spot, off I go…