The Time Paradox by Dean Acheson

We have contained in the processes of GTD the most basic essence of TIME. One could say there are three kinds of time and you will recognize these: PAST time, PRESENT time and FUTURE time. And when we look at these three components square on, we get paradoxes. What do I mean? Well, lets see if I can figure out where to begin. Logic doesnt always follow along with the way things actually are, so Ill try approaching this from a circuitous route and maybe we can sneak up on things before we realize whats happening. Past time, in its raw form, appears to be an infinite; that is, no matter how far your imagination takes you into the past, there always seems to be something that existed earlier. (You might want to stop for a bit and think about that.) Future time, likewise, appears to be infinite. No matter how far you stretch your imagination into the future, it seems difficult to imagine an end point. Its as though there will somehow be more of something later somehow, somewhere, sometime. (You might want to stop for a bit and think about that one, also.) And, if youve stuck with me so far, and this way of looking at things sort of rings a bell, you will note that present time in actuality can seem like a micro slice you no sooner perceive the now before it is already a split second later. (Be sure to get that one!) The paradox is that its this infinitesimal slice of now that is the ONLY time that we are ever in. So, with all that infinite past and all that infinite future, here we are always actually existing in this tiny piece of continually changing, miniscule moment called present, and it is actually the ONLY moment. I mean, the past has already come and gone; the future hasnt yet arrived; and the present is always with us. So the present is the tiny slice that always IS, and the infinite past and the infinite future are always NOT. Hmmm seems like a paradox! The infinite continuousness of the infinitesimal now! So how does this relate to GTD? The underlying aspect of GTD that separates it from other systems is that it more or less ignores the concept of importance and addresses these three factors of time. Are some things more important than others? Of course. However, if one is to weigh actions according to importance, one has to evaluate lots of different realities and significances. Lets slow way down and look at some of the factors that would be involved as criteria in selection of importance. 1. The Past: a. How long has the item been here? b. What other projects is the item connected with? c. What are those other projects connected with? d. How are those importances evaluated (i.e., evaluated regarding career? family? health? customer? boss? elementary survival?) e. What is the weight of this item compared to other items in the stack? (Many of which we have yet to take a look at)

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2008 Dean Acheson Used by the David Allen Company with permission.

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2. The Future: a. Which goal area does this item support? b. Which goal area is more important? c. Is this item even connected with a goal at all? d. In this stack of stuff, how does this item relate to the others in terms of tomorrows importance? Well, you get the idea. Its like we have to evaluate all the items against all of the criteria above in order to place our items in the correct order of importance; and of course we cant really begin to do that until we look at all the items, so we can perform the comparative evaluation. Seems like a rather impressive Catch-22. Well, you say, thats the genius of the human mind it can do instant evaluations with all this complexity. That concept has a significant element of truth in it. However, most people have been down so many roads, and have so many areas in which they are attempting to succeed, along with so many other people they are attempting to impress or obey, that each item can contain the potential of precipitating a mental avalanche. By removing the significance of an item when processing it, you are bypassing the questions having to do with relative importance, and simply asking the question, Is this item actionable? You dont sit and stew about whether it is actionable or not. You simply trust yourself to decide, based on your own mental magical knowledge and your gut feel. The mind, if given the chance, would at times love to do the mental gymnastics of opening up the plethora of past experiences relating to an item, as well as all the future contemplations one could come up with to make ones self feel creative. In truth, for each person, every action item under the sun that belongs to that person is in one of three states: 1. the action hasnt been started; or 2. the action has been started and is in process; or 3. the action is complete. Note the relevance to the three kinds of time past, present and future. Perhaps you will find it interesting to note that there is even more to the time paradox. The starting and the doing (in process), and the end or done or stop, fall again into a time concept inversion. The time contained in start is instantaneous it is that tiny slice of no time where one simply transitions from not started to in process. The middle part, or in process, or the doing stage, is where the time is spent. (And the action in DO is, in reality, simply the changing of the state or location of something, but that is grist for another article.) Then there is the end or stop or finish or completion, and that is simply the cessation of DO when one declares the action complete. Again, this declaration is another tiny slice of no time between when something is still in process, and when an action has been declared to be complete. The declaration of stop happens in an infinitesimal slice of time. If you are in charge of the start, in charge of the do, and also the complete, then you are in control. In fact, if you follow the concepts here, when you are in control of the whole action cycle, you are in control of time itself. Notice that there is no significance here. An action is either done or in process or not started. This is not a BHEC (Big Hairy Esoteric Concept)! Pretty simple, really. Most fundamentals are.

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www.davidallengtd.com

2008 Dean Acheson Used by the David Allen Company with permission.

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