My interest in sharing time management techniques and principles began several years ago with my writing of The Big Picture. This article described my search for meaning after my wife died, and I wrote it to emphasize that life is short and that we should focus on knowing our values and living them.
At the time that I wrote that article, I did not think it would be particularly difficult for people to “keep the Big Picture in mind.” However, the article was at the start of the “information explosion” (or attention crash, or information overload, or other terms that apply to the world we now live in). These days people are so intensely absorbing new information and taking on so many new tasks that it can be difficult to keep the Big Picture in mind.
Many manage task flow by using some of David Allen’s Getting Things Done system, especially the list management and weekly review parts. But not everyone who uses GTD takes advantage of its full set of tools, and even those of who try to may not always do too well with it.
Where many of us fail to get the most out of GTD is in its “Big Picture” piece, or what David Allen refers to as the 50,000 ft level (as opposed to the runway that we “live on”). I was reminded of this when I saw the following tweet from David this morning:
I felt a bit guilty when I saw this. When I take a one-week sabbatical every September, it is always my intention to spend most of the week ensuring that I understand my values and have articulated them clearly, and that I understand my key purpose in life and that I am working toward fulfilling it. But, after about a day and a half of working on this 50,000 ft thinking, I get involved in reading books and pass the rest of the week reading.
I think the reason I still feel some angst in my life is that I haven’t spent the right amount of time fully dealing with the 50,000 ft level. So, I am going to be doing that the rest of this week and into next week.
Perhaps this holiday season is a good time for you to tackle the 50,000 ft level, too.
One final thought. I mentioned that one should know their values, but clearly it is not enough to just know them: one must live them. An excellent and inspiring example of this is Derek Sivers’ post Why I gave my company to charity.
You hit the nail on the head, Bruce. Often, we get bogged down in the minutiae and details of our daily lives. Looking at our long-term goals and life holistically can be very informative and help us reprioritize.
I definitely plan on getting things organized at home and refocusing on the 50,000-foot view for the coming year and beyond. Thanks for the great post.
Also, the Derek Sivers post is quite inspirational!
Also, I put the Derek Sivers post on my list to read again on an ongoing (at least yearly) basis, to help remind me about the good in the world and help re-inspire me and uplift me. Altruism is a rare thing in this day and age.
Thank you for both comments, Thomas. Great idea to put the Sivers’ article on an annual review basis (perhaps coincident with an annual 50,000 ft review). I believe you were the one who made me aware of Sivers in the first place, BTW.
For those who have never done a 50,000 ft review, David’s books do a good job of walking you through it. I particularly like the way he handles it in the Making It All Work book.
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