GTD® focus - How to Prioritize With GTD Horizons of Focus®

Short Summary

Main recommendation: when unsure what to do with free time, prioritize by moving up the GTD Horizons of Focus, starting with Horizon 2, your Areas of Focus and Responsibility, rather than only scanning next actions and projects. The speaker says this lets you find something that genuinely engages you, even if it never appears on a list. She illustrates the approach with a Sunday morning example where she chose to make blueberry muffins after reviewing her lists.

Key Points

• Several prioritization methods are mentioned: the three-fold nature of work (pre-defined work, defining work, and unplanned work) and four criteria for choosing actions (location, available time, energy, and value of one action versus another).
• The speaker says the Horizons of Focus approach is often missed, and she calls it a "game changer" for clients.
• Her process was to check next actions, then projects, then Horizon 2; nothing stood out until Horizon 2 suggested picking blueberries and baking muffins to bring to her sister, who lives nearby.
• Some good choices never appear on any list; they come from intuition about the best use of available time, and the speaker says people already do this intuitively.
• Horizon 2 is described as the bridge level that creates goals, vision, and purpose, and it generates projects and actions; an area of focus can exist with no project attached.

Details Worth Noting

• Concrete instructions:
  • If you are unsure what to focus on, look at your Areas of Focus and Responsibility (Horizon 2) first.
  • If you have not created that list yet, make one on paper, in a word document, in a paper-based planner, or in a list management tool.
  • Write down every area you focus on; the speaker says nearly everything in your calendar, personal or professional, should line up to one.
  • When projects and actions lists feel uninspiring, check Horizon 2, identify an area you want to focus on now, then move into projects and actions or simply act without creating a new list item.
• Examples of Horizon 2 areas the speaker lists include friends and family, health and self-care, home, animals, garden, hobbies, and finances.
• The speaker says that if the area suggests something, you may not need to create a project or action at all; doing it can be enough.

Bottom Line

Instead of forcing a choice from next actions or projects, use your Areas of Focus and Responsibility to find what you actually want to do with your available time, and act on it even if it was never written down.