This blog has been down (in more ways than one).

Last week, Life Coaches Blog’s server on Site5 broke down and we became inaccessible for a few days. To their credit, Site5 has apologized and given half a year’s worth of free hosting for all sites that were affected.

While that was going on, I was in Shanghai for a working trip and couldn’t be online to check for updates. Thanks to all my friends who messaged me to ask about what happened to Life Coaches Blog, I appreciate it.

My life’s been shifting the last few months, as I found myself feeling dissatisfied and thoughtful. Questions like; what’s really important to me? with the limited time and energy I have left on this planet, what do I want to commit it to? and ; what would make me happier? ran through my head.

David Allen, found of GTD, is the man Fast Company calls ‘the personal productivity guru’. Today we review the companion book to Getting Things Done; Ready for Anything : 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life, a collection of 52 of Allen’s essays on productivity.

Do You Need to Have Read GTD?

The obvious question is if you need to have read Getting Things Done : The Art of Stress-Free Productivity to appreciate this book. It certainly helps, as Allen refers to his GTD concepts from time to time to make a point, but it’s not necessary. You can apply a lot of what he writes in this book even if you haven’t read or aren’t familiar with the GTD method.

Perspective is the Most Valuable Commodity on the Planet

The 52 productivity principles are organized into 5 parts; Clear Your Head for Creativity, Focus Productively, Create Structures that Work, Relax and Get in Motion & Remind Yourself of the Fundamentals.

“So often we depend on outside sources when we really have a tremendous source of knowledge and understanding within ourselves. The trouble is that we’re moving too fast and we’re too exhausted most of the time to really tap into it.” Focusing on What Matters Most: An interview with Elaine St. James.

“Compared to the hunter-gatherers who lived a natural life for millions of years before modern civilization, we work much harder and longer to make a living. We face much more physical and psychological violence (in our neighborhoods, in our workplaces, in our war-torn world, and sometimes even in our homes)…Why do we put up with it? Because it’s the only life we know.” Friday Flashback: The Only Life We Know.

“Happiness is not the shallow state of feeling pleased and chipper all the time. Happiness is the state of a human being that has achieved cross-level coherence within herself, and between herself and the people, challenges, and institutions around her. Happiness comes from between.” Beyond the Book How to Become Happier.

The rainforest in Central America taught me a wonderful lesson: if you can quiet yourself and truly focus your attention on your surroundings, you will see a multitude of things that were seemingly invisible. To view the wonders that the rainforest offers takes increased attention and awareness. The obvious analogy to life is that heightened awareness will gift us a life that offers to intrigue us, to expand our horizons and offer new sources of joy.

The rainforest by tauntingpanda.

My two teenagers and I traveled to Costa Rica recently for a 10-day vacation filled with adventure and discovery, not to mention a break from the routine. I had arranged the trip with a wonderful tour company so that we had a personal guide with us for the majority of the trip.

The process of decluttering is a lot like GTD. For the uninitiated, GTD or Getting Things Done is the time-management process taught by David Allen, but I like to think of it as a decision-making process instead. In GTD, you make choices about what things that come into your life mean, whether and where they’ll find a place in it or not - a process that comes in very handy when you’re cleaning up your clutter.

The GTD wallpaper created by Stefanos Karagos, which breaks the GTD process down into a simple graph. Click for a larger version.

Why Get Things Decluttered?

David Allen, founder of GTD, likes to make the point that the stuff in your life occupies psychic RAM - the problem is that most people don’t process that stuff properly and so it creates unnecessary stress.