We are all accountable to define what, if anything, we are committed to make happen as we engage with ourselves and others. And at some point, for any outcome that we have an internal commitment to complete, we must make the decision about the next physical actin required. There's a great difference, however, between making that decision when things show up and doing it when they blow up. When a culture adopts "What's the next action?" as a standard operating query, there's an automatic increase in energy, productivity, clarity, and focus. It never fails to greatly improve both the productivity and the peace of mind of the user to determine what the next physical action is that will move something forward.
How could something so simple be so powerful - "What's the next action?". To understand the answer think of all the items / open loops you wrote down as part of clearing your mind (revisit chapter 5) or just think of all the open loops / incomplete projects that are currently on your mind. You'll probably admit that yes, indeed, a few have been a little "stuck". If you haven't defined exactly what the next action step is, then it probably will never get done. What's ironic is it would likely require only about 10 seconds of thought time to figure out the next action for almost everything on your list.
Instead of having "tires" on your list, you need to e.g. write "Call three tire stores and obtain quotes". That person who needs new tires for her car probably had that on her radar for quite a while. He probably passed by the phone hundreds of times with enough energy to make these calls, but didn't. Why didn't she make it? Because in that state of mind, the last thing in the world she felt like doing was considering all his projects, including getting tires, and what their next actions where. In those moments he didn't feel like thinking at all. What he needed was to already have figured out all these next action steps beforehand. Then, we having a 15 minute time window before a meeting with energy at 5.7 out of 10, he can look at the list of things to do and be delighted to see "Call tire store for prices". He'll think "That's something I can do and complete successfully" and be motivated to make the call to experience the "win" of accomplishing something productive in his free time.
Often, even the most simple things are stuck because we haven't made a final decision about the next action. We waste tremendous amount of time and energy in that state. We glance at the project and some part of us thinks "I don't quite have all the pieces between here and there". We know something is missing, but we are not sure what it is exactly, so we quit.
It's usually the smartest, most creative, sensitive and intelligent people who procrastinate the most. This is because their sensitivity gives them the capability of producing in their minds lurid nightmare scenarios about what might be involved in doing the project, and all the negative consequences that might occur if it was done finished perfectly. The way out is to silence all that negative self-talk and uncomfortable visions of imminent failure. And this is best done by figuring the next actions for all your incomplete projects. Nothing will essentially change in the world. However, shifting your focus to something that your mind perceives as a doable task will create a real increase in positive energy, direction and motivation.
You are either attracted to or repelled by the things on your lists; there is no neutral territory. Either there is a positive draw to complete the action or reluctance to think about what it is and resistance to getting involved in it. And figuring out the next action is usually what makes the difference between these two extremes. Avoid at all costs to allow "amorphous stuff" on your lists like the following:
- Sarah's birthday
- Eastern Europe trip
- Presentation for xyz Conference in August
- Meeting with John Doe
Instead change these to clear next action steps.
Which do you think is the more efficient way to move through life - deciding next actions on your projects as soon as they appear on your radar screen and then efficiently grouping them into categories of actions, or avoiding thinking about what exactly needs to be done until it has to be done and then frantically engage in last-minute fire-fighting?
Perhaps the greatest benefit of adopting the next-action approach is the dramatic increase in your ability to make things happen with an accompanying rise in your self-esteem. Getting things done on your own accord, before you are forced to by external pressure and internal stress, builds a firm foundation of self-worth that will spread into every aspect of your life. Asking "What's the next action?" undermines the victim mentality. It presupposes that there is a possibility of change, and that there is something you can do to make it happen.
If there is too much complaining in the culture around you, try asking "So, what's the next action?" People will only complain about something that they assume could be better than it currently is. The action question forces the issue. If it can be changed, there's some action that will change it. If it can't, it must be accepted as part of the landscape to be incorporated as a given element in your strategy and tactics.
Based on: David Allen (2001), Getting Things Done, Penguin Books, p.236-248.
